Washed Up
by Celianna
Summary: Five years later since they last spoke to one another, Momoshiro and Kaidoh meet up again under strange circumstances; washed up on an abandoned island. MomoKai. Roleplay.
1. Peach Hairclip

**Washed Up**

**Important author's note:** this story is a collection of roleplay logs. This means it is not completely in story format, with some events missing, or played out through some other means. I will do my best to fill in the details (please read them, you'll be lost otherwise). It also means the PoV will change sporadically every other paragraph between Momo and Kaidoh.

My roleplay partner is Happiestwhen, who will write Kaidoh (and she's awesome at it), and I will write Momo (I also write Hazue). Any other people who might have written the log with me will be mentioned and credited as well.

The premise of the roleplay is that they are washed up on an island after a boat crash, 7 years later set after canon events. Me and Happiestwhen have also written logs that happen before they are washed up, so I will post these too for a more cohesive timeline. It will span several years. Each log (posted per chapter) will be dated, rated, summarized and hopefully put in chronological order.

Enjoy the huge amounts of MomoKai!

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** K

**Events leading up to this log:** none, this is the beginning.

**Date:** Momo and Kaidoh are both 4 years old and in kindergarten

* * *

It was already almost spring, but Momoshiro's parents had moved, and he had to change schools, so this is his first day of school, once more. At the wee little age of four years old, Momoshiro was going to enter the classroom for the first time. Unlike most students who would be nervous to speak in front of the class, Momoshiro himself had no problems being outgoing and introduce himself. He could take on anyone.

"Class, we have a special guest today, he'll be joining our class to play with us from now on!" announced Yamada, his new teacher.

Momoshiro, who is standing at the door, simply smiles and struts into the classroom. As soon as he does, a bunch of students start whispering to each other, wondering what their new classmate would be like. He flashes them all a dazzling four-year-old smile, and he even waves at a girl. He walks up to the front of the class, standing next to his very tall female teacher.

"Everyone, this is Momoshiro Takeshi, from now on, he'll be joining Rose Class! Why don't you introduce yourself, Takeshi?" asks Yamada gently.

Momoshiro grins at his classmates and pounds his fist on his chest, before giving them a thumbs up. "Hiya, I'm the coolest boy you'll ever meet, you can call me Takkun like everyone else does!" For sure, everyone would love him. He's always had lots of friends, he could always charm anyone. "Yesterday, I found this huge beetle thing, and I took it home with me, who wants to see it!?"

Suddenly a lot of kids in class started laughing and raising up their hands, mostly boys; they wanted to see Momoshiro's beetle. Yamada simply laughs and pats him on the head; he's got short black hair, he is not yet at the age in which he cares about his hair, so his mother cuts it really short for him every month. Momoshiro folds his arms over his chest as he watches the laughing faces with wonder; he always knows how to act to make everyone fawn over him. Always.

"I guess that would be a neat thing to bring to class one day, don't you think, class?" asks Yamada. The class roars with agreement. "Okay class, now please welcome Takkun!"

"Welcome to Rose Class Takkun!" they all call out at various intervals, and at varying pitches of tones. Momoshiro notes one quiet girl who simply mumbles her welcome, looking down at the floor she's sitting on. Ah well, he'll charm her later too.

"Why don't you join the group Peach? I'm sure they'll love having you." Yamada points to the small corner on the left side of the class, where three rough and loud boys are talking animatedly together, as well as a girl—the quiet one who mumbled her welcome.

"Yes Takkun, come join us!" yells out the biggest boy. "I'm Koki!" he introduces himself. "That one is Masaya," he points to one with a very long looking face, "and that is Shinichiro," he points to the one with freckles, "and _that_ is K-chan," finished Koki with a devious smile. Upon the mention of her name, K-chan tenses up and shies away from Momoshiro.

"Hello K-chan!" greets Momoshiro friendly. It's always a good idea to make the first move when people are too shy to do it on their own!

Kaidoh pulls at his skirt nervously, wrinkling the line of pink ducks that walk along the hem.

"Nice to meet you," he replies, his voice very quiet, but very polite. When he looks up to meet Takkun's eyes, he's startled to see how happy he looks to be talking to him. Most of his classmates don't look at him like that, especially not the boys in his class group, but this boy seems different. He seems nice, and Kaidoh smiles back at him.

Momoshiro ignores the rowdy boys next to him for a bit, to listen to the polite greeting in return from K-chan. He smiles at her; girls are always so easy to get along with, better than boys at least. He sits down right next to her, staring at the ducks on her skirt.

"Hey K-chan, do you like beetles? I'll show you my collection if you want!" he says excitedly. "I've got a big one, a small one, and a blue one, and one that is dead, and one that I buried in my backyard, and another that got eaten by a cat, so I guess I don't have that one anymore. And I've got this one with a really cool shiny colour! Ooh, I've caught a few fireflies as well, they're so cool, their butts light up! I wonder how that works, do they swallow a christmas light or something!?"

"You talk a lot," Kaidoh says, but he doesn't mind; he thinks Takkun is funny. And Kaidoh likes digging for bugs out in the sandbox on the playground, although usually all he finds are ants. Takkun's collection sounds a lot better than that. Beetles are cool. Too bad his mother doesn't let him bring any into the house.

"You should ask Yamada-sensei about the fireflies," he adds. "She knows everything."

"Really?" Momoshiro turns away from K-chan and looks at his teacher. "Yamada-sensei, do fireflies swallow christmas lights!?" he asks in a very loud voice that the rest of the class stops talking.

Yamada simply chuckles at the question, and then starts to explain why and how fireflies glow; it's definitely not by swallowing christmas lights. Everyone listens intently, being quiet, and gasping when they hear the conclusion. Momoshiro already feels right at home in his new class, and he's in a group with a polite girl as well! The boys don't look bad either, Momoshiro likes loud people as well.

Soon enough, it's time for a break, and the class can go outside and play. Before Momoshiro can even talk to K-chan, he's whisked away by the three other boys, and promptly forgets about her. They lead him to this big wooden playhouse on the playground, and soon he's climbing with the other boys, laughing with them, and even getting into scuffle fights with them. Momoshiro is feeling good, and he's smiling and laughing out loud as if he were there for years.

Then as he stands in the small little tower, giving him a perfect view of the entire playground, he sees one lonely girl in the far, far end of the playground, sitting crouched down into the dirt, there's even some on her skirt. It doesn't look like she's got any friends to play with.

"Look, K-chan is playing by herself again," mocks Koki as he sees what Momoshiro is looking at.

"Does she always do it?" asks Momoshiro.

"Yeah, no one likes her. She's such a girl! Always wearing stupid dresses and skirts."

Momoshiro doesn't know what wrong with that.

"Come on guys, let's go stomp on her dirt!" says Koki and he gathers the other two guys. Momoshiro simply tags along, wondering what he should do. He doesn't like to start conflict, but he also doesn't like crossing friends he's just made. And hey, maybe they're just playing with her.

Momoshiro lags behind as he sees the three boys crowd around K-chan, it's like they're those birds he's seen on the cartoons he watches; they're circling her, preying on her.

Koki kicks up some dirt with his shoe, and it fizzles up into the air and lands on K-chan. "What are you doing, _K-chan_, are you baking a stupid cake again? I bet your mommy loooooves eating it."

Kaidoh's whole face scrunches up. "Shut up!" he yells, his voice going shrill, and then he's wailing, already on the verge of tears. "You're so mean!" He protectively throws his hands over the mound of dirt at his feet and frantically looks for Yamada-sensei but the playground is big and he can't see her. He tries to glare back at Koki but it's hard to look angry or threatening when there are tears in his eyes.

Koki simply laughs, and then he pushes Kaidoh away to the side, and starts to stomp on his pile of dirt. The other two boys join in as well, and soon there's nothing left, nothing but crumbled dirt.

Momoshiro stands on the side and watches with wide eyes. He doesn't really know what to do; he doesn't want to stomp on K-chan's dirt pile, but he also doesn't want to stand up to three boys who are his friends. He looks over to the girl, who is now sobbing, and Momoshiro feels bad; he doesn't want to make girls cry. Maybe he should call the teacher …

Kaidoh just sits in a crumpled pile. He rubs the back of his hands over his eyes, trying to stop the tears, because he's a boy and he shouldn't be crying so much over something this stupid. He shouldn't be crying at all, but he can't help it. He worked hard on that cake, packing the dirt together tightly and using a twig to draw circles and swirls on the top.

But why should today be any different from every other day?

Kaidoh used to hide out indoors, playing in the toy kitchen in the corner of his classroom. He liked pretending to scrub dishes and prepare plastic food dinners, or fold and unfold the colorful towels and napkins. He liked how quiet it was, and no one ever came in to mess up his things or make fun of him. Yamada-sensei had caught him hiding there a few times but she had just smiled and then taught him how to fold the cloths up into flowers and birds. Then she took him by the hand and urged him to go play outside with the others, her voice calm yet stern, and unwavering in spite of his protests.

And it is always the same; as soon as the boys notice him, he becomes their target. Kaidoh is like a game to them. They laugh at his skirt and his hair or the way he doesn't want to play tag with the rest of the boys, and inside likes weird things they tell him he isn't supposed to like. But Kaidoh is just four-years-old so he doesn't know any better.

"Leave me alone," he howls and pulls his handkerchief out of his pocket and dabs at his face, wanting to hide behind it.

Momoshiro finally steps in. "Yeah guys, I saw this really weird bug on a tree a few minutes ago, let's find it!"

The boys stop terrorizing the sobbing little girl, and Momoshiro leads them away so that she's finally left alone. He might not have saved her cake, but at least they didn't hit her or anything. His mother has told him to never hit girls. _Never_.

When Momoshiro distracts the three with some weird flying ant, he slips out unnoticed and runs back to K-chan, and hopes she's still there. She is, holding a handkerchief, and looking sadly at her dirt. For a few seconds, Momoshiro doesn't know what to do. He isn't used to crying girls, and he certainly doesn't want to her to cry more. So he looks around, fumbling with his fingers and rocking back and forth on his heels, staring at the back of her dress. Then next to him, he sees a patch of small wild flowers growing, and he leans over the fence to try and pick one. He picks a small blue one, he doesn't remember what they're called.

Momoshiro walks up to K-chan and stands in front of her. "Here," he says. He sticks out his bandaid covered fingers, clutching the tiny little flower. "Those boys were mean." He rubs his nose and tries to smile at her.

Kaidoh sniffs, his eyes still red and wet, and he takes the flower. It's tiny and perfect and Kaidoh holds it close to his chest. His breath catches in a hiccup as he tries to speak again.

"Blue is my favorite color," he says softly, his voice shaking.

Momoshiro scratches the back of his head as he laughs. "Oh cool, lucky! Mine's red. Though it kinda looks like blood, and that's kinda scary, but they draw hearts in red, so that's pretty!" He sits down next to K-chan in the dirt.

"What were you making?" he asks.

"I was making a cake," Kaidoh says. He wraps the flower carefully in his handkerchief and sticks it in his pocket, careful not to crush it. Then he draws in a mound of dirt with his palm and carefully packs it into a pile. "My mother won't let me bake for real. She says it's dangerous. But this way is fun too!"

"Oooh, I like cake," says Momoshiro with a smile. "Maybe she'll let you bake one when you're older! And then you can make one for me, I love cake!" Momoshiro likes pretty much any kind of food, but cake he'll never say no to cake.

"How old are you? I am—f-four!" Momoshiro took a second to count in his head, then sticks up four fingers at K-chan.

Kaidoh smiles back at him. "I'm four, too," he says. "But my birthday is soon!" he adds proudly. "I'm third oldest in our class." He piles on another layer of dirt, making a multi-tiered cake. Takkun is really nice, he thinks. He doesn't say Kaidoh's cakes are stupid. In fact, he likes them! It makes Kaidoh feel better.

"That's cool, so you're like … older than most of us!" Unfortunately, Momoshiro doesn't remember his own birthday, but he knows it'll be awhile before he turns five. He continues to grin at K-chan. "Are you holding a birthday party? I want to come! Then we can eat real cake. Though this is pretty too." Momoshiro pokes a hole in the dirt and draws a small heart shape into it.

"I think so!" Kaidoh's eyebrows crinkle together. "My mother said I could. I don't know when though." He hesitates a moment and then says, "Of course you should come, Takkun, because you're my friend."

He uses a twig to scratch out some diamonds around Takkun's heart. Then he starts placing small rocks around the base of the cake. "What kind of cake do you like best?" he asks, as he lines the rocks up, one by one. "This one can be whatever you like."

"I like …" All kinds of cake, really. Momoshiro finds it hard to pin-point one out. "I think I like chocolate the best. Which one do you like, K-chan?" Momoshiro wonders how hard it is to bake a cake. It shouldn't be that hard; K-chan makes it seem easy!

Momoshiro helps decorate the dirt cake with the rocks as well, and he finds himself enjoying it a lot. He mostly just play fights with people, or plays hide and seek, but this is fun too. He thinks he'll enjoy being K-chan's friend. Especially if that means he'll get cake.

"Oh," Kaidoh says, "I don't actually eat cake... It's too sweet. I just eat the fruit off the top. But I like to make them!"

He puts the last rock in place and sits back to admire the cake. It's leaning a little to the left but it still looks pretty good. Kaidoh likes the heart on the top the best. "Thanks for helping me," he whispers.

"No problem, but—how can you not like cake? That's weird, haha! What kinds of fruit do you like then? I like strawberries the most, with lots of sugar and chocolate on them."

"Strawberries are good," Kaidoh agrees. "I like all kinds of fruit. Except for plums." He crinkles his nose. "Those taste weird."

"Oh, I don't think I eated them before." Momoshiro still doesn't know a whole lot of fruit. His mother has been teaching him some of the names though. He also knows his name means peach. "What about peaches then?" he asks. "Do you like those?"

Kaidoh smiles. "I like peaches too, of course! Sometimes we get peach jelly for dessert at lunchtime. It's the best."

"That sounds good!" Suddenly Momoshiro wants to eat from Kaidoh's lunch. "Want to share lunches with me!?" he asks, way too cheerful and excited, and there's this toothy grin on his face. "I'll give you something in return ... uhh …" Momoshiro leans over back to the iron fence, to stick his hand through the wire and pick another blue flower. "These." Girls like flowers, so it's not like K-chan will hate it. He offers it at K-chan.

"Sure," Kaidoh agrees, and then, as the second flower is presented to him, he exclaims, "Wow! Thanks!" His eyes light up like he's just been told a secret. No one else gives him things, especially not pretty flowers.

Seeing K-chan all happy at the flower makes Momoshiro feel happy too. It makes him want to give flowers to K-chan every day, and maybe he should! K-chan takes the flower from his hands, and Momoshiro notes his fingers are as long as his own; aren't girls supposed to have smaller hands? Oh well, she's older, so of course she's going to have bigger hands.

Soon the school bell rings, and everyone is hauled back inside.

Momoshiro, being in group Peach, shares some of K-chan's lunch, which is actually really delicious. She tells him his mother prepares her lunch for him every day, and now Momoshiro is convinced he should give her flowers every day in return as well. K-chan seems happy that Momoshiro talks to her, as he can tell that the other members of group Peach aren't all that fond of her.

In fact, you could say that Koki and the rest pretty much bullied K-chan. They call her too girly, too wimpy, they make fun of her dress, they call her dirty names, and they sometimes even pull at her brown hair. Momoshiro can't quite tell them to stop, but he can however, put bugs in their food, and cheer K-chan up with another flower.

Because as his mother had told him; he should never make a girl cry. And Momoshiro likes seeing K-chan smile. He doesn't like to see her cry.

Momoshiro's first day at school passes by, and he even goes out and asks K-chan if they can walk home together. Her eyes light up with sparkles and she eagerly nods her head. They walk home, with Momoshiro talking the entire way through, about bugs, cake, peaches, and even flowers. K-chan doesn't say as much in return, but she looks happy at least, and that makes Momoshiro just as happy. He's glad to have made a good friend!

He soon figures out that the three boys in his group aren't friends at all, even if they pretend to be. Over the days, they've been nothing but nasty to K-chan, and bully her excessively. It makes Momoshiro feel mad, and sometimes he tries and trips Koki when he's not looking in return. On one particular day in which the guys flipped K-chan's skirt and made her cry, Momoshiro gives her three blue flowers, and asks her if she wants to go to his home to see his bug collection. Through flowing tears, she agrees.

"Mom, mom, MOM!" shouts Momoshiro when he enters his home. He kicks his shoes off and runs to the living room to greet his mom. "Mom I brought someone with me today!" He runs back to the front door to try and get K-chan to follow him. "Come on, let me introduce you to my mom!"

Momoshiro grabs K-chan's hand and pulls her along with him; he can't wait to show her off to his mother. "Look mom, this is K-chan, my friend! We're going to look at my beetles today!"

His mother smiles and she bends down her head a little to look at the two little kids. "Hello there K-chan, it's nice to meet you, I'm Takeshi's mother, my name is Kagome. Do your parents know that you're here?"

Kaidoh blushes and looks down at his feet. He didn't even think about telling his mother. He'd been so excited to go anywhere with Takkun that he'd forgotten how his parents had sternly told him to always come home on time or call if he can't. His mother especially gets worried. She says four is too young to walk home alone, but Kaidoh doesn't understand. Their house is close enough to the school to walk, and Kaidoh knows the way. He likes walking, sometimes even running. He never wanted to ride the bus with the other kids.

"I forgot to tell them," he says bashfully. "I'm sure they won't mind though." His mother has been trying to get him to make friends, and while there have always been girls in Kaidoh's class willing to fold origami with him or sit next to him during music class, they don't invite him home, and Kaidoh is too shy to invite them over to his house either. Luckily, Takkun is the opposite of shy. Kaidoh's so happy to have met him.

"That's okay, we can just call them up and tell them you're here, do you know your parent's phone number?" asks Momoshiro's mother.

Momoshiro is starting to get a little impatient, swinging his arm as well as K-chan's back and forth; he wants to go to his room and show her his bug collection already! He turns to smile at her. "Yeah K-chan, tell us, so we can go to my room already!"

Kaidoh recites the number slowly and Takkun's mother dials it and hands the phone to him.

"Hello?" he asks when it picks up, and immediately hears his mother's worried voice. She frantically bombards him with questions and he answers each calmly, happiness creeping into his voice as he tells her how he's come over to play at Takkun's house and he's fine and having fun and don't worry, he'll be home in time for dinner.

Then he hands the phone back to Takkun's mother. "My mother wants to talk to you too," he says politely. His mother fusses over him a lot, not wanting him to be in strange homes with strange people. She knows all the neighborhood mothers on a first name basis and has their numbers on a memo pad by the phone in their kitchen. She'll probably ask Takkun's mother her standard list of questions about their family and tell her not to let Kaidoh watch too much TV.

Momoshiro finds this very boring, and he pulls K-chan away to let the grown-ups talk it out. "Come on, let's go, I don't want you to be forced to go home already!" Still hand-in-hand, Momoshiro guides K-chan up the stairs and to his small bedroom.

"Welcome, to my bedroom!" he says excitedly. There's a futon lying on the ground, and he kicks it away to the side to make space for the both of them to sit on the floor. Then he finally lets go of K-chan's hand and hurries over towards his desk. There's a bunch of glass jars and plastic containers cramped on top of it. He can already hear the various buzzing and noises of the bugs; he's caught quite a lot lately.

Momoshiro grabs the jar with the firefly in it, then he turns to his window to put down the blinds. "Look, it's a firefly I caught!" He puts the jar in the middle of the slightly dark room, and waits for it to light up.

Kaidoh glances nervously at Takkun and then back at the jar and then it happens: the firefly's body glimmers with soft yellow light. It brightens until the whole jar seems to be glowing.

A smile spreads across Kaidoh's face and he tugs at the sleeve of Takkun's shirt. "That's so cool!" he whispers in awe.

"I know, isn't it!?" replies Momoshiro in a happy voice. He looks at K-chan and sees her smiling too, and that makes him feel really happy and awesome. He should show her bugs every day if she can smile like this!

Momoshiro scrambles up from the spot on the floor and goes to retrieve more bottles, and places them down in a circle around them. Animatedly he talks about what they're called, what they do, where he found them—and some he doesn't even know the name of. He likes seeing that look of admiration on K-chan's face the more bugs he introduces her.

"Oh, and I caught a butterfly yesterday!" he says, suddenly remembering. The jar is on top of his nightstand; he'd been keeping it separately. Inside is a large gorgeous blue butterfly. Its wings gradually grow from vivid cyan blue, to a deep purple. When it flaps its wings against the glass, it looks like pixie dust. He walks over to K-chan, and offers the jar.

"For you, because you like blue," says Momoshiro. "You can keep it."

Kaidoh takes it gingerly and stares in amazement. He's never seen a butterfly with colors this vibrant, not even in the butterfly pavilion at the zoo or on the nature channel. It must have been really hard to catch! He tears his focus away from the jar and looks back at Takkun like he's some kind of superhero. "I love it," he says.

Momoshiro sits down next to K-chan with a wide grin, and he wiggles back and forth on his legs. He's happy K-chan likes it, no—even loves it! He likes giving things to her. Especially pretty things.

"It's as pretty as you," Momoshiro lets slip out. Or maybe K-chan is even prettier. She has a very pretty smile, and cute pink cheeks, and her eyes are a dark blue, and her brown hair looks soft. He sort of wants to touch it. Momoshiro brushes some of her hair away from her shoulder to expose her neck and her cute little dress. Of all girls he's met so far, this one is the first to like his collection. He smiles at her vibrantly.

Kaidoh's whole face goes red. "I'm not pretty," he protests. Boys aren't supposed to be pretty, he knows that much. They're supposed to be handsome or cool. Like Takkun is. Takkun might be the coolest person Kaidoh knows. After all, he probably has the best bug collection in the whole world and that counts for a lot.

But Takkun doesn't call Kaidoh pretty the way the boys at school do in mocking, jeering tones. He says it with a smile, like it's a good thing, like maybe it doesn't mean what Kaidoh thought it did, and just means that Takkun likes Kaidoh the way he is.

So Kaidoh smiles at him and says, "You're pretty too," because he's been taught that it's polite to return compliments.

Seeing K-chan turn red, and then call him pretty too, makes Momoshiro in turn go red as well. He laughs out loud as he scratches the back of his head; it's the first time someone called him pretty. That's nice, really nice! He's always liked certain bugs because they were pretty, so it's nice to know someone likes him because he's pretty too! But K-chan is prettier.

Momoshiro happily throw his tiny arms around K-chan, his fingers fiddling with the ruffles of her dress, and he hugs her tightly. "I like you, K-chan!" He wants to stay friends with her forever. The firefly in the jar dances around again, like a little glowing light.

Kaidoh feels warm and safe and he can feel Takkun's heart beating, and he's just really happy like this. Takkun's house is fun and full of cool things and Takkun is nice and fun and cool too. He's like a really cool beetle. The coolest one, even.

"I like you too, Takkun," Kaidoh whispers, breathing out a short puff of air and squeezing him right back.

The two little kids spend a couple of more hours chatting with each other, laughing, playing, K-chan even gets to stay and eat dinner with them. But then she has to go home, and Momoshiro's mother drives her back. Before leaving, Momoshiro tells her she should come over every day, and he'll have a new bug to show her too!

K-chan doesn't reject the offer; after that, they walk to Momoshiro's home every day, hand in hand. And true to his word, Momoshiro has a different bug to show as well. He even gives a few to her, since she likes them. Momoshiro likes seeing K-chan smile whenever she in his room, looking at his bugs, or even simply talking to him. He's had friends before of course, but not one who was so easy to get along with like K-chan. He really likes her.

Which is why he gets so angry whenever she gets bullied in class by Koki, Masaya and Shinichiro. Those three have it out for her. They make fun of her pretty dresses, her beautiful hair, and the way she likes to play house. It annoys Momoshiro. He can get along with everyone, but he can't get along with anyone who makes fun of K-chan. He tells them off a few times, as good as a four year old can do. And they listen too; Momoshiro has gotten popular within the class in no time, and they don't want to get on his bad side.

But when Momoshiro's back is turned, the bullying continues like it's never stopped before. Momoshiro doesn't know, he doesn't know K-chan still runs off and cries alone in a corner when he's not there. If he knew, he'd probably have stolen their lunch boxes and threw it into the trash. That, and hurt them. Hurt them real bad.

On one particular day, Momoshiro wakes up to find it raining outside. His mother lost her umbrella, so she doesn't have one to give to Momoshiro. He's soaked and completely wet when he arrives at school. He laughs it off, then shakes his head around like a dog to dry himself off a bit. K-chan kindly offers a handkerchief she keeps with her, and Momoshiro happily uses it, and tell her he'll make his mom wash it for him, so that he can return it to her nice and clean.

At the end of the day—after giving K-chan her daily flower—Momoshiro stands at the exit with K-chan, looking out at the rain.

"I don't have an umbrella," says Momoshiro sully. Obviously, both of them already know this, but he feels like saying it anyway. "You can't walk home with me today because you'll get wet too. I don't want you to get wet." His tiny hand feels like reaching out to hers, but he keeps it hanging at his side.

Kaidoh's face scrunches up and he shakes his head, opening his blue umbrella into the rain. It's covered with friendly-looking zoo animals; snakes and pandas and kangaroos.

"We can share," he says, and lifts the umbrella over them both. "Just stand close to me and we'll both stay dry."

"Okay!" exclaims Momoshiro enthusiastically. He huddles up right next to K-chan, their arms touching, and he reaches for her hand as well, slipping his fingers in between her and smiling. Hers feels slightly colder than his own, but that's okay, if he keeps holding it, it'll be warm!

"Then let's go, K-chan!" Momoshiro tugs at her hand a little and starts to walk.

Kaidoh walks along with Takkun on their normal route back to Takkun's house. The rain is steady, and Takkun is careful to navigate them around the big puddles, all the while talking animatedly about the bug he'll show Kaidoh today. Every afternoon it starts out as a surprise, but by the time they reach Takkun's house, he'll have described the whole thing in detail, unable to keep it a secret any longer. It doesn't ever make it any less exciting for Kaidoh to see.

They turn the corner and are about to cross the road into Takkun's neighborhood when Kaidoh hears a high, plaintive meowing coming from the bushes next to the sidewalk. He pulls on Takkun's hand to stop him.

"Did you hear that?" he asks curiously. The bushes rustle slightly and a small orange kitten emerges. It seems to bristle up as the rain droplets soak into its fur and then it looks straight at Kaidoh and meows again. Kaidoh's eyes get very wide and very shiny and he looks over at Takkun, not sure what to do.

"Oh, it's a cat," says Momoshiro. He looks at the small drenched animal; it seems to be shaking and trembling. "It looks cold, come on, let's put the umbrella over it." He pulls K-chan along so that they're close enough to the small kitten, who doesn't seem to be running away from them. No, it stays perfectly still when they stand right in front of it, and the umbrella is now shielding it from the rain.

Momoshiro hand slips out of K-chan's, and he bends through his knees, reaching out to the kitten with his hand, wanting to pet it. "It looks scared. Do you think it's lost?" Maybe it had lost its way from his mother, and was simply wandering around the streets in the rain, hoping to find her again. It makes Momoshiro feel sad and want to protect the small furball.

"Maybe the mom cat is around here," he says, and Momoshiro looks around for any sign of her. But through this dense rain, he doesn't see anything.

The kitten winds its way around Takkun's legs, still mewing desperately. Kaidoh feels his heart tugging in his chest. It's just so _cute_. He wants to help it, and pet it, and hold it close, and keep it forever. He suddenly feels a lot of things.

"Can we take it with us?" Kaidoh blurts.

Why not," says Momoshiro with a shrug. "My mom lets me keep all kinds of bugs, so why not this?" Momoshiro pets the kitten, the fur feels wet and rigid under his hands. He really want to dry the kitty off. He swoops it up into his hands and stands back up straight, cradling it against his chest. The kitten claws at the fabric of his shirt and mews some more.

"What should we call it?" asks Momoshiro as he smiles at it in his arms.

Kaidoh looks at the kitten and then down at his skirt which today is embroidered in tiny red and yellow flowers.

"How about Rose?" he suggests in a small voice. "Like Rose class." He doesn't know if the kitten is a girl or a boy, and maybe Rose is supposed to only be a girl's name, but why should it matter? He's a boy and Takkun still thinks he's pretty, so maybe a boy kitten can be named Rose, too.

Momoshiro grins. "Sure, Rose! I like it!" He pulls the kitten away from his chest, its claws snagging onto the fabric and shooting loose with a few snaps.

"Here, why don't you carry Rose? I'll hold the umbrella!" Momoshiro gently offers the kitten to K-chan, and already has one hand out that folds itself over K-chan's hand that is holding the umbrella. It feels softer each time he touches it.

Kaidoh feels really good about holding Rose, and curls his arm around the kitten, hugging it to his chest. It's small and soft and so light in his arms. He's never held one this young before, so he's really delicate. He doesn't want Rose to get scared and jump away and he doesn't want to hurt it either.

As they walk the remaining three blocks to Momoshiro's house, Kaidoh feels warm and happy in spite of the rain. He's got an adorable kitten in his arms, which is really cool, and he's got Takkun at his side, squeezed in close against him, hand over his and an umbrella between them, which is even better. He doesn't even care that it's raining. He wouldn't care if it rained all week.

Momoshiro carefully watches K-chan as she snuggles the cat close to her chest, and she squeezes his hand in return. He feels something pop and sizzle around in his stomach; he's never felt it before. But it feels kind of nice—it feels really nice! He can't help but smile and inch closer to her. Not because it's raining, or it's cold, but because he likes being close to K-chan, and when he sees her smile back at him, it makes the sizzle in his stomach go crazy and flip flop everywhere.

It doesn't feel bad at all.

However, those happy bubbly feelings burst when he arrives at his home. His mother starts yelling at him, demanding why he brought back a cat. Little Rose claws at K-chan's shirt as it gets scared of his mother's high and loud voice. Momoshiro tightens his grip on K-chan's hand. He's scared, he feels like he's done something wrong, but doesn't really know why his mother is so angry at him. He brings bugs home all the time, what's wrong with a kitty?

Eventually, his mother forces K-chan to go home and leave Rose behind. Momoshiro looks at her with tears in his eyes as she disappears into the rain. He feels bad, he feels really bad, like he's nauseous and he's going to throw up. His mother yells at him for two more hours afterwards, after that she simply starts ringing a bunch of people to ask them if they wanted to take in a cat. Eventually she gets a hold of Yamada, his teacher, and she agrees.

Next day at school, Momoshiro brings Rose with him, and K-chan is delighted to see her again. He still feels a twinge when he thinks back on yesterday, and how horribly wrong it went, but when he sees K-chan playing with Rose, that twinge is swiped away by the current of a strong electricity flowing through him. He plays with Rose like the rest of the children in class, all the while having goose bumps on his arms, despite it not being cold.

It's a weird feeling, but Momoshiro finds he doesn't hate it. He really likes it. He really likes K-chan.

These feelings that Momoshiro is so new to simply keep building up as more days pass, and he spends all of them with the little cute girl of his class. Sometimes he secretly goes to Yamada's house together with K-chan to play with Rose (she kept the name). He really likes these days. Momoshiro showers K-chan with several flowers a day, most of them are blue.

Sometime later, Momoshiro returns K-chan's handkerchief, and teasingly ties it around her head, and says she looks cute like this as well. K-chan blushes and takes it off, but thanks him for cleaning and returning it.

More than a month has passed since he first joined the class of Rose, and met K-chan. K-chan has told Momoshiro that her birthday was coming up, and obviously, he was invited. Feeling giddy with excitement, he drags his mother out to the store so he can buy a present for the girl. He can't wait to give it to her and see her face. He feels bubbly and twinkly all over just thinking about it.

The night before K-chan's birthday, Momoshiro stares at his ceiling with a stupid grin on his face that won't go away. He can't wait to go to her birthday party!

"Happy birthday!" Momoshiro shouts out loud as K-chan opens the front door to greet him. He wiggles back and forth on his shoes, smiling at her, and hiding a small little present box behind his back.

Kaidoh smiles at Takkun as the door swings open. He's been smiling so much lately his face might stay stuck that way.

"I'm so happy you came!" he says, his cheeks going pink. Since his party is on the weekend, his mother let him dress in play clothes instead; baby blue overalls with frilly cuffs and a light green t-shirt with a cat on it. She comes to the door as well and smiles in greeting at Takkun. Kaidoh's mother looks happy too, and she's been worrying and fussing over Kaidoh less and less.

"We've really been looking forward to having you here," his mother says cheerfully, her eyes seeming to disappear as she smiles. Takkun bows his head politely.

It's an understatement. Kaidoh has been excited all morning, asking his parents every fifteen minutes or so if it's time for his party yet. He's ready to play games and have fun and do all kinds of exciting party things and now that it's finally time, he eagerly tugs on Takkun's shirt to pull him inside the house. "Come on!"

His mother had tried to coax Kaidoh into throwing a big party and inviting his entire class to come celebrate, saying that five was a big year and he could have a special party with everyone together, but Kaidoh had politely refused. There was no way he wanted Koki and the others to come to his house. They'd ruin everything. They probably wouldn't even want to come in the first place.

No, there was only one person Kaidoh wanted to invite, only one person he really wanted to spend his birthday with. He just wanted Takkun and no one else, so his mother had reluctantly agreed.

"Today's a special party," Kaidoh whispers conspiratorially as he pulls Takkun inside. "For _best_ friends only." Takkun giggles when he hears this. They go into the kitchen and Kaidoh shows Takkun the presents he's already received from his parents; a pop-up picture book about Japanese beetles, an elaborate tiny doll house which Kaidoh is pleased to note includes a tiny stove that even opens and closes, and a cool suction ball game with neon catcher's mitts and even a target board to hang on the wall and score points. Kaidoh's father had been trying to teach him how to play since this morning, but Kaidoh hasn't been able to hit the bullseye yet.

"What do you want to do first? Oh, did I tell you? My mother made a cake!"

Momoshiro's eyes lit up at the mention of cake. "Really? Oh, I don't know, play first, or eat first … argh, both sound good!" But then he remembers something else; he hadn't yet given K-chan her present yet.

"No, I have to give you my present first!" says Momoshiro. He stands right in front of Kaidoh and lifts up his hand; a small pink gift box with a white bow on top is clutched inside of it. "This is for you."

Kaidoh's mother walks in at that time, and sees the gift exchange, and decides she should get the camera out. It's nice to see Kaidoh having a friend that isn't a girl, she's really happy he has managed to make such a close friend as him, so she wants to capture this moment forever. She disappears real fast to retrieve the camera.

Anxiously, Momoshiro waits for K-chan to open it as her small hands take it from his. "My mom told me to get you a toy, like a doll or something, but I hope you don't mind this one. I wanted to give you something you could carry around every day!" Then, a bit more reluctant, "If you wanted a toy instead, I can still go out and buy one …" What matters is that K-chan will like the gift.

Kaidoh smiles shyly and opens the box. It's a peach. He picks it up and turns it over in his hand. Actually, it's some kind of clip. Kaidoh isn't sure what it's for. Maybe for paper?

He looks up at Takkun, confusion showing on his face. "What do I do with it?" he asks.

"It's a hair clip! To keep your hair out of your face, since you have long pretty hair." Momoshiro takes the clip from K-chan's hands, then stands next to her. He opens up the pink metal pins, and slides it into K-chan's hair, pushing away the hair from her face, and letting it sit above her right ear. He clicks it into place and smiles. He can see her face more clearly this way, and the hair clip looks adorable on her.

"Happy birthday, K-chan!" says Momoshiro again, before he smooches K-chan's cheek.

Kaidoh's mother takes a picture at that moment, capturing their first kiss for eternity. She's so happy that her son made friends with someone so cute.

"Thank you," Kaidoh whispers, after the flash has gone off. His cheeks are red and he feels warm all over, and he thinks he should be saying more than _thank you_, but isn't sure what to say instead. Takkun had kissed him, which was surprising, but nice, and Kaidoh liked it. He liked it a lot. He likes Takkun a lot.

Kaidoh's really glad that Takkun's here spending the day with him. He's having a really good birthday, and the party's only just started.

"This is the best present," Kaidoh says, and means it.

"Of course it is, I bought it for you," replies Momoshiro while grinning. "Now let's go play!"

Momoshiro drags K-chan towards her newly awarded presents. They browse through the Japanese beetles pop-up book as they huddle next to each other on the couch. Momoshiro points at every single one of them, saying he'd catch them for K-chan and give it to her. He'll give her anything. K-chan even gets him to play with the doll house, and Momoshiro is quite fascinated by all the little things, and they spend an hour simply checking out all the rooms (it even has working electricity!). Next is the target board, with kid-sized darts. Momoshiro misses everything, and they end up sticking in the wall, but K-chan doesn't seem to mind at all.

When it's time for cake, they sing a small birthday song together, and Momoshiro stuffs his face full of the delicious two-tiered cake. He notices K-chan eats her share of the cake very slow and very polite, as if she's handling a delicate piece of ice sculpture, and he feels a bit guilty eating like an animal, so he slows down a bit. His face does end up covered in cake though.

Kaidoh laughs out loud when he looks up from his plate at Takkun and sees him covered in icing and cake crumbles. He looks ridiculous, but Kaidoh likes how happy he is when he's eating, always enjoying everything completely. He doesn't care about doing things the polite way, and Kaidoh wishes he could be more like that too sometimes.

"You're such a mess," Kaidoh chides, and takes his napkin to carefully wipe at Takkun's mouth until it's clean again. "There," he says when he's finished, still very close to him. "Perfect."

Momoshiro blushes a bit at having K-chan take care of him like that, but he smiles nonetheless. "Thanks," he says bashfully. He scans K-chan's face for anything to clean up as well, but doesn't see anything. She's as clean and perfect like always.

So Momoshiro sticks his finger into the icing of the cake, then childishly rubs it on her cheek while laughing, saying she needs to get dirty too. He takes this moment of surprise, by quickly licking the icing off her cheek with his tongue. He wipes at his mouth with the back of his hand as he laughs, then runs away.

"Hey!" Kaidoh exclaims, chasing after him. This turns into a game of tag from room to room that only ends when Kaidoh's mother finally catches up with them and scolds them both for running in the house.

Kaidoh looks guilty and apologizes but once his mother's back is turned he giggles, playfully nudging Takkun in the arm.

Momoshiro playfully nudges her back, until he's tickling the girl. Immediately, he finds out that she's very sensitive in her sides, and he has quite a lot of fun pushing her onto the couch, running his fingers along her side until she's gasping for air from laughing so much. Momoshiro can't help himself; hearing her laugh is addicting. Seeing that smile on her face makes him feel happy, and it feels like he's got a ton of beetles crawling around in his stomach. K-chan is better than any bug he's caught.

"It's too much!" Kaidoh sputters, trying to grab at Takkun's hands to stop him from tickling so mercilessly. He can't stop laughing; his sides ache and his head feels all fuzzy, but in a good way. He's laughing so hard he actually starts tearing up a bit. Finally he is able to catch both Takkun's hands in his own, and pushes him back against the couch and climbs on top of him.

"I win!" he exclaims triumphantly.

Momoshiro grins at her; he can't let a _girl_ win and top him, now can he? But as he tries to struggle out from underneath K-chan, he finds out she's actually pretty strong for a girl! Frowning at the sudden revelation, Momoshiro uses more force, and then he's thrown K-chan off of him, as well as himself, and they fall off the couch. Momoshiro lands right on top of K-chan, almost squishing her, and their tiny heads knock against each other.

Hearing the commotion from the living room, Kaidoh's mother returns, and she scolds the two boys for making such a ruckus. They meekly apologize, but when her back is turned, they start wrestling with each other again.

Momoshiro is half aware that girls shouldn't like doing these sort of things; but K-chan is special. She's the best girl there is, and he's having too much fun trying to tickle her, and get on top of her to really care about it. K-chan seems to be having fun as well; she's always smiling and giggling. He kind of wishes it was her birthday every day.

Eventually they tire themselves out; they've played all day long, and they're still little kids, so their energy is depleted by five PM. Momoshiro is too tired to go home, and K-chan's mother offers to let him stay the night. Eagerly, he agrees to this, and even his own mother allows him to stay. Even though he's tired, he stays in K-chan's room and they talk and play all night long.

They even sleep together in the same bed, and after they finally close their eyes to get some rest, Momoshiro snuggles closer to K-chan and puts his small arms around her. He likes holding her close like this. It was the best day ever.

Momoshiro leaves a small kiss on her forehead before he drifts off into sleep.

The next day when he goes home, he misses K-chan terribly, and hopes he can sleep over every day. They don't, but afterwards Momoshiro gets to stay over at K-chan's place a few times, and K-chan sleeps over at his house as well. Those are the best days in his small short life. They play a lot, and Momoshiro finds out K-chan is quite into getting rough and dirty with him lately, as if she's feeling more comfortable around him so she doesn't feel the need to be polite. Momoshiro has no problems with this; he actually likes wrestling with her!

This blissful state of friendship lasts for a while, and it's been more than two months since Momoshiro first met K-chan—almost three! He's shared many, many wonderful moments with his dream girl, and they spend almost every waking moment together. And sometimes in their sleep as well. It makes Momoshiro extremely happy to know she wears the hairclip every single day. Every time he looks at it, his heart thumps right out his chest, and the biggest beetle crawls around inside of his stomach.

But what Momoshiro doesn't know, was that K-chan is still getting bullied in class by those three little boys from their group. He doesn't know, because they do it behind his back, and K-chan never tells him about it. He thought everything was fine. Until one day he found Koki had dragged K-chan behind the school building.

Koki rips the hairclip out of Kaidoh's hair. "Look at this, you've been wearing it every single day like some girly girl!" He waves the hairclip in front of her, taunting her.

"Give it back!" Kaidoh demands, but his voice is trembling as he does. Koki is growing up faster than him, and he's taller, bigger, and his voice is much louder when he yells. He terrifies Kaidoh, but the hairclip is a precious gift from Takkun and if something were to happen it, Kaidoh would never forgive himself, and he guiltily worries Takkun wouldn't forgive him either.

"Give it back or _else_ !" he repeats, but his voice squeaks out, sounding more like a sob than a threat. "It's mine!"

Koki simply pulls at Kaidoh's long hair, and then pushes him onto the ground. The hairclip is still firmly clutched in his hand. His other two lackeys appear as well, and they're grinning like two little devils, crowding around Kaidoh like vultures.

Kaidoh's eyes well up with tears. He scraped up both his elbows when he fell but that's not what's making him cry. He feels so angry and scared, and helpless most of all. He glares up at Koki, wishing his eyes were lasers and could make him disappear, wishing he could disappear himself.

He musters up all of his strength to yell, "Leave me alone!", or at least, he tries to yell, but instead it bubbles out of him like a whimper. The boys just laugh, and Kaidoh hides his face in his hands and cries.

It's that shrill crying voice that alerts Momoshiro to K-chan's whereabouts. He's been trying to find her ever since the bell rung, but she disappeared. Until he heard her voice, and he dashes towards the back of the school building. What he sees makes him choke up and clench his little tiny hands into fists.

K-chan is on the ground, her elbows are bleeding, her hair looks unkempt, and the bastard trio is standing around her, laughing at her, mocking her. It makes Momoshiro bubble over in rage. He starts screaming at them, and launches himself at the leader.

Koki is caught off guard completely as Momoshiro jumps on his back. He's thrown down to the ground, and his face is getting clawed at by Momoshiro's fingernails.

"You leave her alone!" Momoshiro cries out. He starts to bash Koki's nose, and then little boy yelps in pain and throws Momoshiro off of him.

Masaya and Shinichiro finally join in, and they grab Momoshiro's arms to prevent him from fighting back, but Momoshiro is much stronger than them, and seeing K-chan helplessly whimpering on the ground makes him the most angry he's ever been. He bites Masaya's arm until he draws blood, and the boy lets go immediately. One arm free, Momoshiro kicks Shinichiro right between the legs, and he doubles over in pain and cries out loud.

Koki stands there, looking like a deer caught in headlights, not knowing which way to run off to, and he simply stares at Momoshiro, scared out of his wits. Momoshiro stomps over to him, then rips the hairclip out of his hands.

"Don't ever touch K-chan again," he growls at Koki. Then he pushes Koki away, and runs back to K-chan to help her stand up.

"Come on, let's leave these stupid lamers alone." Momoshiro takes K-chan's hand and gently pulls her up to her feet, and guides her away from the school building.

Kaidoh's lower lip is still trembling and his eyes are still wet, but he feels stronger with Takkun next to him, like nothing can ever hurt him; Takkun won't let it happen.

He gives Takkun's hand a squeeze and then pulls him into a tight hug. "Thank you," he says, the words quiet and inadequate. No one's ever stood up for him like that before, and Kaidoh thinks Takkun is even _more_ amazing now, something he hadn't thought was possible. He wishes he could be that brave and strong.

"You were so cool just now," Kaidoh says with his face buried into the crook of Takkun's neck. He doesn't want to let him go.

Momoshiro strokes K-chan's hair, simultaneously picking out a few crumbs of dirt. He doesn't care about looking cool or showing off this time. He simply wanted them to stop bullying her. He wants to protect her, and make sure no one hurts her. Ever.

"If anyone bothers you, and I'm not there, just punch them right in the face," is Momoshiro's helpful advice. He then slides the hairclip back into her hair, to move it away from her glowing face, still buried into his neck.

"I know you can do it, you're pretty strong," says Momoshiro with a giggle. K-chan has topped him several times already when they were play fighting. Who knew a girl could be so strong? But he's kind of proud of that, and he hopes K-chan will be strong enough to fend off any bullies. That is, if he's not there to witness it, because Momoshiro is sure to not let anyone touch her while he's still around.

"Don't let anyone make you cry, okay?" Momoshiro pulls back so he can smile at K-chan's face. "I'll make sure to hurt them if they do!"

Kaidoh sniffles and wipes at his face with the back of his hand. "I'll hurt them too!" he says with a small, nervous laugh. He isn't sure he could actually do it... He's never hit someone before! But being with Takkun gives him the confidence to do anything. He's not going to be weak anymore. He vows to punch Koki square between the eyes if he dares touch his hairclip again.

He walks back to the playground with Takkun, their hands clasped tightly together, and Kaidoh says, "Come on, I need to make you something." He drags Takkun over to the fence where he begins searching the ground until he finds a very thin, and very round pebble. Then he takes a stick of chalk off the ground—yellow; someone had been using it to scrawl sunflowers onto the playground's patio—and draws a star onto the face of the pebble, before handing it to Takkun.

"It's a medal," he says simply. "Because you're the best."

Momoshiro simply laughs out loud and takes the pebble from K-chan's hands. The best—of course he's the best. But only for her.

"Thank you!" says Momoshiro happily. Then he tilts his head to the side and kisses K-chan's cheek again.

That day, when Momoshiro walks home again with K-chan, he stores the pebble away in a very special and small box, and puts it underneath his bed. It also marked the day that no one ever called K-chan names again. Or pushed her around, or did other awful stuff to her. Not a single word was said; everyone seemed to be afraid of crossing Momoshiro, the little boy who beat up the three strongest boys in class.

Of course, their teacher Yamada had found out, and Momoshiro was forced to stand in a corner for the entire day, and his parents had to come over to apologize for his behaviour. Though back at home, when Momoshiro told them the story, they secretly cheered on for their son.

Momoshiro doesn't really care that lots of students in the class stopped talking to him, or playing with him—though he's kind of happy to know they leave K-chan alone as well. It simply doesn't matter to him; he's happy spending time with K-chan, walking home with her every day, giving her little trinkets, staying over at her house or at his, and he's even gone out a few times with her to catch bugs. For four year old Momoshiro, life was pretty good.

Until a few weeks later, when his parents tell him that they will be moving again soon. Something about his father getting fired from the job, and he's taking back his old one. It hasn't sunk in yet; Momoshiro was only half listening, as all he wanted to do was run out and go see K-chan and play with her.

But then that fated day arrives, and it's Momoshiro's last day at school. His teacher already knows, and it standing in front of the class with Momoshiro next to her to announce the news.

"It's been a short three months, but we all had a lot of fun in those three months you were here, Takkun," says Yamada. A few disagreements could be heard from a specific three boys at the back. "But unfortunately, Takkun has to move away and go to a different school now. So this is his last day. Be extra nice to him class!"

Momoshiro looks down at the ground and he feels sad, he feels like crying; he doesn't want to move away. He wants to stay with K-chan and play with her every day. He really likes her. WIth a sullen expression on his face, Momo walks over to the Peach group, and he sits next to K-chan, not even looking her in the eye. He's really going to move, his parents have already found out a new school for him, and they're moving back into their old home, which is far, far away from this place.

It sucks, and he really hates it. He wants to run away with K-chan.

Kaidoh scoots across the floor a little, moving closer so that his leg brushes up against Takkun's as they sit side by side. He takes Takkun's hand and squeezes it tightly, the feeling of his palm against his own comforting and familiar. He doesn't want to let go. He suddenly feels like there's not enough time.

"Don't go!" he whispers. "I don't want you to go." Not now. Not ever.

"I don't want to go either," says Momoshiro sully. "Can't you come with me?" he asks with childish and hopeful dreams.

Kaidoh blinks and starts to cry. "I don't think so," he admits, and wishes it weren't true. He can't really imagine life without Takkun anymore. It may have only been three months, but they have been the three best months of his life so far. It's not fair! It's not fair that Takkun has to go.

"Promise you'll come back," Kaidoh says hesitantly, his voice cracking. There's a piece of string in his pocket from when his mother had been teaching him to crochet, and he pulls it out now and wraps it around Takkun's finger, tying it into a delicate bow. He takes the other end and ties it around his own finger. It's a little loose, tenuous at best, but it will hold for now.

"There," he says, "now we're tied together! Now you have to come back." His voice doesn't crack this time. It doesn't even waver.

Momoshiro smiles at the flimsy thread around his finger. "Yeah," he says. "Forever!"

The rest of the day, Momoshiro stays tied to K-chan and doesn't leave her side. The string looks fragile, like it can break any moment, and his stomach feels so heavy as if he ate way too many burgers at once. He gives K-chan one last blue flower from next to the fence, and he feels very sad giving it to her. It's the last one. The last he could ever give to her.

And then just like that, school is over. K-chan is walking next to him, and their hands are clutched together, the string dangling between them. It's weird, it feels like Momoshiro is leaving K-chan behind for good with each heavy step he takes on the pavement. Why did his parents have to move again? He's never been this happy before! He's never liked someone this much before …

They don't say much on their way to Momoshiro's house, probably because both of them would burst into tears if they said anything. Even when K-chan stays over for a bit and plays at his house, they don't say much. There's no more laughter, and when Momoshiro looks into K-chan's dark blue eyes, all he can see is the same depressing feeling he's got simmering in his stomach.

K-chan leaves to go home, and Momoshiro promises he'll visit her before he leaves. The string eventually slips from Momoshiro's finger when they pull apart, and he stands there looking at the ground for a while, staring at it, even when K-chan is out of sight, he stands there like a zombie.

The weekend is moving day, and Momoshiro's parents have packed everything, they're ready to go to their old home. Momoshiro asked them to drive by K-chan's home so he can still see her one last time, and they drop Momoshiro off in front of K-chan's house.

"K-chan!" Momoshiro yells out as he dashes towards the front door. He can't reach the doorbell so he pounds his tiny fists on the door instead. "K-chan, I've come to see you!"

The door opens slowly and Kaidoh peeks around it. But it's really Takkun standing there, not merely his wishful imagination! Kaidoh's eyes go wide and his heart starts racing.

"Takkun..." he says, and his breath hitches, and then he can't just stand there anymore and swings the door open wider before rushing through it and crushing Takkun into a hug, his hands clinging tightly to his shoulders.

Momoshiro drapes his arms around K-chan as well, and hugs her back just as tightly. "W-we're l-leaving now," he says through small hiccups. He can already feel tears well up in his eyes. He doesn't want to leave! Stupid parents!

"I promise I'll see you a-again, okay? I will!" says Momoshiro. He hugs K-chan tighter and buries his face into her dark brown hair to stifle any sniffles and tears. "I definitely will!" he says a bit more confidently. He grabs K-chan's hands and brings it up to his face. "I'll come back and marry you!"

"But—" Kaidoh starts to protest. But boys don't marry other boys, do they?

But Takkun doesn't do anything with him the normal way. He kisses Kaidoh and calls him pretty and tells him he likes him all the time! So why not get married too? There's no one else in the world Kaidoh would want to be with. With all the fearlessness that comes from being five-years-old, he's pretty sure that's not going to change. No, he knows it won't!

"Okay," he agrees, quiet like he's sharing a secret, and then he repeats it, a bit louder this time: "Okay! I'll wait for you." In Kaidoh's still young mind, Takkun won't be gone for longer than a month, _maybe_ two, and Kaidoh can be strong for even that kind of impossibly long time.

"Yeah, then I'll give you all the flowers and bugs in the world," says Momoshiro. He's smiling, but he's also crying. He's going away for real now, but he's sure he'll see her again. One day. Momoshiro will make damn sure of it.

"Takeshi, hurry up!" his mother yells at him from the car.

Momoshiro squeezes K-chans hands tightly and he sniffs a few times. "I'll definitely come see you again!" And to seal the deal, Momoshiro doesn't tie a string around their fingers, but instead he hastily puckers out his lips, and smacks them against K-chan's. His face is completely red, he's still crying a little, and there's a mix of butterflies and beetles swarming around in his stomach as he pulls back from K-chan.

Kaidoh stares at him wide-eyed and feels his whole face burning up. He's going red right up to his ears. His lips feel like they're buzzing with energy. He doesn't know what to say. He can feel Takkun's pulse pounding in his hand and Kaidoh's sure his is too. This is hard for both of them, he knows. Kaidoh isn't even the one who has to move away.

"Remember that I like you most of all," Kaidoh says, his voice catching on the word 'like'. He wipes the tears from Takkun's cheeks with his hand. He doesn't want Takkun to leave, but Takkun's words are still ringing in his ears, happy and hopeful. Takkun's never told him anything he didn't mean with his whole heart. Kaidoh _will_ see him again. This isn't the end.

"And I like you too." Sniff.

One day.


	2. First Years

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **more backstory, set when Momo and Kaidoh meet up again after the last log!

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** K+

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Momo moves to his new home and never sees Kaidoh (or K-chan in his mind) again  
- Kaidoh tries to act more like Momo to stand up for himself, getting increasingly more grumpy to deflect people's teasing  
- Momo gets into tennis somewhere along the way, Kaidoh too  
- Momo decides to attend Seigaku, he's heard it had a famous tennis club  
- Kaidoh joins Seigaku as well

**Date:** April, 2003

* * *

Momoshiro Takeshi, at age twelve, thinks he's the best.

He has an impeccable amount of energy stored up, and years ago, one of his uncles suggested to release that energy through tennis. Tennis was not something Momoshiro had ever really had an affinity for, nor had it ever crossed his mind as something he should try out. But Momoshiro has liked all sorts of sports throughout his young life; from basketball, to baseball, to soccer … anything with a ball in it, really. Except for tennis, until he tried it out … and found it he actually really liked it.

And he was pretty damn good at it too. Momoshiro never does things half-assed, he goes all out with all of his energy, and people naturally flock towards him and he makes all these new friends. It's awesome. Tennis is awesome.

So when he decided to join the tennis club straight away on his first day at middle school, Momoshiro figured it was only a matter of time till he'd make friends again.

After all, who could resist his natural charm, his spiked hair, and his friendly smile? He was going to own this Seishun Gakuen school.

"_Don!_" says Momoshiro with an arrogant glint in his eyes. He's just beaten one of the second years of the tennis club at a tennis match. They are no match for him. He should be a regular, in his humble opinion, despite being told first years don't join regulars.

Well, whatever. Momoshiro will get there, they will all fall for his inevitable charm. Momoshiro Takeshi gets what he wants, and he wants a spot as a regular on the Seigaku tennis team. Because he's awesome, and obviously everyone would want him there. Even that stoic looking boy with the glasses—apparently the captain—will want him on their team.

"I can't believe he's just a first year …" growls his opponent, a second year.

"Okay, next challenger!" Momoshiro yells out enthusiastically. He looks around for another person to step up to the plate and play a game of tennis with him, when his eyes scan over the fence. There's a small crowd gathered around it, having been watching his match before, all dressed in black uniforms.

See? People naturally flock to him, he's got fans already. Momoshiro shows them all a confident grin.

Kaidoh has pushed himself through the crowd of older, taller students, right up to the court fence, so he can get a good look at this supposedly really talented first year.

And he does get a good look at him. Mostly because it's kind of hard to miss him really, what with that grin, spread wide across his face, and hair spiked up tall on top of his head. Kaidoh kind of thinks it looks like he spray-painted blades of grass and glued them onto his head, but at least he seems to spend more time playing tennis than he does on his hair, because he's just beaten the guy across the court—a second year, the other students are saying—and he made it look _easy_.

That alone is enough to hold Kaidoh's attention and make his eyes widen. Is this the level he can expect from the Seigaku tennis club? How many other first years can play like that? Kaidoh suddenly feels like he doesn't have any time to waste; he wants to be just as good, if not better. They're both new here, small fish in a big, intimidating pond, but this kid is already making an impression and Kaidoh isn't about to get left in the dust.

His fingers clench around the strap on his bag. He wants to accept this first year's challenge to play, but he also doesn't want his first game on the Seigaku courts to be a defeat. Not when this guy is looking so confident and happy in a way that makes Kaidoh's pulse leap. It would be a terrible first impression and Kaidoh is nervous enough as it is, starting the new school, all on his own.

He hasn't been playing tennis for very long, and it's been something he's had to work at, train for, rather than something that he simply naturally excels at. He's gotten good, though. Really good, in fact. Probably as good as this other first year. Definitely better than the second year he just rather sorrily defeated. He wants to use this fresh start to show this new school what he's made of.

Kaidoh looks through the chain links of the fence at the boy, who's still smiling, looking around for his next game. Kaidoh doesn't smile back, because he feels weird when he does, but he feels kind of excited all the same. He wonders who this boy is, maybe they'll practice together at tennis club this afternoon. Kaidoh doesn't even know his name, but already sees him as a new challenge. The first of many, Kaidoh hopes. It makes him want to get even stronger. There's a whole world out there to take on.

Somewhere a bell rings and the crowd starts to dissipate, leaving Kaidoh standing alone at the fence. The defeated second year sulks off the court and back to the tennis clubroom, and Kaidoh thinks he should probably get going as well.

Momoshiro is just about to leave as well, when he spots the lone student still standing at the fence. He immediately smiles, his posture perking up, and he enthusiastically waves at him. After all, anyone who watches him play is his fan, and he must treat his fans nicely.

Kaidoh blinks in surprise, and then raises his hand lamely to return the greeting. Why do people like waving to each other anyway? Kaidoh always feels awkward doing it, and thinks there must be some better way to say hello. But he wants to make a good impression with the other tennis club members, especially those he considers to be potential opponents.

The spiky haired boy simply chuckles at the other student, recognizing that he's a first year just like him, then he gives him another big smile, before he dashes away to the clubroom to get changed. It's time to actually attend classes, later today he can practice more tennis, and make some friends, and play against other people, and gain fans. Yes, Momoshiro is looking forward to it; his middle school life will be awesome. Nothing can go wrong. And he'll make loads of new friends too.

Momoshiro doesn't even remember half of his classes by the end of the day, it was mostly just introductions, and those are boring anyway. He already got along with a lot of students in the class, with people offering to eat lunch with him. See, people swarm to him. They always have. It makes Momoshiro feel all bubbly and happy. Like he has to show off to them, to impress them.

And what better way to do that than playing tennis?

After classes are over, and it's already 4 PM in the afternoon, Momoshiro happily goes to the tennis courts and changes into his new uniform. Or well, these are just his regular gym clothes, but hey, it's new to him—it's different from elementary school. He sees a bunch of older students wearing these blue and white jerseys, each have the words Seigaku Tennis Club embedded in them; they are the regulars. The cream of the crop. That's what Momoshiro aspires to be; the best of the best. Just imagine the attention he'll get for being a regular … Momoshiro is excited to show off his skills and become one of them.

Except, first years cannot become regulars. Or at least, no one has ever become a regular as a first year, as Momoshiro has been told. Well, that just means he'll be the first, right? That makes it even better.

"Alright, I'll beat you all, you'll see! I'll join the regulars!" Momoshiro exclaims to anyone who will listen. He's already holding a racket in his hand, and he's got a fist high up in the air; he's ready for a new challenge.

Except he didn't quite notice the person behind him, and he sort of knocks his elbow in their face. Woops.

"Oh, my bad, didn't see you there," says Momoshiro as he turns around. "No hard feelings, right?"

Kaidoh didn't expect to suddenly have an elbow jabbed into his cheek and flinches back in irritation. His eyes narrow, a kind of defensive reflex, and he lets out a low hiss of air. He's about to say something when he realizes the person who knocked into him is the same first year from before.

His eyes widen for a second then narrow again as he grumbles something about how he should watch where he's going, and then Kaidoh bends down to pull his own racket out of his bag.

What kind of weird sound is that boy making? Momoshiro stares at him for a second, a weird and confused expression on his face. He seemed to be the same height as him, and he's wearing this weird bandana. Momoshiro wonders if he's any good at tennis if he's pulling out his racket.

"Hey," Momoshiro calls out to him, then nudges him in the side with his racket. "Wanna play?"

Kaidoh glares and side-steps away from the other boy's racket. What's his problem? The way he keeps hitting him like that ... is he trying to play a match or pick a fight?

But Kaidoh had been wanting to play him. In fact, he'd been thinking about it all through his classes today. He wants to know if he can beat this other boy. He wants to know which one of them is stronger.

"Sure," he agrees, and his fingers curl tighter around his racket.

Momoshiro grins at him. "I'm Momoshiro Takeshi, and I'm going to secure a spot on the regular team!" He looks the other boy over again, he looks a little scary. "What's your name?"

"Kaidoh Kaoru," Kaidoh says curtly, and then narrows his eyes in challenge and adds, "I saw you playing earlier. You're not bad, but I can beat you."

Immediately, Momoshiro puffs out his chest in an arrogant boast. "You mean you can _try_. No one beats the amazing and super great Momoshiro Takeshi in tennis." Seriously, no one did.

Kaidoh scowls. "I won't need to _try_. I'll just do it." Something about that smug expression is really getting under Kaidoh's skin and he feels the need to bite back with words that are laced with just as much confidence. He only hopes he'll have the skills to back it up once they start playing.

"I guess we'll find out then," says Momoshiro, the grin never leaving his face. He's feeling confident, he's going to win this He's going to win everything, and be the most popular guy in school.

And hey, maybe they can be tennis buddies, who knows. Momoshiro would like one.

Momoshiro is already thinking of things to say when he wins as he walks across the court to get into position. What can he say that won't seem like he's rubbing it in this Kaidoh person's face. Perhaps 'I'm just better than you are' or maybe 'you're just not good enough' then again 'it's okay, no one wins against me anyway'. Yeah, that's probably the best way to console someone who lost; it's not their fault, Momoshiro is just awesome and unbeatable.

Well, at least, that's what Momoshiro thought. He's never really had a hard time with any of his previous tennis matches. He's had two years of experience as well! But right now, as he volleys the ball back and forth with this Kaidoh—seeing the same intensity in his eyes as well, that drive, that urge, he doesn't want to lose. And Momoshiro obviously doesn't want to either.

So why is he not winning? Even if his dunk smash can score him some points, then Kaidoh simply does this weird move and the ball swirls around in the air and goes into the opposite direction. Like a sneaky little snake who changed his mind at the last second.

Momoshiro grows more irritated, yet excited, the longer this goes on. His legs feel heavy, his muscles are aching, and his heart is pounding—but he's feeling good. It's a challenge.

Momoshiro Takeshi has never had a challenge before. But he likes it, and it shows on his face; he wants to beat this Kaidoh boy.

Yet before the match could come to a conclusion, they're interrupted.

"First years aren't allowed to play matches like this yet!"

Momoshiro stops dead in his tracks, and lets the ball fly right by him. He looks at the person who is yelling at him, telling them to get off the court. First years can't play like this? What kind of stupid rule is that? He wants to finish this, he was winning too! He looks over at Kaidoh, feeling annoyed and kind of agitated that their match was cut short.

Well, next time then.

"You there, why don't you go clean up this equipment. And you there, bandana boy, pick up these balls."

Momoshiro grumbles and goes to put his racket away in his bag, then goes to clean up whatever the other boy told him to clean. He looks over at Kaidoh, he wants to ask him if they can finish up later, maybe play some street tennis if they're not allowed to play here. It was a pretty intense match, and Momoshiro is looking forward to play with him again, to finish it, to win.

And then they can be tennis buddies. Yeah, that sounds great. Momoshiro can't wait, and he eagerly puts away some boxes on the ground and places them back inside the clubhouse.

Kaidoh is a little annoyed that he's been given the task of picking up balls—he really thinks Momoshiro got it easier—because there are dozens scattered all over the court by now, but he obediently starts to gather them up and place them in the ball basket. At least he feels like he's being a productive member of the club, but he would much rather be continuing his game with Momoshiro.

It was pretty exciting, and yeah, it was a challenge too, but Kaidoh feels like he was really holding his own. In fact, he thinks if they'd continued until the end, he probably would have even won. At least it temporarily wiped that smirk off Momoshiro's face, which is enough to make Kaidoh feel kind of satisfied.

He drops a handful of balls into the basket and they clatter against the metal with a thunk. Sure, cleaning up the courts isn't exactly what he had in mind when he joined tennis club, but Kaidoh can appreciate the hierarchy, and he knows that he has to work his way up. Besides, he's sure he'll be a regular soon.

Momoshiro is done pretty quickly, he didn't really have much to do aside from bring back a few baskets and nets. He sees Kaidoh, who is still crouched down on the floor picking up balls, and Momoshiro thinks he'll be friendly and help him with his 'punishment'.

With a cheerful smile, he hops over to Kaidoh and snatches away the ball Kaidoh was going for. He grins at Kaidoh, before throwing it into the metal basket. There. He helped.

Kaidoh can't help but glare. Does Momoshiro think Kaidoh can't handle this on his own? As if to demonstrate that he's perfectly capable, Kaidoh grabs four tennis balls at once and pitches them all into the basket. Only, one of them misses. He hisses, annoyed with himself, and retrieves the ball from the ground and throws it in again. He avoids looking at Momoshiro as he does so, trying to act like he did that on purpose.

What's he trying to prove? Momoshiro crinkles up his nose at him; he was just trying to be friendly! It's like he's telling Momoshiro he doesn't want his help. He narrows his eyes at him, bends down, and scoops up a bunch of balls in his reach. He walks over to the basket and drops them all in.

There, whether he wants Momoshiro's help or not, he's going to do it anyway. It's what tennis buddies do.

Suddenly picking up balls feels like a competition and Kaidoh doesn't want to lose. He furiously rolls all the balls within his reach toward him, like he's claiming them as his territory. He's going to pick them _all_ up. Momoshiro can back off.

What is wrong with this boy!? Momoshiro huffs at him, then crawls across the floor to get more balls. He's only trying to help! Has this boy never heard of friends helping each other? He huffs again, and simply starts collecting all the balls across the courts before Kaidoh can, and it's starting to feel like a silly little competition, whereas all he wanted to do, was try to make friends.

Kaidoh picks up his pace, throwing balls into the basket like he's racing against a stopwatch. Why won't Momoshiro just leave him alone? What if the senpai come back and see that Kaidoh's getting help like this on something he was supposed to do on his own? They might think he's too much of a weakling to join the regulars, and Kaidoh Kaoru is anything but weak. He hisses, his fingers digging irritatedly into the tennis ball he's holding.

Momoshiro drops the balls into the basket, looking up at Kaidoh who is making that weird noise again. Seriously, what is wrong with him? Is he mentally retarded? Maybe … Regardless of his mental state, Momoshiro still rushes to pick up the rest of the balls to prove that he can be a good friend. They continue to do this for another minute, until all balls have been picked up, and Momoshiro has lost sense of what he was doing. now he simply wants to get the most balls, because Kaidoh is some weird hissy prick.

"That's mine!" Momoshiro yells out as they both reach for the last ball. He growls at him.

Kaidoh glares at him in frustration. "No, it's mine," he growls back. "I saw it first."

"I saw it first!" Momoshiro argues back. He pushes away Kaidoh's hand and tries to grab the ball.

Kaidoh grabs the ball right back, and suddenly, they've both got their fingers around it, pulling it back and forth between them, neither one wanting to give it up. Kaidoh isn't sure why it's so important that he be the one to get the last ball, but it's no longer really about the tennis ball to him. It's a matter of pride. He doesn't need anyone helping him, especially not some weird smiley kid with dumb hair.

Tennis balls aren't really the easiest thing to fight over though—they're not easy for two people to grip like a rope in tug-of-war—and soon Kaidoh's fingers slip, and Momoshiro's do too, and the ball pops up into the air between them, suspended for a moment before falling back down with a light bounce. Kaidoh lunges for it at the same time Momoshiro does and their heads collide, which makes Kaidoh cringe in pain.

But he's the one holding the ball, and he throws it into the basket, feeling triumphant.

_Take that, Momoshiro_, he thinks.

"Bastard," Momoshiro grumbles at him.

This means war.

And it should have been that way, except at night when he's in bed, Momoshiro feels sort of guilty. What if Kaidoh didn't like his help? What if it's because he hit him in the face with his elbow? That sort of diminishes his chances to be tennis buddies with him. No wonder he was so cranky at him when they picked up those balls together; he was probably in constant pain from that blow to the face. Alright, it's decided, Momoshiro will try to apologize next thing in the morning.

So he greets Kaidoh at morning practice, smile plastered on his face.

"Morning!" Momoshiro chirps.

Kaidoh looks up from where he was tugging on the strings of his racket face, testing the tension. Oh. It's that Momoshiro kid from the day before. He looks really happy, and Kaidoh's expression twists into a grimace as he replies, "Good morning."

He can't tell if Momoshiro is being nice, or if it's another challenge; maybe he's teasing him. He hopes Momoshiro hasn't decided that Kaidoh is helpless and needs his help for everything they do in tennis club. Kaidoh isn't. That would be really annoying.

"Do you like wearing those?" Momoshiro asks. He points to the bandana on Kaidoh's head.

Kaidoh's fingers reach up behind his neck to tighten the knot in the cloth. "Yeah," he says with a shrug. "I guess. What about it?"

"Nothing, looks cool. You wear them all the time when you practice tennis?" Momoshiro is curious if he thinks bandanas are important to him. Like maybe a good luck charm.

Kaidoh nods. "When I'm doing any kind of physical training, I do." It's become sort of a habit these past few months—they make him feel tough, and serious, and it's nice to not have hair flopping all over his head when he runs or plays. If Momoshiro thinks they look cool too, then maybe he's not so bad …They'd look really stupid over his dumb spiky hair though, so he'd better not try to show up to practice wearing one.

Momoshiro gives him a smirk. "Oh, you do training on your own?" he asks. Interesting. If this first year is doing some kind of training besides tennis practice, then maybe Momoshiro should work extra hard as well. After all, he has to stay in shape, and he certainly can't let a bandana boy beat him at that.

Kaidoh hisses. "I started doing some running. It's supposed to build up stamina and endurance." His voice is confident like he knows what he's talking about, like he's some kind of fitness expert and not just a twelve-year-old who only took up jogging a few months ago to try and better his chances in middle school tennis. Well, he's still probably more of an expert at it than Momoshiro. And if he isn't, then he'll become one. He's not going to lose to this guy.

"Why do you keep doing that," Momoshiro interjects. "That hissing thing, what are you, a snake?" Momoshiro chuckles. What a strange guy. "Or do you have asthma?"

Kaidoh glares. He doesn't sound like he has asthma! What a jerk. "I'm not a snake," he says flatly. That much should be obvious.

Momoshiro pokes Kaidoh in his side, as if to test that he wasn't covered in snake scales. "So, asthma? Then you shouldn't be playing tennis, you know."

"I don't have asthma either!" Kaidoh protests, flinching away from Momoshiro's hand. This guy is way too touchy. Kaidoh hisses again. He's feeling irritated, he can't help it.

"Haha, what is it then? Were you a snake in your past life? Haha, your name should be Mamushi!" Momoshiro laughs at Kaidoh's weird hissing sounds, this boy is funny and weird. He'd rather not have weird and hissing fans though.

"That sounds stupid," Kaidoh says grumpily, and tries to pretend he's really busy fiddling with his racket. He doesn't want to talk to someone who's just going to laugh and call him names.

"Really? I think it sounds awesome! The Viper! Hehehe. You'll be Mamushi, my sidekick, and I'll be Super Great Awesome Momoshiro, who will become a regular at this club!" Momoshiro puts an arm around Kaidoh and gives him a friendly noogie on his bandana. They can definitely be tennis buddies!

Kaidoh shrugs Momoshiro's arm off of him and scowls. "I'm no one's sidekick. If anyone's becoming a regular, it'll be _me_!"

"Nah, I don't think they'll let anyone join with breathing problems, but it's okay, you can train with me!" Momoshiro points to himself with a big, bright smile.

"My breathing is just fine," Kaidoh snarls, and lets out a long, annoyed huff as if to demonstrate. "And I don't need anyone to train with."

"But isn't it more fun with someone else?" Momoshiro doesn't think it's fun to be training alone at all.

Kaidoh looks at Momoshiro, with his dumb smile and spiky hair. Fun? With this guy? Kaidoh isn't so sure about that. Besides … "My training is really difficult," he lies.

"I'm sure I could handle it," Momoshiro replies. He can handle anything, nothing is too hard on him! He then suddenly looks up when he hears something. "Oh, they're calling us, let's get to practice, Mamushi!"

"Don't call me that," Kaidoh replies curtly, but then the scowl smoothes off his face—he doesn't want his senpai to think he's not happy to be there in tennis club or something—and he jogs out to meet up with the rest of the team.

And they do practice really hard, Momoshiro is disappointed he still can't play a match against Kaidoh, to continue from yesterday, but maybe they can do it sometime later. He notices Kaidoh does that hissy thing a lot during practice, it's kind of funny. Momoshiro might have egged him on a little bit more, trying to get him to hiss again, by 'accidentally' throwing a ball at his head. Well, it's not like Kaidoh knew it was him! But is was funny. He should probably not try to mess around with his tennis buddy too much, if they're planning on playing with each other.

Momoshiro is the first to enter the clubhouse to dress back into his uniform once practice is over. He managed to pick up all his balls before Kaidoh, and left with a smug smile on his face. As he grabs his own bag, he almost trips over Kaidoh's, which is lying besides the lockers. Well, that's stupid, what's that doing there? Momoshiro glares at it for a bit until he sees something peeking out of the open bag; a flash of red.

"Can't hurt to look …" Momoshiro eagerly bends down and takes the small cloth out of the bag; it's a bandana. Cool. It's got white little swirls around the entire thing.

Hmm …

Momoshiro looks around, his eyes narrowed, and he clutches the bandana close to his chest. Seeing no one else around, he stretches the cloth between his hands. It _does_ look cool. He wants to try out wearing it as well! So Momoshiro—completely forgetting about his spiked up hair—covers it around his head. When his spikes brush against the fabric, Momoshiro winces and realizes his mistake. He quickly pulls it off; it's stained with gel now.

Oh crap, now Kaidoh will know he went through his stuff and tried on his bandana. Oh shit, oh shit.

Uhm.

Momoshiro quickly looks around for something to clean it with. He sees a bunch of cleaning supplies on the top shelf, and he quickly climbs the thing to bring down a white bottle with sparkles on it. Surely, this will contain some kind of soap. He clambers down the dresser and exits the clubhouse as if his ass is on fire, quickly running towards the sink. No one is still around, they're busy cleaning up equipment on the tennis courts. Good. Momoshiro turns the faucet, and lets water splash onto the bandana in the sink. He quickly pulls off the cap of the bottle and squirts whatever is inside onto the cloth.

Then, he squishes it and mushes it around into a ball, trying to get the soap into the bandana. He's gotta get the gel stain out, otherwise Kaidoh will know! And hey, while he's at it, he might as well do a thorough cleaning job, and he massages the fabric into the soap, which sort of stings his fingers. When the stinging starts to hurt too much, Momoshiro pulls the bandana away from the sink and he wrings out the water. Then he washes his own hands, and dashes back to the clubroom.

Where he sees Kaidoh, standing over his bag, looking pissed. Uh-oh. That isn't good. Momoshiro swallows and tries to flap out the bandana into the air, trying to dry it ultra fast, but life doesn't work that way.

Kaidoh's fingers clench into fists at his sides. Where the hell is his red bandana? Did someone steal it? On the second day of practice, no less? His jaw feels tight and his eyes look like narrow slits. He whirls around and … sees Momoshiro, looking guilty and clutching a sopping wet red piece of cloth in his hand.

Immediately Kaidoh lunges for it and grabs it out of a startled Momoshiro's fingers.

"What the hell?!" Kaidoh explodes, holding the bandana up in front of him like it's a damning piece of evidence. It smells of bleach, and when Kaidoh examines it more closely, he sees to his horror that the pattern on it has completely faded off. "Are you the one who did this?" he demands in a low, dangerous tone, even though the answer seems obvious from Momoshiro's expression.

"I … I …" Momoshiro feels like he's in a bind. No matter what he'll say will sound bad. He was honestly just trying to clean it! Oh, when did the pattern start to rub off … is that why his hands were stinging with the soap? "... Didn't mean to?" he squeaks out. There goes his chance to having a tennis buddy.

Kaidoh can't even think, he's so angry. This guy, this asshole … What was wrong with him, going through Kaidoh's things and ruining one of his favorite bandanas?! Does he think it's some kind of funny joke? Kaidoh isn't laughing. Instead, he's practically seething. His fingers grab at the front of Momoshiro's shirt and he starts to shake him angrily by the collar.

"You better apologize, dumbass!" the words tumble out of Kaidoh's mouth. He's never called anyone that before, but he can't remember to be polite right now, he's too irritated.

Momoshiro flinches back, but then he narrows his eyes at Kaidoh in return. "Why do I have to apologize!?" Because he ruined the bandana, duh. "I didn't do it on purpose!" He reaches for Kaidoh's collar as well, because he can't look like Kaidoh's getting the upper hand here, because that's stupid.

"And it's just some stupid bandana," Momoshiro growls out.

Kaidoh pulls harder on Momoshiro's collar. "You're the one who's stupid!" he snarls back.

"No, you are, stupid Mamushi!" Momoshiro yells back at him. He starts pulling Kaidoh closer, feeling his own anger boil up inside of him. Tennis buddies? Hah! More like eternal rivals!

"Stop getting so close, idiot!" Kaidoh growls, but he doesn't let go. He feels like his pulse is pounding in his neck; he wants to kick Momoshiro's ass. He's not about to back down, not until Momoshiro apologizes for what he did to Kaidoh's bandana. He owes him a new one!

"Then stop grabbing my shirt, asshole!" As if to illustrate this, Momoshiro shoves at Kaidoh's chest, and he stumbles back, crashing against the metal locker behind him, and suddenly a casket on top of it filled with balls starts spilling out and falling on their heads.

"Ow!" Momoshiro quickly shields his head after the first blow, crouching down on the floor with his hands above his head like there's an earthquake. But then the balls stop, bouncing around on the floor. He looks over at Kaidoh, his eyes a bit surprised.

Kaidoh's eyes are wide too—well, of course they'd be, one of those stupid balls hit him right in the forehead—but then they narrow again and he hisses. "Moron," he grumbles, and is about to turn and follow his natural instinct to clean up the mess when one of the seniors calls at them both from the doorway.

"No fighting in the club room! Both of you, go run laps!"

Kaidoh looks up, his face heating with guilt, and then turns back to Momoshiro to glare at him. This is all his fault.

Momoshiro simply huffs at Kaidoh. It's his fault for starting it! He then punches his arm, and runs out of the clubhouse, to go run his stupid laps.

From this day forward, Momoshiro won't ever try to be tennis buddies with Kaidoh again.

He doesn't like that Mamushi _at all_.


	3. Returning the gift

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **a small log to show when Kaidoh started having feelings for Momo.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** K+

**Events leading up to this log:** canon events (Momo and Kaidoh lose their doubles match)

**Date:** set a day after the regional final tournament of Seigaku VS Rikkai, where Kaidoh gives Momo his bandana during their match

* * *

The night after the Regional Finals, Kaidoh can't sleep. He feels like his whole body is buzzing with adrenaline, like he's wired from head to toe. He goes on a long, three-hour run, beyond his regular route, and when he gets back home, his clock reads 1:17 AM. He isn't even tired.

Kaidoh knows that it's normal to be excited about the championship win, but it isn't just the win that's exciting him and keeping him up far later than usual. He's thinking about his game with Momoshiro, a match they _lost_ and yet… reflecting on it, Kaidoh doesn't feel a single pang of regret or frustration over the loss. In fact, he feels really satisfied with it, with the way they played, giving it everything they had, and, more than that, the way Momoshiro had supported him, encouraged him; the way they'd encouraged each other.

Kaidoh thinks that it was maybe the best he's ever played.

The next morning, he gets to school early, strangely not tired despite getting only a few hours of sleep. He's still running on adrenaline, and he's looking forward to seeing Momoshiro, not because he's angry with him and wants to punch his face in, but because… well, he's not really sure. But yesterday felt different, like the start of something new, although Kaidoh isn't sure what.

The tennis courts are completely empty when Kaidoh arrives. He drops off his bag and uniform at the clubroom and heads out onto the court to do stretches. It's quiet, but Kaidoh doesn't mind. His body still feels like it's thrumming with anticipation, ready for the next challenge. He feels good.

Momoshiro doesn't feel much different from Kaidoh. They had won, well, _they_ had lost, but it doesn't feel like it. Even if their match was lost, Momoshiro still felt bubbly feelings boil over into extreme happiness, sprinkled with lots of arrogance and a of dash pride. They played well, and they played good. For once, Momoshiro thinks he knows what Oishi and Eiji mean when they talk about being in synchro. Doubles seemed like a whole lot more fun all of the sudden; he's never felt that thrilled before, never that pumped up, shot with adrenaline.

He's brimming with so much happiness that the pain in his knee is only a small afterthought in his mind. In fact, he doesn't even feel it at all. The green bandana Kaidoh gave to him during the match to wrap his knee, was stained with blood. His blood. It takes him two hours of washing it by hand to get the stains to disappear, but Momoshiro was in a far too good mood to care. In fact, he was whistling a tune as well. He neatly folds the bandana and stuffs it into his bag, so he can return it to Kaidoh tomorrow. Then he puts a bunch of bandages on his knee. It looks ridiculous, but he doesn't care.

At night, Momoshiro can't help but replay their matches inside of his head. The ones his teammates played, they were good—but mostly, he thought of the one with Kaidoh. They had some very good opponents, opponents who could return Kaidoh's boomerang snake, and that proved to be too much for that Mamushi. It's weird, he thinks, at that time he wasn't thinking about showing off his skills, and how he could win this match alone.

No, he was thinking about trying to snap Kaidoh out of it. Because he needed him—it was their match. That's what doubles is about.

That they eventually lost didn't matter. Kaidoh pulled through, and they gave it the best they got. It was an awesome match, pretty much the equivalent of watching Chuck Norris fight Bruce Lee. Except they were Bruce Lee, and the opponents were Chuck Norris. Well, fuck Chuck Norris. Kaidoh's better anyway. Not better than _him_ of course, but he puts up a good fight.

Yeah. A great fight.

Momoshiro rides his bike to school while whistling another tune. He dumps it at the bike racks, and walks to the tennis courts. It's early in the morning—that's kind of his fault; he didn't close an eye last night—and no one is really there. Oh no wait, there's Kaidoh, doing his stretches at the break of dawn. What a freak. But Momoshiro is smiling and happily walks over to him.

"Yo, Mamushi," he calls out. "You trying to go for some kind of record?" And he means; why the hell are you here so early.

Momoshiro's voice catches Kaidoh off-guard and makes his pulse leap, as surely anyone's would; Kaidoh had thought he was alone. He looks up from where he's sitting on the court doing toe-touches and sees Momoshiro. He looks happy, and that kind of makes Kaidoh feel happy too, which is... unexpected, but maybe it's just the adrenaline carrying over from yesterday.

"Hey," he says, relaxing out of the stretch. "Surprised you're even awake."

Momoshiro slides the bag off from his shoulder and dumps it onto the ground. "Couldn't sleep, you?" Couldn't sleep was an understatement, he was wide awake. He still feels wide awake. Maybe he should do some stretches too, to burn off some of the excitement.

"Yeah." Kaidoh is surprised to find he's agreeing with Momoshiro about something. He surprises himself even more when he says, "That was fun yesterday."

Momoshiro grins at him in return and nods his head. "It was, wasn't it? I'm not even angry that we lost." Far from it, the complete opposite almost. He doesn't even have it in him to pin their loss on Kaidoh, which he usually does when they lose. No, today is a good day. It's early in the morning, and he hasn't slept at all, but he really doesn't care.

His hands slide down the zipper of his tennis bag, and he pulls it open. "How many of those do you keep?" he asks, and points with one hand at Kaidoh's head. Then he pulls out the small folded green square out of his bag. It's wrinkled now, since he stuffed it in there carelessly, and during the bike ride everything got messed up inside of his bag. But hey, at least it's clean.

Momoshiro walks over to Kaidoh, and sticks out his hand with the bandana clutched inside of it, his face smiling brightly.

"Thanks for, you know—" Showing that you cared. "—preventing myself from bleeding all over the court. Took a while to get the blood out of it. Sorry if I didn't get everything out."

Kaidoh sits up a little. His eyes soften and he reaches out to take the bandana. His hand covers Momoshiro's as he does, completely by accident, and the touch seems to send an electric shock through his fingertips. _Must be static_, he thinks.

"You didn't have to wash it," he says, not sure why he hasn't pulled away yet. "Uh, how is your knee?"

Momoshiro pulls his hand away to lift up the cuff of his pants, high enough to show off his left knee. The bandages he used were his sister's, and they were colourful, for grade schoolers, really. But he thinks they actually look kinda cool. So he looks back up with a grin plastered on his face.

"It's taken care of," he says. "Doesn't even hurt, I can't even tell. Except for when I rode my bike here and had to bent through my knee every single time, but it's ok. Doesn't hurt." He drops his pants and stands up straighter. "Seriously though, how many do you keep with you? You actually had another one on your head right after our match!" Not that Momoshiro was particularly paying attention to Kaidoh or anything.

"I had it in my bag," Kaidoh says with a shrug. He looks at the bandana in his hand now, the one he'd given to Momoshiro to tie around his leg, the one Momoshiro had kept with him and washed and brought back to school to return.

"This one is my favorite," he says, and for some reason the words make his face feel hot like he's just let slip a secret. He hisses and shoves the bandana into his pocket. "Because the color is cool," he adds quickly.

"That much was obvious," says Momoshiro with an aloof grin. "You're always wearing it. I sometimes see you training outside of school with a different colour though. Like red." He turns around to walk away from Kaidoh and picks up his bag.

"I'm gonna go change, do you wanna play a match real fast before anyone comes by?"

Kaidoh doesn't even hesitate when he says, "Sure, but don't think you're going to beat me!" Adrenaline pumps through his veins once more. It's been less than 24 hours since he stood on the court with Momoshiro in a match, but for some reason even that long is too long and he feels himself itching for another chance to play with him, like he can't get enough.

Momoshiro swings the bag over his shoulder, and then he thumps his fist against his chest, as if to prove his own worth. "Those are some tough words, Kaidoh." He walks across the court, and passes him. He pushes the same fist against Kaidoh's bare arm and smirks at him. "You sure you're as good as you say?" His purple eyes flick up to meet Kaidoh's. He's smirking like a little devil.

The touch of Momoshiro's hand and the look on his face make something new and strange twist in Kaidoh's chest, but he rises to the challenge and replies with a growl. "I know I am. I won't lose to you."

The spiky haired boy simply laughs it off and struts away. _Struts_. 'Cause he's feeling good, and it's a damn good day. Everything's glowing to him. He enters the clubroom and swiftly undresses to put on his tennis gear. It's not even five minutes later, and he's walking out already. He rolls up the sleeves of his jersey, as he always does. There's a racket in his right hand, and a ball in his left.

But hey, he should probably stretch first—that's what Mamushi would say. Not that he didn't already get enough exercise pedaling his bike to school. He carefully puts down his racket and ball on one of the benches, then cheerfully hops over to Kaidoh. He plumps down next to him on the ground, his legs stretched out before him. His fingers try and reach for his shoes, until he grabs the sole of it.

"Come on, do me, if you're ready to lose."

"Dumbass," Kaidoh hisses, but rises to his feet, moving to kneel behind Momoshiro. He rests his hands on Momoshiro's shoulders, leans forward, and presses all of his weight against him, pushing him forward into a deeper stretch. And there really must be static in the air this morning, Kaidoh thinks, because his fingers get the same electric feeling as before. In fact, this time it's not just his fingers, but almost his whole body.

"Hey—hey, not so much!" Momoshiro wheezes out. It hurt! He lets go of his shoes to swat at Kaidoh's hands on his shoulders. "Ease into it man, I'm no noodle like you."

Kaidoh glares at the back of Momoshiro's head. "Then you really should do this more often," he says simply, but eases back a little bit, pushing more gently this time.

Momoshiro cracks his neck, left and right, then stretches out his arms to hold his shoes again. With Kaidoh pressing down more gently, it feels better. Better than normal. "Shut up," he says, but it lacks any of his usual bite. It's still a good day damnit, like hell will anything ruin it for him.

He looks up from his feet towards the rising sun in the sky. "Hey, this is the first time we're here together so early, isn't it?" he muses softly.

"I guess," Kaidoh says, and is suddenly acutely aware of how it's just the two of them, and of how very warm Momoshiro's body is. Whatever was tugging at his chest before is back and it startles Kaidoh so much it makes him jerk away, removing his weight from Momoshiro's back entirely.

"Let's play," he says gruffly, trying to suppress whatever the feeling was. Maybe it's sleep-deprivation, he thinks. He could ask Inui-senpai about it later.

Momoshiro jerks his head around to glare at Kaidoh. "Hey, I wasn't done yet!" He stands up and brushes off his thighs and calves, almost getting rid of one of the bandages that was stuck on his knee by accident.

"You just want to have a head start, don't you? So that when we're playing, I'll have a sudden cramp in my leg, and you'll take the point from me." Well too bad, Momoshiro will play awesome today either way. "And here I was sinking perhaps we could play on equal footing today." He's provoking Kaidoh, but that's what Momoshiro does best, and today is a good day. Nothing can bring him down.

Then he hits the back of Kaidoh's head, and yanks off his blue bandana. "Hehe, you shouldn't be wearing this one anymore." He holds the bandana in front of Kaidoh's face, taunting him.

"Asshole!" Kaidoh yells, snatching the bandana back. He scowls at Momoshiro, but his body is thrumming with excitement, rather than irritation. "Do you wanna fight or something?!"

"Thought you'd never ask!" And Momoshiro tackles Kaidoh's midriff, bringing him down to the ground. They can get exercise this way, he thinks. He's laughing out loud as he tries to grab for Kaidoh's bandana again, which is firmly gripped inside of that snake's hand. It doesn't matter though, nothing really does.

Kaidoh grabs Momoshiro's collar with his free hand and shoves against his chest, trying to push him off, but it's hard when he's moving so much, so he tries to roll them both over instead.

"Get off!" he growls, but he doesn't look angry when he says it. He can hear Momoshiro laughing in his ear and it's not even because he thinks Kaidoh did something dumb this time. It makes Kaidoh feel static everywhere again, but he's pretty sure that just means it's a really good fight.

Momoshiro doesn't even struggle as Kaidoh rolls on top of him, but he does manage to snatch the bandana away, and now it's back in his own hands. He grins smugly up at Kaidoh, whose face is right above his own.

"That's not getting off, Mamushi," Momoshiro tells him while laughing. "That's getting on!"

"Shut up!" Kaidoh says, yanking at the bandana in Momoshiro's hand. Momoshiro's grip is surprisingly firm, so he ends up just yanking on Momoshiro's hand. "Give that back!" he hisses, and jams his fist against Momoshiro's stomach as though it will help to persuade him.

Momoshiro coughs out a sharp breath of pain. Damn that snake. So instead of being kind, and giving Kaidoh back his stupid bandana, he clutches it close to his chest, until he stuffs it down his shirt. He's feeling rather devilish today, doesn't he? He tries to wriggle out underneath Kaidoh, his legs brushing up against the other boy, but he doesn't have any good leverage, so he looks like a fish flopping out on dry land.

"Ass," he breathes out as he stops struggling. But he's grinning still. He's going to have a really sore face tomorrow from all that smiling. He tries to stop smiling for a second, trying to appear serious and menacing. But after looking up at Kaidoh's face again, he bursts into a fit of giggles.

Oh yeah, today's a good day.

Kaidoh stops too, and raises an eyebrow. "Did you seriously just put my bandana down your shirt?!" he demands, but then his mouth cracks into a smile and he laughs too; it's hardly a giggle or anything, maybe not even a real laugh by normal standards, but it surprises him just the same. "You fucking idiot."

"I did _not_ put it down my shirt," lies Momoshiro in a sing song voice. "You need to get your eyes checked or something." Then he puts one hand against Kaidoh's chest, and the other snakes around the back of Kaidoh's neck, and he pulls him down closer, until they knock their foreheads against each other.

"See?" says Momoshiro with a playful smirk, and then like a magic trick, he pulls Kaidoh's bandana out of the back of _his_ shirt. He leaves it hanging sloppily over Kaidoh's head. "It was your shirt, not mine."

Having his face so close to Momoshiro's makes Kaidoh's chest do that tugging thing again, so he pulls the bandana off his head and sits up. The tugging stops. Maybe he has some kind of allergy to Momoshiro's face.

So he punches it, not hard enough to really hurt, just a knock to say, _Stop giving me chest pains, dumbass_.

Momoshiro flings Kaidoh off of him, finally—getting punched in the face is not exactly something he was looking forward today. He sits up straight as well, and reaches for Kaidoh's collar …

"Momoshiro! Kaidoh! Ten laps!"

But he didn't even get to punch him back! Momoshiro whines out loud about getting interrupted, and he stands up, getting ready to run his laps. Then as he walks past Kaidoh, he knocks him on top of his head with his elbow. He blows him a raspberry and jogs away.

Today _was_ a good day.


	4. Christmas Cake

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **more backstory! The cover image for this story is the picture that was taken when Momo and Kaidoh won the nationals together in their third year.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:** Kaidoh develops a crush on Momo in his second year, but doesn't say anything even going into their third year. Inui has given Kaidoh his data on Momo so he can be a good captain, but Kaidoh simply uses this to stalk Momo. They also win the Nationals again this year, and a picture was taken on the day they won, which Momo and Kaidoh both keep.

**Date:** set on Christmas eve in Momo and Kaidoh's third year

* * *

"Here you go Takeshi, we got it from a really nice cake shop today, it's supposed to be a new and improved recipe, specially for Christmas. Enjoy it," says his mother.

Momoshiro won't say no to food though, and he happily looks at the small square box on the table. He reaches for it with his prying and wriggling fingers, until his father slaps his hand away from it.

"Share it with someone, don't eat the entire thing yourself, son," he says sternly.

"But dad!"

"No buts. Be polite. Find a nice girl."

Momoshiro grumbles and bites his lip in annoyance. What girl would come out with him right now to eat cake? Everyone was busy; they have already made plans for Christmas. He wouldn't be able to reach anyone on that short notice. He'll just eat the entire cake for himself, no one would notice.

"Alright, we'll be gone all night, don't wait up for us, Takeshi," says his mother. His mother and father stare at each other lovingly, so much that it makes Momoshiro want to gag. They say goodbye and leave the house together.

He's alone now, alone on Christmas, with a cake. Momoshiro sits down at the table and pries open the lid of the box, until he's jolted by a small beep of his cellphone. Pulling his hand back, he reaches into his pocket to take it out. He's got a text message from Eiji. He opens it up, and sees a picture of Eiji having fun eating lots of ice cream with his family. Momoshiro wants to smile, but it's hard to when he knows he's all alone in his house, alone with cake.

Even cake can't cheer him up anymore.

Sending a half-assed reply to Eiji, Momoshiro stuffs it back in his pocket. Well, maybe he can bug one of his friends after all, the ones that weren't out on some stupid romantic Christmas date. Eiji was with his family though, and everyone else he wasn't exactly that familiar with, not to mention they had dates of their own. And calling any of the other old members of Seigaku felt strange, since he hadn't kept contact with them. So that left no one else. He sighs once more, and starts to browse through his contact list on his cellphone. It's pretty long, but a lot of those people he has never talked to anymore, so as he goes down the list, he starts deleting a bunch of them as well.

He stops at the letter D, and there's one contact listed under it.

_Dumbass._

Hmm. Kaidoh would definitely not have a date on Christmas, that dumbass doesn't even know any girls for him to have a date, for sure he'd be free to waste time as well, but this is Kaidoh. It'd be weird. Not like they did a lot of stuff outside of running the tennis club. Sure, there were a few times in between, but Christmas is special. Not to mention hailed as the most romantic day for couples of the year. And it's not like he's a stupid couple with Kaidoh—no, that's way too weird.

Maybe he'll just linger outside instead, being cooped up alone in the house feels lonely. Not even his sister is there to bother him, she went out with friends or something. Everyone had something to do, except for Momoshiro. So he finally decides to go eat his cake alone in the park, maybe he can meet some other loners like himself and strike up a conversation.

He wraps himself up tight, a long sturdy winter coat, a hand knitted scarf—courtesy of his grandma—red woolen gloves, a white hat with a stupid ball on top of it, and he's ready to go. He takes the cake with him, might as well use it as bait for kids or something. He can hang out with kids, kids are fun. Momoshiro finally leaves his house after turning off the lights.

It's dark, and there's snow everywhere on the ground. Not to mention it's freezing. Little puffs of smoke disappear in front of him as he breathes slowly. He'll just go sit at the park in his neighborhood. Like a loser who couldn't find a date on Christmas. He sighs, but drags his feet through the snow either way. Within a few minutes he's there. A lone streetlight is the only thing that illuminates the small playground. It's completely empty, and the swings look even lonelier than normal. Well, there goes his plan to attract kids with cake and have fun and not think about being alone.

Momoshiro sits down on the swing, and places the box of cake on the other swing. He digs his face into his scarf and looks straight ahead, at the street across the park. It's quiet. It's cold. What the hell is he doing on Christmas Eve? This is stupid.

Maybe he should have bugged Kaidoh after all.

Kaidoh has been staring at his phone for the past hour. He has Momoshiro's number programmed in as speed dial #4, after his home number, and his mother's and father's cell phones, but he's only ever called it when there was tennis business… and the one time he'd dialed it by accident and Momoshiro had kept him on the line talking his ear off about some stupid homework assignment and Kaidoh had lost twenty-five minutes of training time that evening. He'd wanted to hang up, but somehow his fingers wouldn't click the End Call button, so he'd just sat there on his bed listening to Momoshiro yammer on, his pulse quickening and the palm holding the phone up to his ear growing sweatier by the minute.

Tonight is different, though. Tonight there's definitely no tennis business, and if Kaidoh calls Momoshiro it wouldn't be an accident, and that's what's so frightening. It's Christmas Eve, and for the first time in the three years they've known each other, Kaidoh has a present to give Momoshiro.

It's not much—a simple scarf that he'd knitted by hand, the stitches a bit sloppy and loose, but it's red and Kaidoh knows Momoshiro likes red, and Kaidoh's seen Momoshiro wear scarves to school in the colder months, so maybe he'd wear this one too, and it would be warm, and Kaidoh tried really hard to make it decent. He'd even tried to sew the Seishun Gakuen school logo onto the bottom corner with blue thread but it had turned out more like a demented snowflake, but maybe Momoshiro wouldn't notice, or would even think it was kind of cool.

That is, if Kaidoh can get up the courage to give the scarf to Momoshiro in the first place.

It's a dumb gift, and Momoshiro and Kaidoh never give each other gifts in the first place, not for birthdays, not for Christmas, not for any other special occasions. They give each other punches in the face and kicks in the leg during laps around the tennis courts. Kaidoh isn't even sure why he made the stupid scarf in the first place. He had just wanted to make something nice for Momoshiro.

He flips his phone shut and jams it back into the pocket of his shorts. Maybe he doesn't have to give the scarf to Momoshiro in person. After all, that would be weird, and Momoshiro would probably ask Kaidoh what the hell he's doing giving him a present, on Christmas Eve of all days, and he'd probably think Kaidoh liked him or something, and Kaidoh doesn't. At least, he thinks he doesn't. No, he doesn't think that's why he's doing this at all. But then, he doesn't have a clue about Momoshiro lately. Kaidoh still wants to fight with him, sure, but there's something else, something that makes him get nervous and jumpy around Momoshiro, and makes him have sudden, uncontrollable instincts to smile at him or catch his eye in the clubroom. It frustrates Kaidoh to no end because he doesn't get it, and he doesn't like it, and yet at the same time he does, and that frustrates him more than anything and makes him want to slam his fist into a wall until his knuckles bleed. He'd slam his fist into Momoshiro's stomach instead but lately that just makes him feel weird and jittery, like he's been punched in the stomach too.

He decides that maybe he can just leave the scarf on Momoshiro's doorstep, ring the bell and run off before Momoshiro opens the door, and then he'll never have to know that Kaidoh was the one who gave it to him. Then Momoshiro can feel nice and warm and Kaidoh won't have to explain what's going on, since he can't even explain that much to himself. Or maybe Kaidoh can put it in the mailbox outside Momoshiro's house with a note. No, that won't work. Momoshiro would recognize Kaidoh's handwriting in a second. Or maybe Kaidoh can just give the scarf to Momoshiro's mother or father or sister or whomever answers the door and say it's a gift from… Kaidoh's whole family. But then what if Momoshiro were to answer the door himself? Then what?

Kaidoh decides that the first option is the safest. He'll just jog by Momoshiro's house and drop the scarf off, and Momoshiro will have it and it will stop sitting on Kaidoh's desk like a horrible, guilty reminder of Kaidoh's Problem with Momoshiro and then maybe Kaidoh won't have to think about Momoshiro like that anymore. Maybe once the scarf is out of his room, the strange feelings will leave too.

Kaidoh sets out on his running route, wearing his usual tank top and shorts despite the cold weather, and it doesn't take long for him to warm up and feel comfortable in the crisp winter air, his bare arms and legs delighting in the chilly night as he runs at a steady, breathless pace. At the turn he'd usually take to run along the river, Kaidoh instead goes left, heading for Momoshiro's neighborhood, the scarf folded flat and tucked neatly into his pocket. As he nears Momoshiro's house, Kaidoh slows and looks up at Momoshiro's front door. The lights are off inside and Kaidoh feels something like annoyance settle in his stomach. Is Momoshiro not even home? He checks his watch, which reads only 8:09. He can't be asleep yet. Did Momoshiro have plans tonight? Did he have a date? The thought stings at Kaidoh like a barb, but he tells himself that it's just the nippy air getting to him because his pace has slowed down.

He sticks his hand in his pocket and his fingers curl around the scarf and then he releases and pulls his hand out again. He kicks his shoe into the snow and shakes his head. This is stupid. This is really, really stupid. He shouldn't be here in the first place. He starts running again, leaving Momoshiro's house behind and continuing down toward the end of the street, where Kaidoh turns left. And left again. Until he's doubling back and turning back onto Momoshiro's street. This time Kaidoh glares at Momoshiro's house as he passes. _Asshole_, Kaidoh thinks, but he doesn't stop.

The third time Kaidoh loops around, he slows down and comes to a halt in front of Momoshiro's house, and he thinks, he's come this far, he's been running in circles—literally, and he may as well just get this over with. Because it's stupid, but so is Momoshiro, and as long as he doesn't know that the scarf is from Kaidoh, what harm can it do? Kaidoh can't stand having the thing in his pocket anymore, the reminder of the hours of knitting that went into it, and the hours of thinking about Momoshiro before that which led up to Kaidoh's decision to even make the thing in the first place. It's just a scarf, he tells himself. It doesn't have to mean anything. But standing there, in front of Momoshiro's house, Kaidoh suddenly feels cold; the sweat on his bare arms catching the wind, and he shivers, both from the chill in the December air, and from his own nervous energy.

The first time Momoshiro sees someone run by the park, he doesn't pay much attention to it. He's rocking back and forth on the swing, the tips of his shoes covered in snow, and his hands stuffed into his long coat. The one lone streetlight doesn't do much to light its surroundings, so when he sees someone run by, he doesn't get a good look at it.

Momoshiro isn't quite sure why he's still outside in the first place. He hates the cold, he hates the way it makes his blood vessels pinch closed until he's nothing but a popsicle. If he tries to warm himself up again, the blood comes rushing back to his body and it burns—it _stings._ So why is he out here?

There's no one there, no one but him, and it's sad and pathetic, and he really wishes he had called Kaidoh right now, because Momoshiro feels like punching someone. Then maybe he can keep himself warm too, moving around like that. And maybe he'd stop feeling so down too; he has always spent Christmas with his family, but not today. Which shouldn't make him turn into some kind of droopy angsty sap, but Momoshiro can't help it. He's a people person, he likes to be surrounded by them. He sighs and stares out to the row of houses that are all dark. Everyone is gone today. Every has plans but him.

The second time someone runs past the park, Momoshiro finally catches sight of them. He sees someone running, and that running looks familiar. Long limbs, long strides, same pace as always—there's even a bandana, and in fact, he's wearing the same thing he does when he's training in the summer. Momoshiro stares dumbly as he runs off the street and rounds a corner to the left.

Was that … Kaidoh?

Momoshiro scoffs out loud; that can't be it. Why would it be Kaidoh? Kaidoh doesn't run in his neighborhood, and he certainly wouldn't run outside wearing nothing but summer attire. That would be stupid, even for the stupid snake. Besides, there's no reason for Kaidoh to be there, so Momoshiro concludes it was someone else, someone who looked a lot like Kaidoh. Maybe it was his evil twin. Or good twin, seeing as how Kaidoh does nothing but picks fights with him and insults him. Though lately he's been a bit weird about that. Momoshiro notices how sometimes he pulls back as if he's just been stung by a bee when Momoshiro would surprise him out of nowhere and gives him a friendly punch. Said friendly punch is returned by a you-need-to-die-punch because Kaidoh apparently, does _not_ like to be surprised.

Why the hell is he thinking about Kaidoh on Christmas Eve? This is stupid. He should be thinking about eating the lonely cake on the other swing.

What's Kaidoh doing anyway? Is he eating out with family, or is he out on a date with some stupid girl? Nah, that can't be true; Kaidoh scares everyone away, especially girls. As is evident that he has to try and convince all the first year tennis club members behind Kaidoh's back, that he's actually not that bad. That he doesn't kill puppies, nor eat them, and he's a good guy. Sort of. As far as good guys go. Kaidoh's attitude towards everyone else really doesn't help his already scary image either. For Momoshiro, it doesn't matter; he's known Kaidoh for almost three whole years now, and never once has he been scared of him.

Especially when he found out Kaidoh has a soft spot for animals.

He hadn't meant to, but during his second year, Momoshiro might have accidentally followed Kaidoh home one day. It was probably because Kaidoh punched him in the stomach really hard that day, and he wanted revenge, so Momoshiro was looking for an opportunity to pounce on him out of nowhere, and beat the crap out of him. The desire to punch Kaidoh in the face all but slipped away when he saw what Kaidoh did during his running; he was feeding cats. There was a bunch of them on the street, and they were all gathering around Kaidoh as if he was some kind of cat magnet, or maybe he had catnip in his pocket—which suddenly, he wouldn't put it past him. The snake sat there for at least twenty minutes, petting the cats, cooing at them, feeding them, and he snaps a few pictures with his cellphone as well.

Completely subconsciously—not like he wanted to or anything—Momoshiro takes out his own cellphone, and he snaps a picture of Kaidoh smiling at the cats. He feels like he's just found something rare, something extraordinary. It was like finding the rarest Pokemon Card in the world, and he's the luckiest bastard alive.

Which weirds him out, so he quickly runs away, but doesn't erase the picture from his phone.

That was more than a year ago, and Momoshiro is still guilty for keeping that picture. He likes to look at it sometimes to remind himself that Kaidoh can smile too, and he's not a vicious devil that should go rot in some kind of hole filled with large spikes. He's not the tennis captain from hell, making everyone train to death.

But not everyone else knows that. Especially those that have just met him. Momoshiro knows Kaidoh's appearance scares people off (why it doesn't scare cats off, that still continues to stump him), and coupled with his hissing and shouting out profanity, Kaidoh makes enemies fast. Most of the first years are scared of him, something which Kaidoh seems oblivious to, and Momoshiro tries his best to make them see Kaidoh is not the devil, he's alright, he's the captain of the club for god's sake—stop making stupid jokes about him behind his back. It pisses Momoshiro off. Only _he_ can insult Kaidoh, he reserves all rights to that, no one else.

In fact, several months ago, before the nationals, Momoshiro lost his self control when this second year, Koshida, went off ranting about Kaidoh when he wasn't there. Momoshiro saw nothing but red, and he punched him hard in the face, leaving him with a black eye. Then like a real badass, he looked around at everyone who was there to witness it, and said that if he hears anyone talk about Kaidoh one more time that isn't filled with praise, he will personally see to it no one will produce sperm anymore. After that, the whispering behind Kaidoh's back quieted down, and Koshida never said a word that it was Momoshiro who punched him. Not even when Kaidoh made him run ten laps for getting into a fight.

Momoshiro felt sort of proud.

And Kaidoh never even had a clue.

Like hell will he ever tell him; that would make it seem like Momoshiro cares or something. And he doesn't. Okay, he's thinking about Kaidoh way too much. He sighs; this is what happens when he's lonely. He starts thinking about weird things.

In fact, he's being so weird, he's seeing Kaidoh run down the street, wearing nothing but shorts and a tank top, before he disappears around the corner. Wait. Momoshiro rubs his eyes and blinks. He really did see Kaidoh run on the street, didn't he? No, he can't be … Kaidoh doesn't run in Momoshiro's neighborhood, and he certainly wouldn't do it on Christmas.

He pulls his hand out of his pocket and slips off his red woolen glove, already his fingers feel frozen in the cold air, but he tries to ignore it as he reaches for his cellphone. Momoshiro flips it open, and calls 'Dumbass' from his contact list. He presses the phone against his ear and listens to it as it rings, watching his own little puffs of smoke in front of him, surprisingly quiet.

Kaidoh, already on edge, nearly jumps out of his shoes when his pocket starts vibrating with an incoming call. He fishes out his phone and sees "Momoshiro" flashing insistently on the screen. Kaidoh looks at Momoshiro's house and wonders if Momoshiro is inside, watching him from a darkened bedroom. That would be really creepy. And awful! Then Momoshiro would figure out everything and Kaidoh would be cornered. He feels his face heat up in a way it shouldn't on a night this cold and he ducks down behind a bush, glancing worriedly up at the dark windows of Momoshiro's house.

_Maybe Momoshiro isn't home_, he thinks hopefully. Maybe he's out having fun and just called Kaidoh to gloat. If he is, and he did, then Kaidoh would have a reason to be angry with him and could hate him instead of feeling... other things.

Kaidoh opens his phone and lifts it to his ear. "What is it?" he asks, trying to sound like he's very busy and can't be bothered with whatever Momoshiro is calling about.

Momoshiro swings back and forth on the swing as he looks up towards the night sky. "Yo, Kaidoh. What are you wearing right now?" The air rushes past him as he swings back, and it touches the cellphone too, making it sound like Momoshiro is breathing really loudly.

"Uhhh," Kaidoh's voice stumbles out. He's caught completely off-guard. What the hell kind of question is that? And why does Momoshiro sound so weird? He shoots a glare at Momoshiro's house, in case Momoshiro really _is_ lurking inside, staring back at him like some creepy pervert.

"What's it to you what I'm wearing?!" he replies with an indignant growl.

"Are you wearing that stupid black tank top, with your stupid shorts, and your stupid green bandana? Oh, and no socks of course."

Kaidoh's eyes go wide and he jerks the phone away from his ear. He stares at it in his hand like it's a ticking time bomb about to explode in his face. He feels a chill rush through him that has nothing to do with the weather.

Then cautiously, Kaidoh puts the phone back to his ear and hisses, "Where are you?"

Momoshiro grins mischievously; Kaidoh's reaction indicates that yes, he's wearing that, and yes, that was him running through the streets. "Somewhere where I can see you." Well, not exactly, he _did_ see him, just not at this moment. But it's fun to freak Kaidoh out. Maybe he can make him believe he's got some sort of psychic powers, and then he won't be bored on Christmas Eve anymore.

Kaidoh darts upright from behind the bush and scans around the street, looking for signs of Momoshiro, expecting to see spiky hair peeking up from behind a mailbox, or hear his stupidly loud laugh echo out of a car window, but the street is silent. He doesn't see movement anywhere. He feels panicked and annoyed and he's actually getting kind of cold now. _Where the fuck was Momoshiro and how did he know what Kaidoh was wearing?!_

"No, you idiot, stop looking, I'm not hiding," adds Momoshiro with a heavy sigh. He can already see Kaidoh looking frightened like a lost puppy, his wide eyes searching high and low as to where Momoshiro might be. Though perhaps that wasn't the best thing to say, because now it really did seem like Momoshiro was watching him if he knew Kaidoh was looking around.

"Asshole!" Kaidoh growls, his skin prickling with goosebumps. "Tell me where you are so I can come kick your ass." That's sure to warm him up at least.

"I'm at the playground you passed by a couple of times already. Why are you here anyway? Don't you have anything to do on Christmas?" asks Momoshiro. Maybe Kaidoh is trying out a new way of annoying Momoshiro, by running in his neighborhood. Or maybe it's just an excuse to pick a fight with him. Not that he'll reject it. He could use some social interaction, even if that interaction came from an antisocial snake. Who seems to be running around his neighborhood.

Maybe he's prowling on some kids. Or something.

"Of course I have things to do," he retorts. "I'm training, aren't I?" Stupid Momoshiro, ruining Kaidoh's plans and interrupting his training now on top of it all. Kaidoh shivers. Now that he's stopped, he's realizing just how impractical a tank top is at the end of December. _Dumbass_, he thinks, at himself, at Momoshiro, at the idiotic red scarf still sitting smugly in his pocket.

"Don't move," he says, and snaps his phone shut. Then he starts running again until he's at the end of the street. When he turns the corner this time, he sees Momoshiro sitting there on a swing in the middle of the park, looking annoying as usual, and also a lot warmer than Kaidoh. Kaidoh stops, and glares, and wants to kick himself for not noticing earlier. It really shouldn't be that hard for him to miss Momoshiro, especially when he was thinking about him all night. But Kaidoh tends to get really focused when he's running. He doesn't notice much, unless it's meowing at him. Once he'd nearly plowed into a parked bicycle that happened to be in his path. And how the hell was he supposed to know Momoshiro would be out here anyway, hanging out in a playground like an idiot?

Spotting Kaidoh turning back around, Momoshiro waves his arm at him like a happy little kid who had too much sugar for that day.

"Yo, Mamushi!" he calls out to him. Heh, so it was Kaidoh after all. Great. He didn't even have to call him up to drop by, since he was already there. Momoshiro takes the box of cake off the other swing so Kaidoh can take a seat if he wants, and places it in his lap. He also puts back his glove on his hand, since it's gotten cold.

Speaking of cold, Kaidoh looks really, really cold like that. Is he an idiot? Does he think he's got immunity to the freezing cold?

"Aren't you cold?" Momoshiro asks once Kaidoh gets close enough.

"No," Kaidoh replies grumpily, ignoring the way his teeth have started to chatter when he speaks. "I'm fine like this."

"Reeeaaally," Momoshiro drawls out in a mocking tone. He starts to rock a little on the swing, using his feet on the ground to push him along. "Why are you dressed like that anyway?"

"Because I'm running, moron," says Kaidoh. "Why are you sitting out here alone?"

"I was waiting for Santa Claus to drop a present in my lap." Momoshiro looks down at the box in his lap. "Oh look, he did!" He looks back up at Kaidoh again. "No, you moron. I'm here 'cause I got nothing else to do and got bored. My family is away on some kind of romantic date, my sister is at her friends, and I'm all alone for tonight."

Kaidoh shivers, and isn't sure if it's from the cold or from what Momoshiro has just said, or maybe both.

Watching Kaidoh carefully, Momoshiro takes the box from his lap, stands up, and sets it onto the swing. The snow crushes under his feet as he moves about. He stands up straight and unravels the grey scarf that was wrapped around his neck for warmth. It's one that his grandma had knit for him; it's still warm from his own body heat. Momoshiro walks over to Kaidoh and throws the scarf over his head in a loop, then sloppily wraps it around him, ignoring any protests Kaidoh might have made during it, and ties it a bit too tight just to annoy the snake. Momoshiro grins at him as he steps back.

"You looked like you needed it," he says. "Your face is all red." Then, for good measure, he adds, "Idiot."

"Shut up," Kaidoh hisses. This isn't right at all. He's supposed to give Momoshiro _his_ scarf, and then leave, run away if possible, not stand here blushing with his neck wrapped up in Momoshiro's scarf so tight it's practically strangling him with warmth. And it is warm, probably warmer than the one Kaidoh made, anyway. He wonders if Momoshiro likes grey better than red.

"I didn't need your stupid scarf," Kaidoh says after a moment, stressing the word _stupid_ more than is really necessary.

Momoshiro narrows his eyes at him. "It's not stupid. You're stupid. Who the hell runs out like that in the middle of winter? Do you not see the snow around you? Moron." He takes a seat back on the swing, hugging his box of cake. He's not sharing it with Kaidoh, not if he's going to act like an asshole.

"Don't _you_ have anything to do on Christmas?" Like scare away girls? Or is his neighborhood really that fascinating?

Kaidoh's mouth twists up angrily. "It's just Christmas. I don't need to have something to do." In truth, he _has_ something to do, but Momoshiro is wrecking it, and now Kaidoh's stuck. He stuffs his hands into his pockets and shrugs his shoulders. "I just felt like running," he says.

Momoshiro grins at him. "Couldn't find a date, huh?" he teases him. "Come, sit down. It's annoying when you look like you're ready to dash off at any time now." He tilts his head towards the other lonely swing next to him.

It's better than having no company at all, so Momoshiro will gladly accept Kaidoh's grumpiness for the night. If the snake wants to hang out at all. He looks mighty uncomfortable, and his face has this weird expression on it. Maybe Momoshiro ruined Kaidoh's Christmas by coming across him. Well, too bad. Momoshiro's Christmas is already ruined when he's got no one to share it with. They can share each other's misery.

Kaidoh narrows his eyes, but doesn't protest, just sits down on the swing next to Momoshiro. It must have been years since he's been on a swing, or at a playground at all. It feels weird, especially with Momoshiro there next to him, but lately everything with Momoshiro has felt weird, almost so much that Kaidoh is kind of growing used to it.

He pulls at the scarf at his neck to loosen it a bit. It really is a nice scarf. The stitches are all perfect, not crappy and knotted up like Kaidoh's own effort. Momoshiro would probably hate Kaidoh's stupid scarf, just like he probably hates Kaidoh.

Kaidoh reaches for the swing chains and inhales a sharp breath when his fingers close around them. They feel like icicles and he lets go instantly, sitting there awkwardly with his hands down at his sides, not really swinging at all.

"What's in the box?" he asks finally.

"I'm not quite sure," muses Momoshiro. "Some kind of cake."

Glancing at Kaidoh in the corner of his eyes, Momoshiro sees that Kaidoh is looking really cold, so lonely on the swing, wearing nothing but shorts, a tank top, and his now warm scarf. His fingers look red, being exposed to the cold like that. It looks quite pathetic, to be honest; why did he come out here wearing nothing but that?

Feeling kind of sorry for the snake, Momoshiro begrudgingly decides to share it with Kaidoh after all. He lifts off the cover of the box to reveal a plain brown cake, with white English lettering on top that says; _Happy Christmasu, my sweatharte._ Momoshiro isn't sure what it means, he sucks at English. He recognizes the Christmas part though, so it's probably some kind of holiday phrase.

"Want to share it with me?" he asks. He doesn't have anyone to share it with, why not Kaidoh. He looks like he could eat some cake. Momoshiro takes off his gloves once more, and then pries his fingers underneath the slice with _sweatharte_ on it (it's pre-sliced, which is neat), then lifts it up out of the box, a few crumbs rolling down into the cuff of his coat, and offers it to Kaidoh, like feeding a puppy dog.

Momoshiro flashes Kaidoh a slight smile. "Here."

Kaidoh takes the cake, but he doesn't eat it, just holds it stiffly in his hand, staring at the looping English lettering. He's pretty sure that's not a word. Even Momoshiro's cake is an idiot.

"I don't really eat sweet things," he says, and looks back at Momoshiro nervously. He also doesn't really spend Christmas Eve on swing sets with his tennis rival, who is suddenly making him all blushy again. _Dumbass_. At least the cold offers a good excuse.

Kaidoh looks at the snow at his feet and continues, "But... thanks."

"Who doesn't like sweet things?" scoffs Momoshiro. He takes a slice of his own and takes a big bite out of it. It's … coffee flavoured. It's not sweet at all, not really. It's kind of bitter, and well—tastes like coffee. Momoshiro isn't a huge fan of coffee, but he can stomach it when he can eat it. Literally.

As he chews on the cake with an open mouth, he turns to Kaidoh. "It's your lucky day, it's not sweet at all."

"Close your mouth when you eat," Kaidoh says automatically. "It's disgusting." He lifts the cake to his mouth and takes a small, polite bite. He's kind of surprised to find that Momoshiro is telling the truth. It doesn't taste half bad, a little bitter, and with a kick of spice. It reminds him of his father's black coffee in the mornings before he goes to work.

He takes another bite, so that his cake now simply reads, _eatharte_. After swallowing, he concedes, "It's better than most cakes."

Momoshiro is undecided about the taste. He's had some really delicious cake in his life before. One time, during his birthday, he had a three-tiered chocolate cake. It had this secret filling inside of it that was absolutely delicious. Momoshiro ate the entire thing, and he hit anyone who would come near it. Well, he was five, he couldn't really be blamed. Nevertheless, the taste stuck with him for years. He's definitely had better.

Yet somehow, the taste isn't that awful. He would rather avoid drinking coffee when he can, but can tolerate it to a certain extent. Eating a coffee cake is bitter, and it makes his left eye twitch in response, but it fills his stomach up with a nice soft feeling. A warm feeling. Kind of like pulling a blanket over himself on a cold day, sitting near his grandma's fireplace, and holding a cup of hot chocolate. It feels fuzzy, and Momoshiro chews slowly, wondering why cake would make him feel fuzzy.

"I've had better," he finally replies. The taste still lingers on his taste buds, even after he swallows the dry piece of cake.

Momoshiro glances over at Kaidoh, who is taking out careful little bites, and he starts to think; has he ever offered food to Kaidoh before? There's been many, many times that he has escaped to Kaidoh's classroom (they're right next to each other!), and then stole some of his lunch—but Momoshiro can't remember a time if Kaidoh has ever eaten his food. Not that he cooks or anything, but as long as he owns it, it's his.

It's kind of weird, like this. Sitting on the swings with Kaidoh on Christmas Eve, eating bitter cake. Momoshiro's throat suddenly feels dry. It's probably because of the cake. Probably.

"Want to finish eating this up inside my house?" The words have left his mouth before Momoshiro even understands the severity of his question.

The heat reaches Kaidoh's ears this time, and he nearly drops his cake on the ground.

"Uh..." he stammers. He can't really imagine being in Momoshiro's house. Sure, he's thought about it before, and usually followed up those thoughts with an extra long run, but he's never thought about _actually_ doing it. He's gone over before a couple times, for tennis club stuff, or once to drop off a textbook that Momoshiro had absent-mindedly left in the clubroom, but he'd always stood outside, leaving a decent amount of distance between himself and the door, and he'd never lingered longer than necessary.

"Yeah. Okay," he agrees, trying to sound like the proposition doesn't faze him at all, because he can't disagree; it would be stranger for him to say that he just wants to sit outside like this, side by side. And Momoshiro's house is probably warm. And maybe Kaidoh can find a wall in there to bang his head against repeatedly.

To prevent himself from saying anything else, Momoshiro stuffs his face with the last of the slice of cake, forcing himself to keep quiet and swallow that nasty stuff. It suddenly feels warm, on this winter night, and Momoshiro doesn't like it. He also doesn't like how he invited Kaidoh in his home. Sure … any other day he probably wouldn't mind at all, but right now it was sort of … weird. Strange. It was Christmas and neither of them had something to do.

At least Kaidoh didn't have a stupid date with a girl. That makes him feel a little better.

It takes great effort swallowing all that cake in his mouth, but he manages, and he's pretty sure Kaidoh has been looking at him as if he were some kind of hamster, fastening up. But Momoshiro is avoiding Kaidoh's eyes, for now—they're weird. They look darker than normal. It's probably because there isn't much light around them anyways.

Momoshiro clears his throat. "Okay, let's go then." He stands up, box of cake in his hand, and the other reaches for his neck to adjust his scarf. Except, he's not wearing it anymore, Kaidoh is. He shifts his eyes to sneak a peek at the snake. It still looks sloppy on Kaidoh, and stupid, but he hasn't thrown it off like it's infested with fleas and parasites. Which is kind of amazing, actually. Maybe Kaidoh just likes knitted scarves.

It could also be that he's really cold. The tips of Kaidoh's ears are as red as his cheeks; Kaidoh should really learn how to dress himself better for the winter. It's almost like he's blushing, and that makes everything even weirder. Momoshiro tears his own eyes away from Kaidoh and starts trudging through the snow.

Kaidoh finishes up his own piece of cake and follows after Momoshiro. He feels like he's got cotton stuffed in his throat because he can't make any words come out, not that he can think of anything to say anyway. So he just walks next to Momoshiro silently, hands in his pockets for warmth and because he doesn't trust them right now, not when Momoshiro's right there for him to grab.

After walking for only a minute, that's when the first snowflake lands on the tip of Momoshiro's nose. He stops to look up at the sky; it's a misty grey, there's little flakes of snow dancing everywhere.

When Momoshiro stops, Kaidoh stops too, but he's not looking at the sky. He's busy staring at Momoshiro in the middle of the snowy night, and he can't seem to look anywhere else. He feels his insides swooping and dropping; they're a complete mess.

Momoshiro lifts his free hand—the one with no glove on it—and his palm faces the sky, fingers slightly stretched, catching a few snowflakes as it lands in his hand. They dissolve quickly from the warmth of his skin, leaving little smudges of water. It really does feel like Christmas. Momoshiro looks to the side at Kaidoh, who stares at him like a deer caught in headlights, his eyes wide and frightened. At least he's not alone anymore tonight.

"Hey Kaidoh," he calls out. "Merry Christmas!" Momoshiro snickers at him before looking ahead of himself once more, and he starts making his way back home. He makes sure to get some snow on Kaidoh's shoes as he walks by him.

The walk home doesn't take long, it lasts for about 45 seconds before Momoshiro is standing in front of his home. He knows it's precisely 45 seconds, because he's been counting in his head to fill up the awkward silence between them. Kaidoh is being extremely submissive today, and not even the snow on his shoes threw him into a fit of rage of punches and kicks. Strange. Momoshiro feels strange too.

He looks at the dark windows of his home. "No one's there right now, they're all out," he explains to Kaidoh. Though explaining that they'd be alone at his home suddenly gives Momoshiro goosebumps; who in their right mind would want to be left alone with that snake? Insane people. Lonely people with not much of a selection in friends to hang out with. He sighs and walks up to his doorstep, with Kaidoh right behind him. He takes out his house key and opens up the door. While already kicking off his shoes, he turns on the light, then starts undressing himself.

"Want something to drink?" asks Momoshiro after it has been one minute and 50 seconds since they spoke. He closes the door behind Kaidoh, already in his regular clothing. Kaidoh doesn't really have much to take off, except for his scarf. Which he hasn't taken off yet. Momoshiro stares at him pointedly, with the box of cake under his arm.

Kaidoh looks at Momoshiro, and feels a bit like his whole body is frostbitten, like he's gone numb, but he isn't even cold anymore. In fact, Momoshiro's house seems to envelop him in warmth. It's nice, but strange, and Momoshiro is looking at Kaidoh like he knows just how strange it is, which makes Kaidoh feel like he's got electrical currents running through him, like at any moment something will spark and everything will go up in flames.

He says, "I guess if you're drinking something then I will too," because he knows it would be rude to refuse, but this isn't some kind of holiday get together and Momoshiro isn't his host and being polite with Momoshiro isn't natural. But the other option would be to fight with him and though Kaidoh wants to, he's kind of terrified what might happen now if he does. Sparks? Fire? Something worse?

Seeing that Kaidoh isn't really getting the hint, Momoshiro sighs and steps forwards, hand reaching out to his neck to take off the scarf.

Kaidoh flinches backwards and hisses, "What the hell!?" The electrical current running through his body spits out sparks, threatening to short-circuit.

A bit taken aback by Kaidoh's outburst, Momoshiro drops his hand and he raises an eyebrow at Kaidoh. "What's wrong with you? Got frostbite or something?"

Momoshiro tries once more, this time more sternly, and his hand grabs the end of the scarf. "You're still wearing it, idiot. It's mine, you know." He then tugs at it, throwing it up in the air so that it flies around Kaidoh's head until it's safe and sound back in his own hands. It still feels warm. He hangs it up next to his winter coat, then swiftly turns his head away from Kaidoh, refusing to look at him right now. Why is he being so jumpy all of the sudden? Is it because it's his first time being inside of his house? No one could be _that_ nervous ...

Then again, they were alone. And it's Christmas. And Momoshiro glances back at Kaidoh again, wondering why he even agreed to come. Wondering why he's even in his neighborhood to begin with. It doesn't feel like a coincidence. Not today. Everything has been a perfect set-up for a romantic night at his home. From the cake, to his parents leaving him alone, to meeting at the swings, and going back home and …

Momoshiro grunts, ignores Kaidoh, and makes a dash for the kitchen; this is _not_ romantic. There's nothing romantic about being with Kaidoh. He sets the box on the kitchen counter and opens up one of the cabinets to take out two glasses. Yeah, if it was a girl, it would be romantic. But Kaidoh is a guy, not to mention a grumpy guy who is way too jumpy at the moment. He goes to the fridge to take out some orange juice and fills up the glasses. Yeah, it's not romantic at all. It's … two guys hanging out. Or something like that. He takes out two plates from the cabinet and puts on a slice of cake on both of them.

This would have been so much better if he had met Tachibana's sister. Now that would have been an opportunity. Not stupid Kaidoh. Stupid Kaidoh being stupid and standing there stupidly as if he's a popsicle and frozen to the ground. This is stupid. Why is Kaidoh being so damn weird? Sure, it _sounds_ romantic, but it's not. Nothing could ever happen between them that would be romantic.

It's just some cake and drinks. That's it. Then he won't have spent Christmas alone, and then he'll kick Kaidoh out on the streets. He can go back to his stupid running.

But Momoshiro's throat feels dry as he stares over the counters at Kaidoh, who hasn't even really moved from his spot. He really does look cold. Momoshiro quickly grabs his glass and chugs half of it down to refresh himself, and maybe find his voice again.

"Come get your stuff," he almost sneers at Kaidoh. It's kind of hard to explain, but seeing Kaidoh so weird right now makes Momoshiro feel pissed at him. Pissed it's not a girl or something like that. But he's over thinking this way too much; he should be happy he's not alone. And Kaidoh hasn't yet punched him, so that's a good thing.

Though he'd rather get punched, than see Kaidoh not doing anything and being all nervous in his house.

"Stop being so damn nervous. It's just my house. You've seen it before," Momoshiro says with a sigh. Better to get this over with. Then maybe they can actually have some fun. Maybe this won't be the worst Christmas ever.

"I'm not nervous, you moron!" Kaidoh growls, but his voice has an edge to it that he doesn't recognize. "I'm just..." He looks for some excuse, something to explain away the weirdness he'd been trying so futilely to hide. His gaze lands on the glass of juice. "I'm just thirsty," he finishes, and grabs the glass and takes a large gulp.

"Idiot," Momoshiro mumbles against the cold tip of the glass. His eyes travel over to the thermometer hanging on the wall, and it reads 11 °C. Meaning, really cold still. His parents must have turned it down when they left, that's kind of really cruel—did they forget he was still at home?

"Are you cold still?" Momoshiro decides to ask. He's doing alright himself, though it is starting to get a little cold. He's got a kotatsu in his room though, a small one he got from his parents three years ago for Christmas. It's been a pleasant gift.

Kaidoh shrugs, not wanting to show weakness in front of Momoshiro. Or in this case, the consequences of his less than suitable winter wardrobe. "It's not too bad," he says. It's better than still being outside at any rate. If he were moving he's sure he'd be just _fine_. But moving isn't really in the cards for him right now; he feels like all his limbs have been replaced with heavy plywood. He thinks back to his original plan: just drop the scarf and run. It had seemed so simple. Why did Momoshiro always make everything complicated?

Momoshiro concludes Kaidoh is a lying sack of shit. "Take your plate, let's go to my room," he says. Acting completely nonchalant, like it doesn't faze him to have Kaidoh up in his room, Momoshiro grabs his cake and juice, then starts to walk out of the kitchen, towards the staircase.

_What?!_ Kaidoh blinks after Momoshiro before grabbing his plate and glass, because as with everything Momoshiro says to him, he takes this as a challenge and somehow that gives him the drive to follow after him rather than flee out the front door. He feels a bit like he's about to wake up in an emergency room, having passed out in a snowdrift somewhere, and this will have all been a very weird hypothermic hallucination.

But Momoshiro looks too annoyingly real for this to be a dream. Kaidoh isn't sure if that's a good or bad thing.

Ignoring whether or not Kaidoh is actually following him, Momoshiro walks up the steps, and he listens to a second pair of feet ascending them as well. At least Kaidoh hasn't bolted out yet. That would really make him a loser. And Momoshiro is a loser for inviting him in his room voluntarily. Any other day, he'd have laughed at the thought, but yet here he is, standing in front of his room, door closed, cake and juice in hand, and a Mamushi creeping up on him.

"Don't step on my CDs," says Momoshiro. He knows his room is a mess, the blankets on his bed are a mess, there's probably CDs sprawled across the floor, and suddenly he wishes he had cleaned up or something. He hadn't expected anyone to come over, so there's a bunch of crap lying on the floor still. He slides the door open and uses his elbow to turn on the light switch, with his hands otherwise preoccupied.

There is, as he had said, CDs on the floor. Momoshiro had been listening to some new idol group before his parents called him down. He kicks some of them under his bed as he walks by them, to pave way for Kaidoh. Quickly he scans the room if there isn't anything out in the open that'll embarrass the hell out of him, but thankfully, there's nothing. Not that Kaidoh could ever embarrass him. There's a small square table in the middle of his room; his dear kotatsu. It's right next to his bed as well. He puts down his cake and glass, then shuffles underneath the blanket, and turns the thing on. At least it will be warm this way.

Momoshiro has had people come over into his room before, the last person had probably been Eiji. But Eiji is fun, bubbly, and energetic. This time its Kaidoh in his room, something which he thought would never happen, but there he is, standing as stiff and awkward as a statue. This is nothing like the time Eiji came over. Momoshiro doesn't know whether that's a good or bad thing, but it's probably a bad thing—it's Kaidoh after all.

"Sit," he commands to Kaidoh. He pushes some dirty socks underneath the bed to make room for Kaidoh to sit on the other side of the kotatsu. He leans his arms on the edge of the bed, watching Kaidoh carefully.

Kaidoh looks around Momoshiro's room like he's in a museum, afraid to step anywhere or touch anything. But Momoshiro told him to sit, so Kaidoh does, but he doesn't look at Momoshiro.

Instead, he continues scanning the room, trying to find something else to focus on and sees... his face? What is his face doing on Momoshiro's nightstand? Kaidoh narrows his eyes at it, and then recognizes the picture and something in his chest flips over and pulls taut. He feels warm. Almost too warm.

He stretches out his leg under the kotatsu and feels it collide with Momoshiro's and he immediately pulls it back and blushes. "Sorry," he mumbles. And then, "Idiot." And then, he asks, "Why do you have that stupid picture of us?"

Ah crap, he _did_ have something in his room that would embarrass him after all. Momoshiro tries to look dignified, and cool, and slick, and not nervous or embarrassed, and his throat starts to close up.

"Because I'm in it, duh," he replies with nerves of steel. Truth be told, that picture captured the best day of his life, and he likes to look at it when he goes to bed. It reminds him of winning the nationals, and feeling proud, and happy, and for once Kaidoh is feeling happy too, and they're not punching each other, but instead are celebrating, and in that small glass frame, they're happy together forever. It's a frozen piece of happiness.

Which sounds like a line he stole from his sister's dating games, and he gags a little. He slowly reaches out for his plate, and drags it across the table towards him, avoiding Kaidoh's eyes.

"You have that picture too, stupid," he then deflects his embarrassment. And it's _not_ a stupid picture.

"Shut up," Kaidoh says, and reaches for his own plate as well, so that they're both awkwardly pushing plates around on the table top like some bizarre game of air hockey. "At least I don't have mine framed, moron." Which is true; Kaidoh keeps his where no one can see it but him, hiding the happy memory like a secret.

"What, where do you keep it then?" asks Momoshiro, feeling a little bit insulted. Winning the nationals together deserves to be framed and paraded around like a gem. Even when he pushes the frame face-down when his sister walks in, or his mother … or anyone else.

Okay, so Momoshiro doesn't really want other people to see it. But that's because it's embarrassing, and he's humble and mild-mannered, of course he wouldn't arrogantly show it off all the time. Just … when he's alone, and going to bed. He starts chewing on his coffee cake to get his mind to stop rambling.

"I forgot where I put mine," Kaidoh lies, and takes another gulp of juice. He still feels warm up to his ears, and when he shifts his legs again, his knee brushes past the heater. "That's really hot," he says. "The kotatsu, I mean."

"Well, then don't touch it, you idiot," snorts Momoshiro. "And stop moving. It's not a big kotatsu, it's only meant for one person." Momoshiro wonders if Kaidoh has ever been under one; he seems like the kind of guy who would purposely keep himself cold. Like he did this evening. Speaking of …

"So, why are you in my neighborhood again?" Half-naked?

Kaidoh's voice stalls out. He isn't sure what to say...

_I've been running here for a while_? No. That would sound like he's been stalking Momoshiro, and Kaidoh _definitely_ hasn't been stalking Momoshiro.

_I just felt like running in your neighborhood on Christmas Eve_? Again, it sounds like Kaidoh is obsessed, and Kaidoh isn't really sure _what_ he's feeling, but he's pretty sure it's not obsession. That would mean he... and he definitely doesn't. At least, he doesn't think he does. Oh crap, maybe he does.

_I forgot your house was in this neighborhood_? Then Momoshiro would just think Kaidoh is an idiot. And Kaidoh kind of feels like one, at the moment, with his warm ears and warm cheeks and inability to do anything but look at his stupid slice of cake, but Kaidoh isn't stupid enough to forget where Momoshiro lives. He'd never forget that.

He ends up saying, "My training route changes sometimes," which is vague enough to be safe.

Momoshiro takes his glass and places the edge of it against his lips. His eyes dart over towards Kaidoh, his eyebrows lowered down into a frown. "... On Christmas? You don't have anything else to do?" Like go on stupid dates with stupid girls, and then scare them off? He takes a small sip of his juice, but he's not thirsty, yet at the same time his throat feels very dry.

"What's wrong with running on Christmas? It's just another day," Kaidoh says, trying to sound like he hadn't even paid attention to the calendar, hadn't had the date marked and circled as a deadline to finish the scarf for the past three weeks.

Momoshiro shrugs. "I don't know, I thought maybe you were out with some girl or something." Ah, he didn't really mean to say that. He doesn't care what Kaidoh does on Christmas. And it's not like Kaidoh could ever score a date. Stupid. He blows a few bubbles inside of his orange juice as he takes another sip. This time, it's his knee that bumps against Kaidoh's on accident, but he doesn't pull back like an idiot like Kaidoh would. Instead, he pretends he doesn't notice.

Kaidoh snorts, "Girls are dumb." He suddenly worries that he's implying that Momoshiro is somehow _not_ dumb, since he's here with him instead of out with one of them, so he adds, "Not as stupid as you though," and knocks Momoshiro's knee right back, because it's _totally not weird_ for him either.

Grunting a little, Momoshiro pushes his knee back against Kaidoh, turning it into a childish and stupid competition between the two. "That's only 'cause you scare 'em off in the first place. Idiot. Of course you wouldn't be out on a date with someone. Who'd want to date you? I'd feel bad for the poor bastard. Girl, I mean. Does that make her a bastardis? Or a bastardnette?" Momoshiro is grasping for things to say here, his mind isn't really making any sense right now. All he can think about is making fun of Kaidoh, and the warmth touch of their legs.

"Whatever it is, it makes you stupid. You're as dateless as I am." And that is actually, not as disappointing as Momoshiro would like to believe. It's not. He's kind of relieved, actually. And he doesn't even know why. Relieved because at least some girl isn't stuck with Kaidoh because he'd totally scar her, or traumatize her date? Probably. Yeah, he'll go with that. He's relieved Kaidoh isn't scaring girls.

Only Momoshiro could put up with Kaidoh.

Kaidoh glares at Momoshiro and pushes against his leg, because it's the closest he can get to hitting him without flinging plates everywhere and lunging across the table, and although Momoshiro's room is already kind of a mess, Kaidoh isn't that terrible of a houseguest to make it even more of one.

"I could get a date if I wanted to," he retorts. "If I had someone that I liked." He's still glaring at Momoshiro, but suddenly looks away as he says that. "And I don't look scary, you asshole." He kicks his leg out at Momoshiro under the table.

Momoshiro flicks his big toe against Kaidoh's knee. "As if you could ever like someone. It probably has to wear animal ears and a tail for you to like it." Then he pompously grabs for Kaidoh's cake, takes it off his plate, and bites a huge chunk out of it with his mouth. That's what he gets. No cake for him.

"And you _do_ look scary. If I didn't see you wearing that bandana on your head, knowing it was you, I'd have called the cops because there was some kind of weird predator running around in our neighborhood." Momoshiro throws his free hand up in the air. "Crazy!"

"Dumbass," Kaidoh snarls. "I don't look like a predator! And I don't like that, don't be gross!" For some reason his mind gives him a mental image of Momoshiro dressed up as a cat, collar with a bell and all, and he starts choking and grabs for his glass of juice, downing the rest of it in one go.

Momoshiro drops the cake onto the table, then pulls his legs out of the kotatsu, and he leans one knee on top of it, jabbing it into his own plate, and almost knocking off his juice.

"Yes, you look exactly like a predator!" he says. Momoshiro then reaches for Kaidoh's shirt and pulls him close, then he uses his hands to pinch Kaidoh's cheeks to pull them apart. "See! Scary looking!" Using the moment to correct Kaidoh's creepiness, his fingers let go of his cheeks, and then he squishes them together so that Kaidoh is making pouty lips at him. With his thumbs he lifts up the corners of Kaidoh's lips. "Now, if you smile like this, it'd be a lot better."

"Don't touch my face, you fucking moron," Kaidoh growls, yanking Momoshiro's hands away. But it's too late, he's already bright red.

Momoshiro sits there, half on the table, staring at Kaidoh. He blinks. "Well, uhh, you're not supposed to blush at it. It makes you look …" Really non-threatening at all, but Momoshiro can't seem to get the words out, because Kaidoh's red face is actually the opposite of scary. It's quite … endearing. And that's not something he should be thinking about Kaidoh, so he growls at him.

"Stop blushing!" And looking so squishable! Momoshiro squishes Kaidoh's cheeks together once more. "Look scary again!" This is Kaidoh, who is supposed to look menacing and threatening, not meek and embarrassed. He rubs Kaidoh's cheeks to get him to look weird. Anything is better than acknowledging his flushed cheeks.

Kaidoh slaps Momoshiro's hands away and then socks him in the chin. "Idiot," he hisses, but finds that he doesn't feel angry. Just more confused than ever, and instead of thinking about how pissed off he should be, he's just thinking about Momoshiro's hands and how soft and warm they felt against his face and how he'd really like to pull them back there again. _Fuck_, he thinks. _This is not good at all_. And he's probably still blushing up to his ears. _Fucking Momoshiro_.

Momoshiro doesn't know what shocks him more; the blow to his chin, or Kaidoh blushing even more, until his entire face is cherry red. He stares at him dumbly, jaw hanging wide open, and the glass of juice gets knocked off by his hand as he claws at the table for stability. The juice spills everywhere.

"What's wrong with you?!" Momoshiro asks. Why is Kaidoh so damn red? Wait, maybe he got a fever while running outside in the cold. That could happen, right? Oh—what should be do!? Throw him in his bed? Call an ambulance? Force him to go home? Let him stay the night?

"Are you sick or something?" Wanna stay the night? He doesn't want Mamushi to perish in the streets wearing nothing but stupid shorts and a dumb tank top.

"I'm fine!" Kaidoh protests, feeling anything but. He feels impossibly warm now. His palms are all sweaty. His pulse is thudding like sneakers on asphalt. "I'm _fine_," he repeats, but his body disagrees.

Momoshiro can't remember what the number is for the hospital, he's coming up with nothing but a blank. "I … uhh … are you—do you smell that?" A sudden burning stench fills his nose, and Momoshiro scrunches up his face as he smells it. Where is it coming from, and why?

When his eyes land on the empty glass on the table, he knows in an instant what it is, and at that time, he can hear the crackle of electricity fizzle throughout the heater underneath the table. Momoshiro's eyes grow large, but he stops thinking. Instead he pulls Kaidoh out of the table, grabbing a fistful of his tank top and almost ripping it off as he yanks him with him, and they topple over onto the safety his bed. The kotatsu hisses and crackles some more, and all the lights in his room suddenly shut off. It's deadly quiet, except for his very fast breathing, and the thrumming of Kaidoh's heartbeat against his ear, and they're completely engulfed in darkness.

The kotatsu short circuited. And Momoshiro feels like he's just escaped death, all his insides are tingly and flipping and his heart is threatening to burst out of his chest. Or maybe that's Kaidoh's, because he's pressed up against him; Momoshiro had pulled him close to protect him—something which he hadn't even noticed. And something which he still doesn't notice. There's too much blood rushing to his head to think straight.

Kaidoh feels a bit like maybe now he _is_ sick. Because this certainly can't be actually happening. He can't actually be on Momoshiro's bed, pressed up against him in the dark like two strips of velcro locked together, feeling his breath come in hot bursts against the side of his face. No, this can't be happening. It's not real. Because if it is, Kaidoh's sure he will die. He feels his chest tightening. It's hard to breathe. It takes him a moment to realize that it's because Momoshiro is holding him so very tightly. Part of Kaidoh wants to let him, but another much smarter and more rational part of him tells him that he needs to leave, and leave now. He shoves at Momoshiro's chest, pushing him away. _Stop touching me!_ he thinks desperately. _Just don't!_

Feeling the air being pushed out of him, Momoshiro backs off and lets go of Kaidoh. "Jerk, what was that for!" he snaps at him. He rubs at his chest; it's kind of throbbing where Kaidoh pushed him. He put too much force behind it, that's for sure. He tries to look at Kaidoh, but it's so dark and he can't see anything at all. He'll have to do some explaining to his parents when they get back home.

"Where are you," asks Momoshiro. He reaches out his hand and fumbles around looking for Kaidoh's position. He knows it's still on the bed, because he can hear him breathe, and he can feel the weight pressed down onto the mattress. It's kind of scary like that.

Kaidoh feels a finger suddenly jab into his mouth and he squawks, sitting bolt upright on the bed. "Asshole!" he growls, and punches into the darkness.

It hits Momoshiro's shoulder. "Don't punch me!" he yells back, then throws a first into the darkness as well, aiming for that small shadowy figure sitting across him. Except he misses, and hits nothing but air.

"This is stupid, let me fix this," grumbles Momoshiro. He crawls across the bed on his hands and knees. And at one point, he thinks he's crawling over Kaidoh, but isn't quite sure. Is that his leg? Whatever it is, it's in the way.

"Move your leg, Kaidoh," he says, pushing at it.

Kaidoh lets out a yelp so high-pitched probably only dogs can hear it as Momoshiro's hand crushes against his lap. _That is not his leg! _ _**That is definitely not his leg!**_ Kaidoh throws both his hands out and shoves until he hears Momoshiro topple off the bed. Then he scrambles up in the darkness and tries to find the door again. He knocks into a table and hears something fall over and crash on the floor. It sounds like broken glass but he doesn't stop. He can't stop moving now, not when he's so mortified and confused and really hates Momoshiro and just wants to run forever.

Momoshiro tries to stand up after Kaidoh so rudely pushed him off the bed, but then yelps in pain as he feels shards of glass stab his hand. Abort mission to stop Kaidoh. New mission; make sure hand doesn't fall off. Oh fuck, it _hurts_.

Kaidoh finds the door and pulls it open. Then he dashes down the stairs, practically leaps into his shoes and runs out the front door, not bothering to look back. He doesn't want to stop. He can't stop. He doesn't want to think about how Momoshiro's hand felt, or how close he was, or how it made him feel, but he can't help it. He feels sparks all over his body, like it wasn't just the kotatsu that caught fire.

It isn't until he's already ten blocks away that he remembers the scarf in his pocket. Well, he can't go back now. He probably can't even look Momoshiro in the eye again.

Momoshiro is left whimpering in the darkness, pulling out little tiny shards of glass from the palm of his hand. Luckily, there's no blood. At least, he doesn't think there is. He does feel something wet against the floor though, but that might be the juice. He takes out his cellphone from his pocket with his uninjured hand and uses it to light up the room, and inspects his hand; it's fine. Just a few light scratches.

Angrily, he then sends a text message to Kaidoh's phone.

_I'm calling the cops to let them know a predator is running around like an idiot in my neighborhood._

Even though Kaidoh has been running for blocks now, it isn't helping the feelings go away. He still feels tingling all over him, like he's buzzing with unwanted energy. Vibrating, really. Vibrating in his shorts.

Kaidoh stops running and stuffs his hand into his pocket. He pulls out his phone which is buzzing with a new text message. He looks at it and his free hand clenches into a fist.

_I hate you_, he types as a reply.

It couldn't be further from the truth.


	5. White Noise

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **the last log set in the past before the real events (stranded on an island) kick in. This log is meant to be the first day where Momo and Kaidoh call each other every day for ten days straight, until all contact is severed for five years until they meet each other again washed up on the island. The reason for the contact being severed, is that Momo was peeing while on the phone with Kaidoh (don't ask, he's an idiot), and accidentally dropped his phone inside the toilet, which erased Kaidoh's number. Momo waited for Kaidoh to call him back so he could get his number again, but Kaidoh's been too shy to do this, hence the no contact for five years.

You can read the phonecalls that happen after this log here (replace dot with a period and take out spaces):**********tinyurl dot com/d6uvusf**  


**Authors:** Celianna (Momo, Hazue, Momo's sister Yuki) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:** In their third year, Kaidoh tries to give Momo some Valentine's Day chocolates (which are burnt), but ends up shoving it into his locker without a name. Momo is intrigued about his secret admirer for a week, until he gives up looking for them. In this log, Momo and Kaidoh are in their first year of high school, but went to different schools. Momo still has regular contact with Kaidoh and bugs him whenever he can, which Kaidoh doesn't mind of course. Kaidoh continues to stalk Momo and keeps his own data about Momo in a private drawer, he still hasn't told Momo he likes him though. Momo has called Kaidoh the day before this one and asked him to go see two movies with him, one of them a horror movie. Momo has also secretly changed the name 'Dumbass' back to 'Kaidoh' on his phone.

**Date:** first year of high school, during their summer vacation, set in 2007

* * *

It's so shiny; it's the newest laptop model available, Hazue is so proud of saving enough of his allowance to be able to buy it. Well, he actually didn't save up enough, but his parents pitched in. They felt like he needed a present for now being in middle school, especially since right now everyone is enjoying their summer vacation, and Hazue sort of wants to spend it playing on a computer.

After an hour or two of fumbling around with his new laptop, he's finally got internet running on the thing, and the first thing he does is create an e-mail for himself. He also makes one for his brother, just because. Feeling happy and accomplished, he runs to his brother's room to show it to him.

"Kaoru-nii-chan," he says as he knocks on the door. "Can I come in? My laptop has internet now!"

"Yeah, whatever," Kaidoh grunts, and pushes aside his history homework. He doesn't really care about internet, or computers, or whatever his brother is about to babble on about, but he can spare a few minutes for him. After all, it's not like he was in the middle of something important like training or ironing his clothes.

Hazue slides the door open and closes it behind him. He happily bounces on top of Kaidoh's bed and sits the laptop on top of it.

"Look, we can surf the internet now! You can look up stuff for your homework, and things like that," says Hazue excitedly. He opens the laptop and turns it on, immediately going to his web browser and ticking in some kind of random address.

"All my classmates are always talking about this website they're on, I forgot what it was called … Face something." Hazue rakes through his mind to remember the name of the website, the most popular website at the moment, and then remembers it. "Ah, Facebook! Yeah. You make some kind of profile and find people you used to know, or still know, I guess. I should make one! Do you want one too? I can fill it out for you."

Kaidoh hisses. "I don't really care," he says, but gets up from his desk and goes to stand next to Hazue by the bed. He looks blankly at the bright screen. "What do you have to put in it?"

"Let's see …" Hazue types in the address and goes to Facebook. He's immediately invited to created his own account, so he does. "Oh, standard information I guess, your name, your last name, your e-mail—oh I made one for you by the way—birthdate, address and." Hazue narrows his eyes at the rest of the questions. Relationship status? "And I guess if you have a girlfriend." Hazue selects 'no' from the dropdown list. He skims through the rest of the form and created his account.

As soon as he does, he gets a welcome screen that shows a bunch of pictures from people in his class, Facebook is asking him if perhaps he knows these people. And he does! Hazue is quite amazed at this.

"Look, it knows all of my classmates already! They even have pictures, ahh, this is so cool." Hazue clicks on one classmate and looks at his profile. He's got a bunch of pictures uploaded to it, of him during his recent birthday party that Hazue was invited to. He's even in some of them, and he happily clicks through them.

"I bet I could look up people from my previous school too!" Hazue starts typing in some of his old classmates from elementary school, and he was right; a bunch of results show up and he eagerly 'friends' each and every one of them.

Kaidoh watches as the screen fills up with pictures and text over and over again and Hazue clicks buttons, the same message appearing each time he does; _Friend Request Sent_.

"What's that button for?" Kaidoh asks finally, his face scrunched up in confusion. His brother said this was an information site about people. What did that have to do with friendship?

Hazue is still new to the site, so he's not one hundred percent sure, but he can pretty much guess what 'add friend' means. "Well, we're friends, so we add each other on our profiles. Then other people can see we're friends, and things like that." It sounds a bit silly when he explains it aloud, but he hopes his brother gets the point.

"Like, I could add you right now, and say you're my brother!" Which prompts Hazue to log off his own account, and create one for Kaidoh. "Let me make one for you real fast." He fills out all the information (he's pretty sure Kaidoh would type as slow as a snail) and within a couple of minutes, Kaidoh Kaoru has his own Facebook page.

And one of the people shown on the start page is Hazue himself; obviously they're connected by blood, so of course he shows up. "Look, there I am, now we can friend each other." His mouse clicks on the button, and now he and Kaidoh are friends. "And we can tell it that we're brothers too." From the dropdown list of his relationship with this person, he selects 'brother'.

"See? Pretty cool, huh?"

Kaidoh shrugs. "I don't need a website to tell me you're my brother though," he says, a little impatiently. This website is stupid. What's the point?

He scans the screen. There are a bunch of people he doesn't really remember, girls in his class first year of middle school, players from tennis training camps, one of the neighbor kids who lives down the street, and then, smack dab in the middle of the sea of nobodies, Kaidoh sees Momoshiro Takeshi's stupid face.

There's a grey button illuminated underneath his picture saying, _Add Friend?_

Kaidoh's whole face heats up. "Do you..." he starts, feeling guilty and a bit conspiratorial. "You don't have to be friends with people to look at their information, do you?"

Hazue shakes his head. "I don't think so. Maybe some people have it set to private, but I don't think a lot of them will. Why, want to look at someone?" His fingers are ready on the touchpad, to click on whoever his brother has in mind.

"No!" Kaidoh sputters. "Just. Asking. If it's possible."

He jabs his finger at the screen, poking at Momoshiro's face. "Like what about him?" he asks, doing his best to sound nonchalant, like he chose him at random, like he doesn't care. Because he really doesn't.

Hazue moves his mouse cursor on top of the spiky haired boy, and clicks it. The page starts to load, and it shows some very minimal information about Momoshiro Takeshi. Oh. Oh! It's _that_ Momoshiro. Hazue suddenly starts to smile; he knows his brother really looks up to him, even if he tries to hide it. Hazue has never met Momoshiro in person, but he has heard his loud voice on Kaidoh's cellphone when he calls him sometimes. Then he can hear his brother in the next room yell out some profanity (even if he tries to deny this) and the next second he's talking with him normally again. It's a weird friendship dynamic, but Hazue is happy his brother has friends at least.

"Here, why don't you go look at him, I'm going to the bathroom real quick." Hazue slips off from the bed and makes way for Kaidoh, then disappears from his room with a small smile.

Kaidoh sits down on the bed and scrolls through the page. Birthday, family, address... He knows all this stuff already. Then he sees a link labeled 'Photos', and clicks on it. Momoshiro hasn't uploaded many, but Kaidoh clicks through them slowly anyway.

He looks really young in some of them, maybe only seven or eight-years-old, happily catching a fish or riding a merry-go-round. There are others that Kaidoh recognizes; official team photos from middle school, and then Kaidoh stops, his breath catching in his throat, when he sees that Momoshiro has uploaded the one of the two of them with their Nationals medals. He knows that photo well, but it still makes warmth swell up in his chest whenever he looks at it.

He's about to close the browser window when he sees another link further down on the page: 'Photos tagged by others'. When Kaidoh clicks it, his eyes go wide. There are dozens and dozens of pictures of Momoshiro, row after row of them filling up the page, uploaded by a certain Momoshiro Yuki-chan. Kaidoh feels overwhelmed. Momoshiro sleeping, Momoshiro eating, Momoshiro brushing his teeth or gelling up his stupid hair.

Kaidoh opens each one, staring and studying, the blush spreading from his cheeks to his ears, his heart pounding. He snorts at the one of Momoshiro, half-asleep, trying to pee in the fridge. He smiles at the one of Momoshiro drooling on his pillow. He even laughs out loud at the one of Momoshiro with his tongue stuck to a pole in the middle of winter.

_Fucking idiot_, Kaidoh thinks, a smile curling at his lips. He is tempted to leave a comment to the same effect, but he doesn't want Momoshiro to know that he's seen this, that he's seen all of it. Momoshiro would probably punch him and call him a creep.

Kaidoh wonders if there's a way to save all these photos somehow and print them out.

Hazue comes back after dawdling around for much longer than was necessary; having fixed up some snacks while he was at it. It's some simple onigiri, he made some for Kaidoh as well.

"I'm back, Kaoru-nii-chan, did you find what you were looking for?" Hazue shoves the door open with his foot, his hands otherwise preoccupied with carrying the tray of rice balls, and he places them on Kaidoh's desk, picking one up and taking a bite out of it. He sits next to his brother on the bed and leans over his shoulder to see what he's doing.

Kaidoh tries to close out of the window but ends up clicking the 'Like' button instead.

"Oh, wow, he's got so many pictures!" exclaims Hazue. He's kind of amazed at the sheer quantity of them. He laughs when he sees the one Kaidoh was looking at; Momoshiro being stuck to a pole with his tongue. He seems like such a fun guy, no wonder his brother likes him.

"Hey, I see one of you," says Hazue. He notices one at the bottom right corner, the thumbnail display his brother Kaidoh and Momoshiro, at some kind of park. "That one." He points his finger at the screen. "Click it."

Kaidoh clicks on the picture and sees himself doing lunges in the park, a sour look of concentration on his face. And then he sees Momoshiro in the foreground, crouching behind a trash can with his ass in the air, looking like a moron. Or possibly a stalker pervert. Or a moronic stalker pervert.

"What the hell?" he exclaims. "When was this taken?!" What was Momoshiro even _doing_? How did Kaidoh not see him there? He feels his fingernails dig into his palm the way they do when he's itching to punch Momoshiro in the face, but he calms himself down because he doesn't want to act all weird and irrational in front of his brother. Especially not over Momoshiro. No, Hazue doesn't need to know about the whole... whatever it is.

Kaidoh's expression smoothes out again. "That's really weird," he says flatly.

"Hmm, let's see." Hazue looks to the right to read the description. He starts to read it out loud. "This one was too funny. So like my brother is whining all day that he wants to go eat burgers, but he doesn't have enough money (he spent it on buying a PlayStation!), and he keeps bothering me for money, but I won't have any of it. Mom tells him to stop bothering me, and maybe if he goes outside and do some good deeds she'll give him some more allowance. And then ... the idiot actually does it! He goes outside with a trash bag, determined to 'clean up the environment' and then he does this stupid dance (picture here) and goes to some park. I had to follow him of course, needed to capture his stupidity as proof of his ... well, _stupidity._ I don't know what he ended up doing though, before he even got there, he acted all weird, and started hiding behind streetlights and trees and fences, like he's tailing someone. I think maybe it's that bandana guy from his old school, but I can't be sure; there's lots of people around. So we end up at the park anyway, and he just … sits there! Behind a trashcan! Staring! And he's mumbling something under his breath, but I can't make out what he says. He spends a good fifteen minutes just staring at the people in the park. It's definitely that bandana guy though. I think maybe he was spying on him for some kind of training information. My brother is such a goof."

Hazue catches his breath. "Uploaded … three weeks ago. I'm guessing this is his sister's profile." Obviously.

"That idiot," Kaidoh hisses. He has to try really hard to suppress his smirk. He wishes he'd noticed! Next time Momoshiro calls him, he'll be sure to ask what the hell he's doing stalking him.

Or not. Because then Kaidoh would have to admit that he's been stalking Momoshiro too. Although technically, Hazue instigated it this time. Yeah, blame his brother.

"Let's save this one, it's funny," says Hazue with a grin. He right-clicks the picture, and saves it to his 'My Pictures' folder. "If you want to save any, just right-click it and choose 'save picture as' and then select a location. I can share my laptop with you if you want. It's pretty useful."

He slips off the bed once more and reaches for another rice ball. "Shouldn't you go back to your homework?" Hazue asks.

"Yeah," Kaidoh says vaguely, not really focused on what Hazue is saying. He's busy clicking back to the picture of Momoshiro's tongue stuck to a pole and trying the right-click-save thing.

"It worked!" he says, and then, "Cool." He glances away from the screen at his brother. "I just, uh, picked a random one to test it out," he says, preemptively defensive. He slides the laptop away from him as though it's dangerous.

"Right," he says. "Homework."

"Yeah, you know what, I'll leave it with you." Hazue stands behind his brother, creates a new tab and types in Google's address. "Just type in a question you need answered for your homework, and I'm pretty sure you'll find the answer right away. Or any other kind of information, really."

He leaves the tray with rice balls as well. "But give it back to me in an hour, okay?" Hazue takes one last rice ball and walks out of Kaidoh's room, leaving his brother alone to be happy and gleeful he's got a laptop to use. He knew his brother would like it too.

Kaidoh completely ignores the Google search bar and returns to the previous tab, clicking back to the photo index to pick up where he left off. He has a lot of photos to save.

He's in the middle of saving the picture of Momoshiro drooling in his sleep when his phone suddenly starts vibrating with an incoming call.

From... Momoshiro.

When Kaidoh sees the name, he flings his phone across the room and turns bright red, then stares accusingly back at the screen. _How does he know?_

A moment later, the phone buzzes again, this time with a text message. Kaidoh hesitantly lifts himself off the bed and goes to retrieve it.

_Whatcha doin?_ it reads.

Kaidoh glances nervously around the room, then jabs back, _Training_.

No, that's what he _should_ be doing. It's already 9:00pm. He needs to run. Momoshiro is fucking up his whole schedule with his stupid face.

Kaidoh returns to the bed and resolutely closes the laptop, not noticing that the screen is still set on the picture of Momoshiro sleeping. Then he goes to return it to his brother.

He'll save the other photos later. Right now he should be running.

Hazue wonders why Kaidoh was looking at a picture of Momoshiro sleeping, but says nothing, and simply creates a folder for Kaidoh alone, making sure all downloaded pictures will go into that folder, and leaves the page on the screen. He closes his laptop and starts to watch some TV.

Kaidoh has only been out for about ten minutes when his phone vibrates again from his pocket. Without slowing down, he fishes it out and raises it to his ear.

"What?" he demands. He doesn't even have to bother asking who it is. No one else calls him in the middle of training.

"Yo!" says Momoshiro's cheerful voice. "You're such a training freak."

"Dumbass," Kaidoh replies. "Did you call just to say that?" He reaches the path that runs along the river and picks up his pace, his breaths growing sharper as he does.

"Uh yeah, maybe." Momoshiro pauses a bit, listening to Kaidoh run for a second. "You have no idea what I had to go through today. I mean, I love kids and all … but this was just too much." He sighs.

"I don't care," Kaidoh says, looping over the bridge and back along the other side of the river, but in spite of himself asks, "What were you doing with kids anyway?" It's not something he'd easily admit, but he actually doesn't mind listening to Momoshiro talk.

There's some ruffling heard through the cellphone before Momoshiro's voice breaks through it. "Well you see, I had to go to this stupid birthday party of one of my younger cousins. She turned five today. Anyways, she got this stupid pink princess dress as a present, and wanted to wear it right away, and play some sort of stupid play with me as the prince." Momoshiro sighs again. "It was so embarrassing. She even made me wear things! And it wasn't in my size! It was all cramped and tight and really itchy."

Momoshiro stops talking to listen to the water running in the background. "Where are you training anyways? River as always?"

"Yeah," Kaidoh replies curtly. Then he remembers that one Facebook photo and adds, "Stalker, you better not come follow me."

"Why would I follow you?" Momoshiro starts to munch on something hard and crunchy, and speaks with his mouth full. "You're not interesting enough to follow. I've got better things to do with my summer vacation. Anyways, I had to play this stupid prince thing with her for three hours! It was so mortifying. I'm glad no one other than my family saw it. I'm sure the guys at school would tease me for ages if they saw. And I think my cousin might have a crush on me. Which is really fucking gross."

Kaidoh snorts. "Anyone having a crush on you is gross," he says. Pants, really. Talking on the phone and running at the same time is kind of a challenge, especially at the pace Kaidoh runs.

"Don't say that in that creepy huffing voice of yours," says Momoshiro. He stuffs his face with food again. "But yeah, a five year old? Not to mention I'm her cousin? That's seriously gross! That's incest! Ew!"

"Stop talking with your mouth full, I can't understand what the hell you're even saying," Kaidoh growls, rounding the path for another lap. "Didn't you have dinner? Why are you still eating?"

Now it's Momoshiro's turn to snort. "Of course I had dinner. You think I'm satisfied with just dinner? Of course not. I'm eating …" He takes a moment to try and remember the name. "I don't know, but it's got these little caramel swirls inside, and some alphabet letters. Oh, it's cereal, haha, almost forgot. It's pretty good actually, you should try some. They look kind of cool."

Then Momoshiro's voice fades away from the phone, and is instead replaced by the punching in of buttons, loud and clear, and cracking and whirring, until Momoshiro speaks up again. "There, sent you a picture of it."

Kaidoh's phone vibrates against his ear and he yanks it away to look at the screen.

And then stops running so abruptly that his sneakers skid against the pavement.

There's Momoshiro, sitting on his bed without a shirt, his back against a pillow, a contented smirk on his face and cereal box in hand.

Kaidoh drops the phone. Luckily it lands in the grass and not on the pavement. It takes him a moment to find it and pick it up again.

"Sorry," he says, after he's brushed it off and put it back up to his ear. "Dropped my phone." His voice sounds strained, and now he's sweating more than he ought to be from just running. His face feels really warm.

"Idiot," huffs Momoshiro. He eats some more cereal again. "So back to the party. After three hours in which I had to wear that stupid itchy outfit, being dragged around by my cousin, and with my sister giggling non-stop all the way through—I finally managed to escape from it. I am never going to her birthday party again. Nor am I ever kissing her hand again. It's seriously gross. Maybe if she wasn't related to me, it'd be cute. Sort of endearing, but this is my cousin! Anyone else would have been fine."

Momoshiro scrapes his spoon against the edge of the bowl. "You should carry a flashlight with you when you run."

"Why?" Kaidoh asks. "You worried about me or something?" He starts running again, trying to regain his lost rhythm and ignore the image of Momoshiro sitting there eating. It's kind of hard when he can hear Momoshiro eating, too, the sounds crunching right in his ear, each one a reminder of what Momoshiro looks like right now. Kaidoh picks up his pace, faster than usual, as though he can somehow outrun his freaky train of thought.

"No, worried about your phone. Don't drop it like that, it can, you know, break and stuff. Watch where you're running. I can't bother you anymore if your phone breaks," says Momoshiro smugly. "Why are you running this late anyway?" Then, he adds, "And did you get the picture?"

"I always run this late," Kaidoh says. No, that's not true. Usually he starts earlier, but earlier tonight he had been... _Oh, right_. He shakes his head and keeps running, catching his breath to say, "Yeah, I got the picture. You look stupid. You should wear a shirt."

"Why? I'm in bed. I don't wear a shirt when I sleep and it's this hot out. I bet you don't either." Momoshiro slurps up the rest of his milk and burps loudly.

"And you should stop running this late. It's annoying. It sounds like you're some kind of pervert who keeps breathing into the phone doing something weird."

Kaidoh snarls. "Well, then you should stop calling me when I'm running! Stop thinking gross things!"

"Then when _should_ I call you!" yells Momoshiro. He takes a moment to take in a deep breath and calm himself down; Kaidoh is just being an idiot. "Stupid. I'll call you whenever you want. If it bothers you that much, then I'll hang up."

"FINE," Kaidoh shouts, which is hard given his shortness of breath. "Hang up!"

Momoshiro huffs and ends the call.

Kaidoh's phone beeps and he pulls it away from his ear to look at it. He didn't think that would actually work. _Idiot_. He slows down to an easy jog and continues along his route, his phone still clutched in his hand.

A minute later his palm starts vibrating. Kaidoh can see Momoshiro's name flashing on the screen, and he flips his phone open, holding it up to his ear but saying nothing.

"There's this really weird documentary on TV right now. Something about this guy … who lost his dick, and years later, he's getting a new one. Or something. They keep mentioning skin graft? I think. Anyways, he's getting it from a dead dude! That's the grossest thing I've heard yet in my life! Ew. Why am I watching this."

"What the hell?" Kaidoh growls. "Stop telling me about that!"

"Well, I could go back to talking about how stupid your breathing is …" Momoshiro trails off. But he's got better things to talk about then something as creepy as that. "It kind of makes me want to go see a horror movie." Then he grins against the phone. "... Want to see one with me? I'm sure there's one playing at the movies right now."

"Horror movies are stupid," Kaidoh says simply. More like terrifying, but he's not going to say that to Momoshiro.

"You're stupid. And a chicken. Can't even watch a horror movie without running out screaming like a girl." Momoshiro whistles against the phone, playing innocent.

"Shut up!" Kaidoh stops running, planting his feet on the ground so he can argue with Momoshiro properly. "I wouldn't run out screaming!"

"Yes you would! You always run away screaming when someone says something scary!" Momoshiro hasn't seen it in a while, actually. What with being in different schools now. "How about tomorrow night? Sound good? You can skip training for a day."

"Uh," Kaidoh grunts, caught off guard. He doesn't want to go to a horror movie, but he also doesn't want Momoshiro to think he's too _scared_ to go. "Fine," he says eventually.

"Heh," says Momoshiro smugly. "You pay for your own ticket. I'll pick you up with my bike. Unless you prefer to run next to my bike like a dog on a leash." Though Momoshiro wouldn't say no to that.

"Yeah, whatever." Kaidoh feels a jolt of energy leap in his stomach. He hasn't seen Momoshiro in a while now, not when he's known Kaidoh was watching anyway. They don't meet up much these days, because there aren't many excuses they can come up with, since they were never really friends. "This movie had better not be dumb," Kaidoh says. By dumb, he means scary.

"Of course it will be." What kind of horror movie would actually not be dumb? None. "I bet you call all movies dumb though." Momoshiro himself quite liked movies about animals. "Do you like animal movies?"

"Yeah, they're okay," Kaidoh says. He doesn't remember the last time he went to see a movie, or what movie he saw. It was probably something his mother had dragged their whole family to. "Animals are better than ghosts or monsters."

"Well, if the horror movie makes you cry, we can go see another one about some stupid animal to cheer you up, if you're still bawling by then, that is." Momoshiro is grinning from ear to ear. "Or do you want to see the fluffy animal movie first, then go for the horror movie at midnight? It'll be all dark and cozy and scary."

"Why do we have to see two movies?" Kaidoh asks. Not that he'd complain. He couldn't really say no to doing anything with Momoshiro. It was a bit of a problem. "I'm not going to cry, moron."

"Ok, animal movie first, horror movie second! I think there's one playing right now, about some cat being separated from his owner, and trying to find them again. Sounds really sad, actually, now that I think about it. So I guess you'll be crying twice. Maybe I should bring tissues along with the popcorn. Wonder if they sell them there ... hmm." Momoshiro pauses a few seconds to think. "That wouldn't be such a bad idea, especially since my fingers get all dirty eating all that popcorn! I need something to wipe myself off with, you know? Can't keep wiping my hands off on the upholstery of the chair, that's just nasty. Though I guess I can use your shorts if you're sitting next to me."

"If you wipe your greasy fingers on my shorts, I'll punch you in the face," Kaidoh says plainly. He's completely forgotten about his running now, and is leaning against the railing of the bridge. Momoshiro has his full attention. "I said I'm not going to cry. You'll be the one who's crying."

"Hah!" exclaims Momoshiro. "Yeah right. I don't cry at movies." Blatant lie. "But I bet you'll be grabbing for my hand in the dark whenever a scary scene comes up! Or maybe a sad scene, like the cat dying or something." Which would probably make Momoshiro reach for Kaidoh's hand instead …

"Well, whatever, I'll go check tomorrow morning which ones are playing. Too lazy to get out of bed at the moment and go to the computer. Too comfy." Momoshiro closes his eyes and sinks his head into his pillow, getting even more comfortable.

"Idiot," Kaidoh says, almost fondly. "I can't believe you're in bed and I'm training. You're useless."

"I'm not useless … I'm preserving my energy. You should do it too. Go back home, take your clothes off, and crawl in your bed. Then I can call you without hearing you drop your phone or breathe weirdly into it. What time is it anyway?" Momoshiro pulls his phone away from his face to check. It's almost ten PM.

"Oh wow, we've been on the phone that long? You should stop training. You're going to like, run into a murderer or something. Or a rapist." Momoshiro laughs out loud. "Or maybe they'd mistake you as one."

"No one's going to think I'm a rapist, asshole!" Kaidoh protests. He looks at his phone screen. Ten _is_ late. He should be heading back or his parents might worry. He turns and starts running back down the path towards home. He's not doing it because Momoshiro told him to though.

"There's nothing wrong with running at night," he says as he jogs along. "The river's not dangerous. And the weather's nicer than during the day."

"Not dangerous you say! Don't you remember yourself stupidly walking into it to save a puppy, and you got dragged along by the current? That was completely dangerous. Stupid idiot. You're lucky I was there." Momoshiro huffs, then yawns.

The name suddenly rings a bell. "Oh, Lucky, right, I remember now, I actually did watch a dog movie the night before on that day. Weird. Don't go jumping into rivers again tomorrow, okay?" Momoshiro doesn't feel like saving Kaidoh again.

"Well, obviously," Kaidoh says dryly. He reaches the main road and crosses, nearly back in his own neighborhood now. "I don't go running _in_ the river, you idiot. I meant the path isn't dangerous!"

"Don't you practice your stupid boomerang snake thing in the river?" asks Momoshiro, wondering if he got this wrong. "So obviously you do go into it."

"In the shallow part! Quit worrying about me."

"I'm not worrying about you!" Momoshiro shoots back. "I just don't want to save your ass again, that's all." Momoshiro huffs again. "And why do you do it in the river anyway? Can't you practice at home?"

"I'm swinging a towel, you idiot. I need water. Where am I going to do it if not the river? My bathtub?"

"Yes," says Momoshiro flatly.

Kaidoh reaches his house and jogs up to the door. Luckily he's able to slip inside without his mother coming to the door and fussing over how late he's out. He'd hate for Momoshiro to hear that.

He toes off his shoes and heads upstairs.

"Uh," he says, once he reaches his room, realizing how sweaty he is, "I'm gonna shower."

"Don't forget to turn off your phoonnne," says Momoshiro childishly. "Or you'll zap yourself. And die. In a bathtub. That would be an even more pathetic way to die, than drowning in the river."

"Shut up, I'm not going to die in a bathtub," Kaidoh hisses. He clicks his phone onto speaker mode and drops it on his bed before he starts tugging off his tank top.

Momoshiro is quiet for a few seconds as he listens to the ruffling of fabric. "Yo, Kaidoh." He can hear his own voice echoing back to him. "Are you undressing while being on the phone with me? That's kinda creepy you know."

Before Kaidoh can even reply, Momoshiro whines out loud in a high and shrill voice. "Ewww, that's so gross! That penis dude decided he was traumatized by the dead guy's penis, and then took it off again. Oh man, why the fuck am I still on this channel."

"Turn off your stupid TV then, dumbass!" Kaidoh yells back. "Or at least don't tell me gross things like that!"

"I don't know where my remote is!" says Momoshiro. Though it doesn't sound like he's trying very hard to look for it. "I'll just ... tune it out. Maybe. Ugh, that was so gross. Now _I'm_ getting traumatized by it." It makes him feel a little squeamish around his crotch area.

"Too lazy to get up and turn it off though …" Momoshiro yawns again. "Aren't you tired?"

"I told you I'm going to shower," Kaidoh says matter-of-factly, his fingers at the waistband of his shorts. He pulls them off and grabs a towel to wrap himself with. "I'll sleep after that." It actually _is_ kind of weird to still be on the phone with Momoshiro. Why doesn't he hang up? Why doesn't Momoshiro hang up?

"Whaaaat, that's all? You don't even watch TV in bed? I can recommend you this _fascinating_ channel at the moment …"

"If it's that disgusting thing you're watching, then hell no," Kaidoh says bluntly. "Besides, I don't have a TV in my room."

Momoshiro snorts. "Who doesn't have a TV in their room in this day and age? You're weird. What's in your room then? Stupid training stuff?" Probably a ton of dumbbells.

"It's not stupid," Kaidoh retorts.

"Fine. It's dumb. Like those dumbbells you probably have," sneers Momoshiro.

"You're dumb! At least I work out instead of lying in bed eating cereal."

"Hmmm, that cereal was good," Momoshiro muses. Now he's getting hungry for another bowl again. "You should try it. Instead of eating all that healthy stuff. Or that yoghurt thing you eat a lot. That stuff is gross."

"There's nothing wrong with healthy food," Kaidoh says. "It tastes just as good." He looks at the clock on his bedside table. He really should go take a shower and get ready for bed. Maybe he can just leave Momoshiro there... on his bed... The sudden mental image that thought yields makes Kaidoh's cheeks heat up. What the hell is wrong with him?!

Before his thoughts can go any further, Kaidoh quickly darts to the bathroom, tossing his face into the sink and splashing cold water against his cheeks and into his hair.

There. That counts as a shower. And he feels a little more sane again, too.

When he returns to his room, the line is silent. He doesn't think he was gone for more than a minute. "Momoshiro?" Kaidoh asks, hoping he didn't hang up.

"Hmm?" says Momoshiro. "I'm watching some monkeys throw dung at each other on TV. This channel is _weird_. Aren't you going to take a shower? I feel like I should take one now that I've seen this. Makes me feel dirty."

"Oh," Kaidoh says. "I..." His hair drips water onto his cheeks so he flicks it out of his face. "I decided not to." He goes into his closet and pulls out some pajamas, which look more or less very similar to what he wears to go training. He slips into them and folds the towel carefully before dropping it onto the back of his chair, still completely dry.

Then he climbs into his bed, picks up his phone, turns off the speaker mode, and holds it up to his ear.

"I see, sweaty _and_ lazy. That's worse than me, Mamushi," says Momoshiro in an amused tone. "At least I managed to wipe the cereal crumbs off my stomach and bed. I'm perfectly clean."

Momoshiro crinkles up his nose. "My balls feel a bit sweaty though. It's hot."

"You're disgusting," Kaidoh says, rolling to his side. "I don't want to hear about that."

Momoshiro rolls along with Kaidoh to his other side, and leaves the phone to rest on top of his cheek. "Yup, scratching them now." Scratch. Scratch.

Kaidoh hisses. "I'm going to hang up on you, you dumbass."

"Why? I thought you liked the sound of my voice." Smirk.

"No, I don't!" Kaidoh protests, and suddenly it feels very warm in his own room too. "Your voice is annoying," by which he means, _Keep talking_.

Momoshiro simply snorts at Kaidoh's feeble excuse. "My voice is awesome. I should become a voice actor it's so good—ladies fall at my feet by my sweet, sweet charming voice. As evidenced by my five year old cousin. Who ... was ... kissing my feet."

"Gross. Five-year-old crushes don't count. Like they know anything."

"I sure as hell don't remember much from when I was five, let alone understand things," says Momoshiro. "I think I beat up a couple of boys though, got in trouble for it. Heh."

"So basically, you were a moron just like you are now," Kaidoh replies flatly.

"Shut the hell up. I wasn't a moron I was … I don't know, but I'm sure I had a good reason! You probably dressed up like an idiotic girl when you were five." Momoshiro yawns once more, then he lies down onto his stomach, and leans his cheek onto the phone that's being pressed down into the mattress.

"Asshole, no I didn't... Don't have weird thoughts like that, especially not when you're in bed. What the hell."

"I'll think about you all I want in bed."

Kaidoh smashes his face into his pillow, feeling his cheeks burning. "Dumbass," comes his muffled reply.

Momoshiro simply replies with a huff; he's starting to fall asleep—it's late and he's lying comfortably on his stomach. "Why aren't you here. Then I could punch you before saying good night," he mumbles.

"You can punch me tomorrow when I see you. And I'll punch you back."

"Oh right, the movies." Momoshiro giggles; he'd almost forgotten! "Don't punch me when I'm on my bike … that's dangerous. You need both hands to hold onto me anyway."

Kaidoh rolls onto his back. "I'm not an idiot. I'll punch you before we get on your stupid bike." After all, there's no way he'll even be able to think about something like that if he's busy clinging to Momoshiro, which suddenly sounds like both a very good and a very terrible idea.

He tries to change the subject. "Do you usually sleep with your TV on?" he asks. Kaidoh can kind of hear it in the background. It makes him feel like he and Momoshiro are in the same room, which is a weird, fizzly thought.

"Uhmm—no, not really. Unless I forget to turn it off, and can't find my remote. Like right now, I'll be doomed to watch this weird channel until I fall asleep. I'm going to get nightmares from this." Momoshiro sighs and pushes his face into his pillow.

"I wonder what happened to that guy to lose his dick? Must have been pretty horrible," says Momoshiro, his voice slightly muffled.

Kaidoh groans. "Idiot... I don't want to think about that," he says wearily. He's pretty sure his subconscious has its plate full with enough other things to keep _him_ from having a weird nightmare about Momoshiro's dumb TV program, but he'd rather not push his luck. And it's gross anyway. "Talk about something else."

"If you had to choose, which one would you rather lose, an arm or a leg?" asks Momoshiro. It's a random question, but he's sort of curious. "I'd pick an arm, then I can still walk at least."

"Yeah," Kaidoh agrees. "As long as I could choose which arm to lose."

"Your left?" asks Momoshiro, a bit amused. "I guess it doesn't matter if you're ambidextrous." He thinks again about the next question. "How about being either blind or deaf? I think I would go with deaf, then I can still see where I'm going, but it would suck not to hear people talk to me—or hear anything else really." He likes the sound of his own voice too much. "I wouldn't be able to talk to you on the phone for example."

Wait. Did Momoshiro just say it would suck to not be able to talk to him? A warm feeling zips through Kaidoh like an electrical current, and he turns on his side and squishes his face against his pillow.

Then he remembers the question. "Well," he starts. "if I couldn't hear, I wouldn't have to listen to your annoying voice, and if I couldn't see, I wouldn't have to look at your annoying face. But since it's just a hypothetical question, I guess I'm stuck with you." And since Kaidoh doesn't actually find Momoshiro nearly as annoying as he says he does, he doesn't mind that at all.

"What—why are you talking about my face and voice. You have to pick one! Blind or deaf. Both suck, but it's just a hypothetical question." Momoshiro is starting to rethink his answer though; if he can't hear … then phonecalls would be forever out of the question.

"But hey, we could still text if you're deaf," suggests Momoshiro with a shrug of his shoulders. "Guess that's not too bad."

"I don't like texting," Kaidoh says flatly. "Typing is annoying." It's so easy to hit the wrong buttons and end up sending the completely wrong word.

"Is that why you always ignore half my messages?"

"Well your messages are usually dumb!"

"My texts are very informative and fun!"

"I wouldn't call you telling me what kind of burger you're eating informative..."

"Yes it is, that's information, period. Just like you telling me you're training is stupid information. It still counts!" Momoshiro kind of wants a burger now. "Wanna go eat burgers after the movie?"

"Not really."

"Then we'll eat ice cream afterwards too." Momoshiro dismisses Kaidoh's refusal to go.

"_You_ can eat ice cream," Kaidoh concedes. It's starting to sound like he'll be spending the whole day with Momoshiro, a possibility that sets him a little bit on edge with excited and nervous energy. He's supposed to be tired, but instead he feels more and more awake with each thing Momoshiro says.

"Ok, I'm fine with that, you can just sit there and watch me as I eat ten burgers, and two ice creams." Momoshiro yawns; he's seriously falling asleep here. "And then maybe I'll take a nap afterwards … somewhere in the shade where it's nice and cool. Like …I don't know, under a tree in a park. Sounds nice."

The corners of Kaidoh's mouth turn up as he murmurs, "Yeah, sounds okay, I guess." Sounds better than okay. Sounds really good, in fact.

"Okay, guess I'll pick you up around … I don't know, when are you up?" asks Momoshiro. If they're going to do that much in one day, they had better start early. "And don't say like five! I'm not getting up at that ungodly hour. Fuck no. You should sleep in when it's summer vacation."

"_You_ don't have to get up that early! And it's 5:15 anyway," he argues. "Sleeping in is lazy."

"You're a freak—who gets up that early when they don't have to!? Enjoy your summer vacation! You should sleep in every day, and go to bed late every day." Momoshiro shifts his face off of the phone so he can see the screen and read the time. "Though I guess it's not that late today. Fucking party I had to go to tired me out."

"Don't tell me what to do," Kaidoh grumbles. "You can be a moron and sleep all morning. I'll be running."

"Hopefully it's not in my neighborhood again," snorts Momoshiro.

"Asshole."

"Stalker."

"Dumbass, you're the one who keeps calling me."

"Says the one who's still on the line."

"Shut up," Kaidoh growls. He wants to say that he's only staying on the line because Momoshiro still is too, like it's a competition. But that excuse can only go so far.

"Yeah … so I'll just … pick you up whenever I get up." Momoshiro hums softly against the phone, he's so sleepy and comfy. It's nice like this. "So don't go anywhere, you asshole. Stay home all day long."

"And what if I have better things to do than wait around for you all day?" Kaidoh retorts, half-heartedly. He doesn't. All he's been doing so far this vacation is working on summer homework and running a lot.

"Hmm, like what?" asks Momoshiro, only half-caring. "Other than training. What do you do for fun?" Then he chuckles. "Talk to me?"

"You don't count as something fun," Kaidoh says simply. Momoshiro has always been more than just a distraction.

"Yes I do, I'm loads of fun to be around, people love talking to me. But, whatever, so what else besides me? … Do you even have any hobbies?" Momoshiro is starting to doubt he does. "I'm pretty sure the only thing you do all day is train anyway."

Kaidoh has the urge to shout back that that's not the only thing he does! After all, just today he learned how to use the Internet! But he can't really tell Momoshiro that. His cheeks go red as he remembers the picture of Momoshiro sleeping. Kaidoh wonders if he looks like that now. Maybe Momoshiro's sister will upload another photo...

"It's none of your business how I spend my time," he retorts instead.

Momoshiro giggles. "Oh? Is it a secret or something? Well, if you don't tell me what you like to do, then tomorrow we'll be doing things _I_ like to do only. Which is fine by me."

"I don't _care_ what we do," Kaidoh says. And he doesn't, really. He thinks he'd probably enjoy anything Momoshiro likes to do, simply because he'd be doing it with Momoshiro. But of course he doesn't say that.

"Hmm, you don't?" mumbles Momoshiro softly. "Does that mean you're fine with anything?"

"Not anything, moron," Kaidoh replies grouchily. "Nothing really stupid or weird."

Momoshiro snuggles against his pillow. "You think everything is stupid. Got anything in particular you don't want to do?" Aside from the horror movie, but Momoshiro will drag him to go see one no matter what.

Kaidoh hisses. "I don't want to have to eat a bunch of junk food."

"But it tastes so goooood," Momoshiro drawls out. He's already half-dreaming of burgers with Kaidoh. "But if you don't wanna, you don't have to—you can just sit there and watch me. That's fine too."

"Yeah, whatever," Kaidoh says dismissively. And he's already half-dreaming of watching Momoshiro eating those burgers.

"You better finish all your training in the morning." Momoshiro breaks out into another long yawn before continuing. "Since you'll be stuck with me for the rest of the day … and I'm not going running."

He sighs against the phone. "And take a good nap. Sleep sounds good right now." Momoshiro is already dozing off as it is. "Hmm, comfy," he mumbles.

"Dumbass," Kaidoh says. "I don't have to listen to you." He squirms back against his pillow, getting more comfortable as he listens to Momoshiro make sleepy sounds in his ear. He thinks it should be a lot weirder than it is. He finds that it isn't actually weird at all, which is in itself weird.

"But you'll do it anyway," says Momoshiro. He licks his lips and shuffles around a bit—almost knocking the phone off the bed. It's not that late (not for summer vacation) but the party earlier from today tired him out, and being on the phone with Kaidoh like this is also very comfortable and relaxing.

It makes Momoshiro sort of want to sleep together. In his sleep-deprived mind, this doesn't sound like a bad idea at all. In fact, it sounds like a great idea, because Momoshiro will take anything that makes him comfy and fall asleep. He presses his face against the phone; it's glowing hot, uncomfortable, and kind of painful—but he doesn't care.

"Hmm, sleep with me," he mumbles, only half coherently.

Momoshiro's voice sounds so close that it makes Kaidoh's whole face heat up and he rolls over on his stomach, the phone still clutched in his hand.

"Don't say things like that," he grumbles weakly, his face smushed into his pillow. Momoshiro is going to make him have freaky dreams, the stupid idiot.

"Hmpf," mumbles Momoshiro. He's not really listening anymore and stays quiet, huddled up on his bed, face pressed against the cellphone. "Whatev ... 'night."

Kaidoh shifts on his pillow. "Yeah, goodnight," he echoes, although with Momoshiro breathing in his ear like that, he thinks it might be a while before he's able to stop thinking and sleep himself. He kind of expects to hear the beep-beep-beep of the call ending at any second. Momoshiro isn't actually going to sleep while still on the phone with him, is he? The idea makes Kaidoh feel really tingly, and not sleepy at all.

But Momoshiro says nothing at all, instead his mouth is slightly open and he's breathing slow and deep. It really didn't take long for him to fall asleep. He makes a few small moaning sounds, until he's drooling over the numberpad of his phone.

Meanwhile, Kaidoh is wide awake. He puts his phone on the pillow next to him and clicks the volume up so that he can still hear Momoshiro's steady breathing. His ear is warm and red where the phone was pressed against it. The rest of his face still feels warm too, but it's a nice kind of feeling instead of the usual embarrassment. He feels warm and happy and he doesn't know why knowing that Momoshiro is on the other line sleeping makes him feel that way.

It takes him another twenty minutes to fall asleep, and by then Momoshiro's breathing sounds like it belongs in Kaidoh's room, like comfortable white noise, and Kaidoh doesn't even notice it.

The next morning when he gets up, Kaidoh retrieves his phone, which has slid off the pillow and gotten lost in his bedsheets, plugs it into the charger, and goes out for his run. When he gets back it's almost 7:00, but everyone else is still asleep. Kaidoh takes a quick shower and usually he'd follow that with crunches or weight training in his room, but this morning Kaidoh feels different. He can't stop thinking about the day, and Momoshiro, and how he'd spent the better part of last night just lying there on the phone with him.

He slips into his brother's room and sees his laptop sitting on the desk. Hazue's breathing is even, and Kaidoh knows how to be quiet, so he's able to slide the laptop into his arms and escape out the door and back to his own room without waking his brother.

Once he has his door closed again, he sits down on his bed and props the computer up on his lap, flipping it open. The screen is dark, but Kaidoh knows enough to know which button to hit and soon the screen blinks back on.

And Momoshiro's dumb sleeping face fills up the center of it. Kaidoh blushes, and quickly clicks back to the photo index, feeling weirdly guilty. He's once again taunted by the 'Add Friend' button, and his stomach does a funny swoop, but he ignores it. He's probably just hungry.

As he scrolls back up to the top of the page, he sees a new photo has been added, one that wasn't there last night.

Kaidoh clicks to enlarge the photo and sees Momoshiro, asleep again, with his cheek pressed up against his cell phone. The phone is tilted so that the display clearly shows Kaidoh's own name illuminated against the backlit display.

The description on the right reads:

_LOL my brother fell asleep while on the phone with some person named Kaidoh. It's still going! He's gonna get an earful if mom finds out!_

Kaidoh's cheeks go even redder, and he covers his mouth to hide the smirk that spreads across his face, even if there's no one to see but a sleeping Momoshiro on his screen.

"Dumbass," he says, and clicks to save the image.


	6. Skewering Fish

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **this is the log that starts the premise (it is also the first one we wrote!), everything else before this was simply backstory, and boy does it get confusing if you don't know any details, so _**please**_ read the stuff below!

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Momo dates Tachibana An for two months in high school, but they break up and are still friends  
- It is five years later since Momo and Kaidoh last spoke to one another (Momo is now 20, Kaidoh has recently turned 21)  
- Momo dropped out of college, since he couldn't pay for it anymore, and lives in a cheap apartment with no job  
- Kaidoh went pro for a bit, but backed out. He still lives with his parents, but is currently studying animals in Florida, America  
- Sometime in February all tennis players back in middle school got an invitation to spend a vacation on Atobe's cruise ship. Momo accepts, Kaidoh declines  
- Momo meets Ryoma on the ship, and spends most of his time with him, becoming best friends once more (he calls Ryoma by his first name)  
- Momo hurts his head a lot and even gets a concussion and thinks he's pregnant. He also becomes paranoid that there's something in the water that is turning everyone gay. He asks people if they're gay right off the bat (Momo considers himself straight)  
- They spend a month on the ship until one night (April 20) all the crew disappears and the ship gets stuck against a jetty. Momo, along with Ryoma and Inui, escape the ship. Ryoma gets hurt during it (broken rib and bleeding head), which Momo blames himself for and becomes very overprotective of him  
- The survivors of the crashed ship spend weeks on the island, living in caves. Momo takes care of an injured Ryoma  
- Momo has no more hair gel left, and his hair is permanently down, making him a bit unrecognizable  
- After a month of no rescue still, Momo builds himself and Ryoma a shack that they both live in  
- Kite, who is also on the island, gets on Momo's nerves and he starts to distrust him for being too violent, and being weirdly flirty with Ryoma  
- Ryoma starts developing a crush on Momo (he is oblivious to this)  
- Momo tries to learn how to fish, Saeki teaches him a bit

**Date:** May 25, 2012

* * *

Catching fish with his bare hands is one of Momoshiro's specialty, as it was something he had learned while camping a lot in the mountains. Catching fish with a spear … not so much. In fact, he rather sucks at it. Completely. Those lessons with Saeki didn't really pay off, though he shouldn't blame his inability to spear some fish on other people.

He should blame it on the fish. Yeah. It's all those damn fish's fault, for being so slippery and scurrying away from anything pointy.

The cold ocean water reaches up to his ankles, as Momoshiro stands with a self-made spear in hand, watching the fish swim away from him once more. This isn't working, this is the opposite of working; this is completely _failing._ Stupid fish.

Echizen will just have to munch on some fruit today then, no meat for him. Then again; fish isn't meat. Is it? Vegetarians don't eat it … so it had to be! Well, whatever fish are, Momoshiro certainly isn't going to be eating it today. Maybe tomorrow, when he'll get a bit better at using a spear instead of his hands. If only he can find a small river with fish in it, _then_ he could catch fish with his hands, and show off his awesome ability to everyone else.

Either way, there will be no fish for today. So Momoshiro finally gives up and slouches his shoulders, huffing at himself. He treks through the water, the cuffs of his pants getting slightly drenched with water, going the opposite way of his seaside shack. He'll go exploring a little bit today; he's got to do something, right?

Kaidoh Kaoru feels like he's been walking forever. According to his watch, it's only been about twenty minutes, but with the humidity in the air, it feels like much longer. When he turns around he can still see his ruined canoe idly rocking against the rocky shore of the peninsula, but there isn't much in front of him but sand, sand, and more sand. He tugs at the front of his shirt, peeling it away from his chest, and keeps walking, trudging through the sand.

Up ahead he sees the shoreline curve around into what might be a bay. There could be fish up there, or maybe fruit from the trees. Kaidoh hears his stomach growl on its own volition. He isn't sure when he last ate; it might have been a day ago. Maybe two.

At the next palm tree, Kaidoh stops to rest, dropping his bag at his side. He kicks off his shoes and goes down to the water's edge to rinse them out. They're completely filled with sand and his feet feel raw and itchy. He decides to go barefoot the rest of the way, and picks up his bag and continues walking. He walks for another minute or two when the sound of a nearby bush rustling him dead in his tracks. Kaidoh freezes.

"Goddamn fucking hermit crab!" Momoshiro yells out loud, and he comes crashing through a clearing, having previously stood on a hermit crab skittering its way across the sand. "Watch where you're walking!" he yells at it, as if it understands what he's saying. It doesn't, but it makes Momoshiro feel better.

"Geez," he huffs. Momoshiro readies his spear in his hand and looks straight ahead.

His mouth drops open in shock, and his spear slips away from his hand, landing with a small 'thud' into the sand. There, straight ahead of him, was someone very familiar, someone who he hadn't seen in _years_, and someone who certainly shouldn't be here on this god forsaken island.

Momoshiro rubs at his eyes; this has to be some weird hallucination. It has to be. Like he got a stroke from the sun or something. Anything. Anything besides Kaidoh Kaoru standing in front of him, feet in water.

Kaidoh stares dumbly at Momoshiro, having momentarily lost his ability to speak. His mind seems to be yelling, _What?!_ repeatedly, and he feels like he's going to get a headache from the sound. He looks down at the spear on the ground and then back up at Momoshiro's face.

"Who _are_ you?" he asks finally.

Momoshiro bends down to pick up his spear from the sand, dusting it off a little bit, and then he flips it around, so that the pointy steak knife is in his hand, and the wooden stick is pointing straight at Kaidoh. He leans his arm forward, so that the stick pokes Kaidoh's stomach, as if Momoshiro were some sort of pirate, fending off the enemy.

Kaidoh's fist closes around the stick and he yanks it away from his stomach. "Back off, asshole," he growls, voice low and dangerous. He wonders if he could make a break for it and run, but isn't sure where he'd go. He could surely take this moron in a fight, anyway. He takes a step forward and his bare toes squish into the sand. "Now tell me who you are, or leave me alone."

"Oh my god," says Momoshiro exasperated. This isn't some freaky hallucination like the time he thought he was pregnant, this is real. This is Kaidoh, standing in front of him, being the general asshole that he is. Momoshiro flings the spears away into the ocean, then he takes one—two steps forward and tackles Kaidoh to the ground. Thankfully, the sand cushions the blow, and thankfully, Kaidoh cushions Momoshiro's fall.

"KAIDOH!" he screams at him, and crushes his body by wrapping his arms around him. "It's really you! Bandana and all!"

Kaidoh is about to strangle this idiot who had the boldness to threaten Kaidoh with a spear and then tackle him when suddenly a light bulb clicks on in his head. _No way_. "Momoshiro?" he tests.

Momoshiro clings his hands on Kaidoh's trademark black tank-top, crunching it up between his fingers, and he pulls back, happily straddling the now older man, and he nods really fast.

"Of course it's me, you idiot! Can't you recognize me?" he asks a bit insulted. What is it with people and not recognizing him? Does he looks different? Oh … wait … his hair. Okay, currently he did. So he'll give Kaidoh that.

Then he starts to shake Kaidoh at his shirt. "What in the world are you doing here? Did you come to save us? Did you? Did you? Oh god, you came to save _me_ didn't you? That's why you're here! You were worried sick that I had gone missing from the cruise ship, so you came to rescue me yourself! Oh, I think I love you!"

Kaidoh shoves Momoshiro off of him. "What the hell are you talking about?" He feels his heart pounding and can't decide if it's because he's angry or actually a little bit happy that the only other person on this island is his old rival. Even if his old rival doesn't seem to be capable of shutting up. What cruise is he talking about? Who is this 'us'? And why does Momoshiro's hair look like someone just drenched him in seaweed?

Kaidoh looks down at his now rumpled tank top. "Why are _you_ here?" he asks.

Momoshiro spits out some sand that he happened to eat when his face got shoved into the sand. He sits up straight and crawls back over to Kaidoh. He still can't believe it; it's Kaidoh. That rotten bastard he hadn't seen in _years_, and still looks roughly the same. A bit older. A bit uglier. A bit famished.

"So you're _not_ here to save me?" asked Momoshiro for confirmation.

Kaidoh lets out a long low hiss. "Why would I want to save _you_?" he asks. _Wait, don't answer that question_. "My boat is over there." He points back behind him, but his canoe is probably just a microscopic speck right now, and Momoshiro was never that perceptive anyway. "I didn't know anyone was here. I'm supposed to be in Florida right now."

"Florida? Isn't that like, in America or something? What the hell are you doing over there?" asks Momoshiro. He completely dismisses Kaidoh's own questions. "You know what—I don't care. I was on a cruise ship. Atobe's cruise ship. We crashed here like a month ago, and still haven't been rescued. There's like a bunch of us, at least twenty."

Kaidoh looks around. He doesn't see anyone else. He wonders if Momoshiro is messing with him. He does vaguely recall some invitation from Atobe that he'd automatically pitched into his trash can, but he still feels suspicious. He narrows his eyes at Momoshiro. "So let me get this right... You crashed here and no one came looking for you? No one at all?" It sounds too stupid to be true, but Momoshiro doesn't look like he's joking. "We're probably just a couple miles off the coast of Florida anyway," he adds. Kaidoh isn't actually so sure about that. He doesn't remember how long he was drifting for, just that there was water all around him and no sign of land on the horizon.

"I know right!" says Momoshiro angrily. His fingers dig into the sand, and he grabs a handful of it, then throws it up in the air, behind him.

"No one came. Not a single helicopter in the sky, not a single thing drifting in the ocean—besides sharks, we caught one, you know? But that's beside the point—it's as if no one really cares about Atobe. It has every single one of us stumped."

Momoshiro then bites his lips and frowns at Kaidoh. "I heard people say we're in the Bermuda triangle? Or something like that? I don't know, I can't read maps, and I can't read those," Momoshiro wiggles his fingers at Kaidoh, "weird ship instruments. But I'm positive we're not near America. I think." What was Kaidoh doing in America anyway? Did _everyone_ he knows ship off to America?

"Huh," says Kaidoh. Momoshiro's story is starting to sound more and more plausible. "How are you still, you know, alive?" The Momoshiro that Kaidoh used to know doesn't seem like the kind of person who would survive in an empty house, let alone on a deserted island. "Did you find a palm tree that drops burgers instead of coconuts?"

Momoshiro suddenly wishes he didn't throw his spear in the ocean anymore. "_No,_" he spits out. "Idiot. Of course not. Those don't exist. And I _have_ eaten coconuts. I've been drinking coconut milk for the entire damn week, and I'm damn sick of it. And I'm damn sick of this island, and what the hell are you doing here if it's not to come and save us? Damn you too."

Kaidoh launches himself at Momoshiro and hooks his hand into his collar, pulling him close and screaming in his face. It feels so familiar, although this time he can tell that they're both _really_ angry. "I was floating out in the open ocean for maybe three days before I got here so don't you dare act like I should be saving your sorry ass! You're so full of it, Momoshiro," he grinds out, dropping his hand. "Always were."

It hadn't even been five whole minutes, and Momoshiro was already in an argument with Kaidoh. Well, it _had_ been close to five years really, but still. "Only an idiot like you would get lost at sea," he mumbles. Then he punches Kaidoh's arm, and before he can retaliate, Momoshiro finally stands up.

"You hungry?" he asks.

Kaidoh wants to growl that he doesn't need food from stupid Momoshiro, but then his stomach decides to growl for him. He can feel heat rising in his cheeks because he knows he's about to ask Momoshiro for something he swore he never would: help.

"I wouldn't say no to food," he replies flatly, and averts his eyes, trying to find an interesting seashell to glare at instead.

Momoshiro is already off to wading through the ocean again; searching for his spear he threw in it. Spotting a shine in his eyes, he sees it lying a little ways ahead of him, so he quickly scoops down to grab it.

"Don't worry, I'm awesome at fishing," he throws back at Kaidoh with a smug grin. "Give me a few minutes, and I'll be cooking some grilled fish for you." He walks further into the ocean, spear in hand, staring at the moving light rays through the blue ocean water. If luck would have it—dumb luck is his middle name, really—there's a school of fish swimming nearby him. Sardines maybe. Or snouts. Or whatever; who cares, it's fish.

"I hope you're not a vegetarian!" he yells at Kaidoh. Momoshiro stands completely still, spear ready; the quest for food is now serious. Back at his shack, Momoshiro still had plenty to eat, but he wanted to catch fish. Right now, there was a starving Kaidoh washed up on shore, how he came here, Momoshiro doesn't know; he still has a hard time believing he's there in the first place.

Kaidoh looks up in surprise when he hears Momoshiro splashing into the water.

_Wait, he's serious?_ he thinks. _Momoshiro is going to fish? Since when did Momoshiro become cool?_ Kaidoh wonders if not having all that idiotic gunk slicked up in his hair made Momoshiro himself less of an idiot by association. Maybe Momoshiro had changed more than Kaidoh gave him credit for.

Or maybe he's just putting on an act and is about to fall face first into the water. Kaidoh suddenly feels a little worried. If Momoshiro drowns, the others—Momoshiro did say there were others—would probably think Kaidoh did it.

"I hope you know what you're doing," he says, and Momoshiro sure looks like he does, but Momoshiro always looks overly confident and Kaidoh's learned that it doesn't mean much.

"Of course I do!" he lies through his teeth. Saeki gave him a few pointers; he should be an expert at fishing with a spear now. That he failed his previous attempts, is something Kaidoh doesn't need to know.

Momoshiro's eyes follow the school of fish, and he doesn't dare to move an inch. The fish are now so close, that they are swirling around his feet. It should be as easy as picking out nasty food from his teeth with a toothpick. So Momoshiro takes in a deep breath, steadies himself, feet planted firmly into the wet sand, and he raises his spear. In a swift movement, the spear is thrown at the ground, and … and …

"I got one!" Holy fucking shit—he's got one! For real! That's the first time it worked! Maybe Kaidoh is his lucky charm or something. Momoshiro eagerly lifts up his spears that's stuck in the sand, the rest of the fish swim away, and he lifts it up in the air. A small little grey fish is speared at the end, still struggling. It's the size of his hand; not big, and it certainly won't fill Kaidoh up, but it's something.

Kaidoh watches the fish flop around in a panic on the tip of Momoshiro's spear, and he feels a similar flop in his stomach at the thought of finally eating.

"Good job, moron!" he calls out, but there isn't any irritation in his voice anymore and he can feel a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. Momoshiro really surprised him. They meet after all this time on an island in the middle of nowhere and Momoshiro has turned into Tarzan, and here he is skewering fish like a native. It's possibly the strangest thing Kaidoh has ever experienced. He almost expects Momoshiro to start beating his chest and bellowing.

He also expects that now he's going to have to learn how to fish for himself because there's no way he's losing to Momoshiro at something he just made look so fucking easy.

Momoshiro turns around smugly, spear in hand, with a tiny fish still struggling for life at the end, and he puts his hands on his hips. "I'm awesome, I know. Thank you very much. These past six years I haven't just been sitting on my ass, you know." And the past month, Momoshiro certainly hasn't been sitting on his ass at all, he's been trying his best at gathering resources for everyone, and making his life—as well as Echizen's—a lot more comfortable since they were stuck here for that long.

Wading through the water once more, Momoshiro walks back to Kaidoh. He then lowers his spear and plucks off the fish from the steak knife. He looks at the gaping fish for a bit; fish were gross, and then he chucks it at Kaidoh.

"Here, hold it for me," he says dryly, then turns on his heel and walks back into the water. One fish wouldn't be enough, so he's being generous and kind, and will catch another one for Kaidoh. Then, a bit thoughtful, he turns to look at Kaidoh.

"... Don't eat it raw," he feels the need to point that out. Floating around in the ocean for days can make people go a wee bit crazy.

Kaidoh stares at the fish that is now silently opening and closing its mouth in his hands, its eyes like wide, blank saucers. Kaidoh crinkles up his face. _Stop looking at me_, he thinks at the fish.

"I wasn't going to eat it _raw_," he retorts to Momoshiro, and the fish squirms slimily in his hand as if to demonstrate his point. "You said you'd grill it for me." His voice turns sarcastic and he adds, "I'm looking forward to your cooking skills."

"My cooking skills—just like my fish catching skills—are awesome. Just watch." Which meant; he was still learning.

The school of fish are back, once more swirling around his feet. Momoshiro could get used to this. Overconfident at his previous catch, Momoshiro follows one particular fish that looks rather big and tasty, and then he pierces it with his spear.

Well, he would have _liked_ for that to be true, but it's not. He misses. Completely off the mark. Momoshiro curses under his breath, and he hopes Kaidoh didn't see him fail miserably. He yanks the spear out of the sand again, and stands still, but the fish have been scared away. So he stands a bit longer, until they're back. Maybe they like his feet or something, maybe his feet smell like roses. Can fish even smell?

With another attempt, Momoshiro throws down his spear at one of the bigger fish, and he hears the satisfying sound of it piercing the skin of its scales. Momoshiro happily fistbumps the air.

"And another!"

Kaidoh thinks Momoshiro looks the way he used to after scoring a particularly tricky point. He looks dopey, to be sure, flailing his arm in the air like that—What is he even doing?—but he looks happy, and he's getting Kaidoh food, so Kaidoh's stomach, if not the entire rest of him, is happy too.

Kaidoh hopes Momoshiro won't make Kaidoh hold this fish too, though. The first one has gone limp now and it's slowly setting in that Kaidoh is cradling a fish corpse in his palm. He doesn't care that it's tiny; it could still have a vengeful fish spirit circling around Kaidoh's head. He shivers involuntarily at the thought.

Momoshiro is humming as he walks back with another prize on his spear. He can't believe he actually managed to catch two of them! He's been trying to catch one for over an hour, and suddenly, poof—with Kaidoh there, they just seem to jump at his spear voluntarily.

"Oh right, you're probably thirsty," says Momoshiro. He puts the spear underneath his arm, then he digs through his shorts to pull out a very small flask. It had some water in it, not much, he wasn't planning on staying away for that long, but he's sure Kaidoh will appreciate it.

"Here." He offers the flask, and with his other hand, he grabs the fish out of Kaidoh's hold.

Kaidoh is sure that he's making a truly embarrassing facial expression when he reaches out to take the flask of water, but he can't help it. He's completely parched and as soon as the water hits his lips, his shoulders relax and he starts to feel like himself again. He drains the entire contents of the flask in seconds.

"Thanks," he says quietly, and wipes the back of his hand over his lips. He hopes Momoshiro won't be angry—it's not like there was much water in there to begin with! And besides, just because Momoshiro caught fish for him doesn't mean Kaidoh automatically has to be super nice and gracious. He's pretty sure he'd have gotten the hang of fishing on his own. Eventually.

Still, he does feel grateful. It's like he's stepped into some kind of twilight zone where he and Momoshiro _don't_ want to kill each other. Maybe they've both changed a lot since they last saw each other. Maybe this is what being a mature grown-up means. He completely ignores the fact that just minutes ago they were at each other's throats, fighting in the sand. Yeah, Kaidoh has totally matured.

Yanking the flask back from Kaidoh, Momoshiro has to hold himself back from sneering at Kaidoh as he drains all of his pathetic water supply. Now what if _he's_ on the brink of dehydration? Then what, huh? Well, whatever, Kaidoh can go carry him back or something if that happens. But he doesn't know where everyone is so that's out of the question. Alright, all he has to do is not think about drinking water. Easy enough.

Now he's thirsty. Damnit.

He spears the now dead fish back onto the spear, so it looks like some kind shish kabob, along with the other one which is bigger and still alive.

"Wait here, let me go find some wood to burn for a small campfire," he tells Kaidoh. Throwing the spear on his shoulder, Momoshiro marches away like a true island-man.

"Like I have anywhere to go!" Kaidoh calls after him, and buries his toes into the sand. Now that he's not completely dehydrated, he has a better chance to look around at his surroundings. The island is nice, enough, all things considered. He could be stuck in worse places. The company maybe isn't what Kaidoh would hope for, but at least being with Momoshiro isn't boring. Kaidoh throws his head back, feeling his neck and shoulders stretch out. It's been a while since he had a chance to just rest and relax and he enjoys the silence that Momoshiro has left him with. That is, until his stomach starts growling again, reminding him of how hungry he truly is and how he hopes finding wood doesn't take too long.

It doesn't take long for Momoshiro to come walking back, spear still on his shoulder, and a bunch of twigs gathered in his arms.

"Yo, miss me?" he says as he walks back over to Kaidoh. It still doesn't seem to be registering inside of his mind, that he has found Kaidoh washed up on the island as well. It's got to be a one in a million kind of chance encounters. Though Momoshiro barely pays attention to that, he's happy to see at least another familiar face. Even if it was Kaidoh's.

Momoshiro sticks the spear into the sand, then crouches down and begins to form a neat starter campfire with the twigs on the sand, and places some tinder on top. While he might be an expert at creating fire on his own as well, Momoshiro isn't completely stupid, and he brought a lighter with him on his journey. He takes it out of his pocket and lights the tinder. It starts to fizzle up and burn, and spreads towards the other wood. Soon enough, he's got a small campfire burning.

At the back of his mind, Momoshiro thinks that he's looking pretty damn cool in front of Kaidoh, and pretty damn competent. Take that snake, what does _he_ have to show for? Other than sandy feet.

Kaidoh watches as the fire begins to take shape and lick at the air. It feels warm and dry and he shifts closer to it, curling his knees up to his chest. He feels like he ought to say something like _Thanks for finding me_, but he doesn't want it to go to Momoshiro's head, so he settles for punching Momoshiro lightly in the leg, which, to Kaidoh, is basically equivalent.

"Ow hey, what's that for?" snaps Momoshiro. Clearly, he didn't seem to think the same. He gives Kaidoh the stink-eye, pulls the spear from the sand, and quickly starts gutting the fish, throwing the remains into the fire, then hovers the speared fish above the fire to start grilling it.

"So, you're not a vegetarian, right?" Momoshiro asks again.

"No, dumbass," Kaidoh replies, "and even if I was, I'm hardly in a position to be picky." His stomach grumbles again demonstratively. The fish is starting to smell pretty damn good. Kaidoh can still see the saucery eyes staring at him though and, as if the vengeful fish spirit had noticed his gaze, one of the eyes suddenly crackles and bursts from the heat of the flames. Kaidoh jumps back about a foot in terror.

Momoshiro chuckles. "Scared of fish, Mamushi?" Wow, it feels so nostalgic calling Kaidoh that. When's the last time he has even used that word? Momoshiro can't even remember.

"What are you doing here, Kaidoh?" he asks in a much more serious voice. He twists the spear around so he can grill the fish evenly.

Kaidoh hisses, composes himself, and inches back towards the fire. "I told you," he starts, "I came by boat. I got separated from my research group and somehow ended up here. I thought I was paddling back towards the coast but I just kept getting further from it." Putting it that way just makes Kaidoh sound like an incompetent rower, so he adds, "It was like my canoe was being pulled by a strong current." It's the truth, that and Kaidoh had no idea which direction Florida was.

"... So you were drifting out at sea in a _canoe_?" asked Momoshiro, a look of incredulousness covering his face. "And you _didn't_ go mad?"

"It wasn't that bad," Kaidoh replies, not wanting to back down and admit that it had actually probably been one of the most awful and traumatic things he'd ever had to endure. If Momoshiro could spend who knows how many days on this island and still have a smile on his face then Kaidoh could be stuck in a canoe for three. Besides, it wasn't like he'd been stuck in the canoe _with_ Momoshiro. No, he'd remained perfectly sane, and un-annoyed; peaceful, even. Kaidoh was completely zen.

Momoshiro didn't believe that one bit. "Sure, whatever you say. So like, why didn't you come with us? I mean, you must have gotten an invitation for the cruise ship as well. Anyone who ever played tennis before has been invited, and that has to include you as well. Ah well, at least you weren't here for the horror that is a sinking ship filled with ghosts."

"Ghosts?" Kaidoh asks warily. "I don't think those were mentioned anywhere in my invitation..." Then he shrugs. "I didn't go because I didn't want to go. Why do you care?"

"Why? Dude, everyone came! The entire old Seigaku tennis club was there, you're the only one missing. Even Echizen came back from America to see us." The scent of burnt food suddenly creeps up Momoshiro's nostril, so he quickly turns the spear around so that the fish wouldn't burn completely. He is still a novice after all. He'll get better … hopefully.

"It was weird not having you there too. It lacked something," Momoshiro says thoughtfully.

Kaidoh blinks and then grimaces. _Great_, he thinks. Now he looks like the jerk who doesn't care about or respect his old teammates. He just didn't want to be stuck on some stupidly fancy ship with Atobe and all his loser friends, forced to hang out with them, and have conversations with them, and all that other dumb shit. He doesn't know how to explain that to Momoshiro in a way he'd understand. Momoshiro always seemed to love talking to _everybody_, and did. Loudly. All the time. That idiot practically never shut up.

Well, if there's such a thing as karma, it's biting Kaidoh in the ass now, because he ended up stuck on a boat anyway, just by himself, and now he seems to be trapped on an island with all the things and people he'd been trying to avoid. All he'd done was tear up Atobe's stupid invitation. Maybe it was cursed. Maybe this was his punishment.

He wasn't expecting anyone to even notice he wasn't there, especially not Momoshiro. If anything he'd have thought the dumbass would have been happy. "You wouldn't get it," he says, toeing at the sand. "But lucky for you, you seem to be stuck with me now."

Momoshiro looks up from the fire and raises his eyebrows at Kaidoh. "You mean the other way around, dumbass." After all, Momoshiro has been on the island for over a month now.

"You're stuck with the rest of us. We're still all waiting for rescue, but we've been doing alright, for now anyway. I built a shack made out of bamboo too! Me and Echizen currently live in it, everyone else is sleeping in caves or something. Oh, and there's this one guy—do you remember him? Kite? Wears purple? Looks like a yakuza? Well anyway, he's been on this island waaaay before we got here, and he was stranded as well or something, and he build this frickin' treehouse! A treehouse. Man, I want to go live in it, it beats my shoddy little shack anytime. But he's been setting up traps as well, for catching animals, but I told him that other people could walk into it and get hurt, and he said he didn't care. What an asshole, right?" Momoshiro barely notices how he's been firing off about ten words per seconds, but he can't help it, he's got a motormouth, and he's sort of happy seeing Kaidoh again.

Kaidoh just stares at Momoshiro, feeling a little bit in awe. _That idiot build a shack, too? What_ can't _he do?_ He mentally fills in the answer: _Shut up, that's what_, and has to turn away to hide the smile that follows. Okay, so maybe, just maybe, just a _teeny_ tiny bit, he'd missed hearing Momoshiro's voice.

"A treehouse sounds dumb," he says instead, because he can't help but argue with Momoshiro.

Momoshiro's mouth drops open for the second time that day. "It's not! He took a picture of it, and it looks _awesome_, seriously. He built it in the jungle though, so I haven't yet seen it. But seriously, that took skill. He's got windows! Well, there's no glass in it yet, well, maybe there is now, I told him that the cruise ship had glass elevators that he could use, so maybe his windows have glass in them now. I don't know, I still haven't gone to see it yet. You should come with me, I can't get anyone to come with me through the jungle!"

Kaidoh has to admit, a treehouse with real windows _does_ sound pretty cool, but he isn't going to get all excited about it like Momoshiro. The way Momoshiro is talking makes him sound like some kind overly energetic puppy. But not in the cute way.

"I guess if you're too scared to go on your own," Kaidoh says, eyes narrowing in challenge, "I could come with you." The fire lets out a loud pop and Kaidoh looks at the fish which is now starting to turn charcoal-black.

"Uh, Momoshiro?" he says, pointing at the spearhead.

Noticing the fish wasn't looking so healthy anymore, Momoshiro quickly pulls it back, away from the fire. "Right. Sorry, wasn't paying attention." He offers the spear with the two thoroughly cooked fish on it to Kaidoh.

"Here you go, remember to take out the fishbones. Fish have bones." Does this make it meat or not?

Kaidoh tries not to look overly eager as he grabs for the fish and bites into it. It tastes delicious, although Kaidoh isn't sure if that's a testament to Momoshiro's cooking skills, or just that Kaidoh is really damn hungry. It's weird having Momoshiro just sitting there watching him eat though, and Kaidoh feels hyper-aware of how he's chewing, and gets embarrassed every time he has to spit out a fish bone. He hopes he isn't blushing again.

"It's pretty good," he admits. It's the closest Momoshiro is going to get for a compliment.

Momoshiro doubts that; he's eaten plain fish before, and without any seasoning—especially salt—it wasn't all that great. Plus he kind of forgot to wash it … well, he would have done it, if Kaidoh didn't drink up all the water like a drunkard drinking alcohol.

"You'll probably have to get used to it," says Momoshiro. "Our stash of food we salvaged from the ship is running out, so a lot of us have been scavenging for food, like fruit … coconuts … and of course, other people set up traps to catch small animals. I know there are rabbits on this island at least, so that's good to know." At least he knew rabbit was actual meat, unlike fish. Stupid fish.

Momoshiro leans back on the palms of his hands, sinking into the sand, and he wiggles his toes into it as well. "You know, you can stay with us for a while," he mentions. "At our shack I mean, just for now. Until I can kick you out as soon as you've found your own place to sleep at. I think it'll be a while before we'll see helicopters flying over this place."

"Thanks..." Kaidoh says hesitantly. This is still really weird for him, to be sitting here having a friendly conversation with Momoshiro, eating fish that Momoshiro caught, drinking water that Momoshiro gave him, and now getting invited back to the shack that Momoshiro built. Kaidoh wonders if he's going to wake up at any moment back on his little canoe and still be floating out in the middle of the ocean somewhere. It doesn't feel real, or right, but when he pinches himself in the knee to see if he's dreaming, nothing happens. He's still sitting here, holding a spear full of fish. _Well, okay, then_. At least his subconscious isn't making up dreams about Momoshiro being some kind of island king.

"How is everyone," he asks, after swallowing another bite of fish.

Momoshiro now lets himself fall back into the sun, so he can look up at the cloudless sky. Today seems to be very sunny. "Hmm, could be better, I suppose," he says. "Everyone got off with only minor injuries, or none at all … and some," Momoshiro gulps feels a twist of guilt creep inside of his stomach, "they weren't so lucky," he finishes.

Kaidoh's eyes widen. "What do you mean by that?" he asks. He isn't used to Momoshiro looking so serious and it makes him kind of nervous.

"Hmm," mumbles Momoshiro. "I was with Echizen when the ship went down. Trying to get out as quickly as possible, you know? But stuff just seemed to keep messing up for us, as if someone was deliberately trying to block our way from escaping. Well … since the stairs were blocked, we figured we could walk through the concert hall to find some other stairs—yes, there's a concert hall inside the ship. It's Atobe, what do you expect? So we were walking on the podium …" Flashes of Momoshiro's most horrible memory fills his mind, and his closes his eyes in fear of them watering up. He will _not_ look weak in front of Kaidoh. Definitely not.

And he most certainly will never cry in front of the snake.

"The ship tilted a bit, the piano slid from the podium, and rammed Echizen, _hard._ He was bleeding from his head all over the place, and I had to carry him on my back for the rest of the time until we got out. Turned out he needed stitches on his head, and he's broken a rib. He's still recovering from that, and it's a month later." Momoshiro sighs quietly as he finally finishes the story. Well, now Kaidoh knows at least. In case he'll start wondering why he's so damn protective of the little brat. He still thinks it's his fault, he still could have pushed him out of the way.

Kaidoh lets out a long breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"That's..." he starts, but comes up blank. Momoshiro's face looks a mess of emotions and Kaidoh's never seen him look that way before. He isn't even opening his eyes. Kaidoh breathes in and then out again and then reaches out and puts his hand on Momoshiro's shoulder the way he's seen coaches do with players who've just lost a match. That's the manly way to offer comfort, right?

"That's really rough," he says, finally, which is probably the understatement of the century, but Kaidoh was never good with dealing with feelings.

Momoshiro cracks an eye open, and gives Kaidoh a little, trademark Momo smirk. "Thanks for showing me your comforting skills," he jokes. "Still as awkward as ever." He finally lifts himself from the sand, not even caring his shirt is covered with sand now, and he throws some sand on top of the still burning campfire to put it out.

"But, that was a month ago, he's getting better, so that's good. No one died at least," Momoshiro laughs. Nope, thankfully no one died at all. "And we've got a bunch of doctors in training with us as well, like Oishi and An-chan, so if you've got any injuries, they'll fix you up."

"That's good," Kaidoh says, and is glad to see Momoshiro seems to have cheered up again. "So what have you been doing here besides building shacks and running around the jungle with a spear like an idiot? Why haven't you tried to leave?"

For a few seconds, Momoshiro is quite stumped at that question. "We figured someone would come save us … why try to get off the island without knowing where to go, when we could be staying here with all the supplies still available, and wait for rescue?" He also didn't want to move Echizen around, but since he is getting better now … perhaps Kaidoh has a point. They did have plenty of lifeboats.

"I'd probably get as lost as you would," he mumbles negatively. No way could he sail the seas without something horrible happening to them.

"No," Kaidoh says, "you'd definitely get more lost. The only reason I got lost in the first place was because of the weird current. You would get lost because of pure idiocy." He flicks a bit of sand at Momoshiro. "So you've just been sitting around here... waiting?" he asks, his look changing to one of confusion. "Isn't that boring?"

Momoshiro lowers his head down into his shoulders and pouts childishly at Kaidoh. "It's been anything _but_ boring," he says with the pout still on his lips. "First all we did was wait, yeah. I took care of Echizen, we got a bit of food from the ship … and we waited. And waited, waited until we just started getting more food from the ship, and made ourselves more comfortable."

Kaidoh made it seem like they've been doing nothing but sit on their asses, which couldn't be further from the truth. Momoshiro hasn't been sitting on his ass; only sometimes! When he's with Echizen, that is.

"I mean, I started building shacks, looked for food, explored a bit, took care of Echizen and his stupid cat, took care of other people, and I mean—come on, I was fishing right now before I saw you! We haven't been doing nothing all this time, we're working to keep ourselves alive. Getting off of this island alone without any rescue just hasn't come up yet." Momoshiro pouts some more at Kaidoh, feeling as if his own personal achievements has amounted to nothing when he says it like that.

"What's wrong with your face?" Kaidoh says flatly. "Stop looking at me like that. What do you want, some kind of award? Okay. Glad you didn't die, moron."

Momoshiro's pouty face morphed into an annoyed, irritated face. Leave it up to Kaidoh to piss him off in just a few milliseconds. "Asshole, of course I didn't die, I'm not stupid like you. You'd have died if I didn't fed you!"

"I would not have!" Kaidoh retorts immediately, and his hands clench into fists at his sides. "I would have been _perfectly_ fine without you!" And he totally would have! Maybe he'd be surviving on weird jungle bugs, but he'd be surviving all the same and certainly wouldn't need _Momoshiro_ of all people to keep him alive.

Momoshiro stands up straight again, almost stepping inside of the still smouldering ash pile, and he balls up his fists at Kaidoh. "No you wouldn't, you dickhead, admit it! I helped you out while you were hallucinating about hamburgers falling from palm trees!"

And then Kaidoh is on his feet too, heart suddenly pounding. he grabs Momoshiro by the front of his shirt and starts yelling. "I didn't _ask_ for your help!" He didn't, right? Never explicitly anyway. Accepting help wasn't the same as requesting it.

Momoshiro grabs Kaidoh's stupid tank top as well, which is a bit hard, since it's tight, and stuck to his chest, so it takes a few pathetic tries at scratching his chest to get a grip on it. Smugly, he thinks to himself that he at least got first dibs on hurting Kaidoh—by scratching his chest like a cat.

"You were virtually screaming it!" he yells back. "Projecting it really! Like sending ESP signals to my head. Saaavvee me. _Saaaaaaave me_, I'm dying."

Kaidoh yanks up on Momoshiro's shirt roughly so that his fist knocks into Momoshiro's chin. "Like I would want _you_! If I was going to project any kind of signals, they wouldn't be directed at you! And I wasn't sending them anyway!"

Momoshiro roughly pushes at Kaidoh so he could back off. "Sure you weren't. Idiot. Learn to cry for help when you need it. I have no problems letting you die of starvation or dehydration. Moron."

"Then why didn't you just _let_ me, if you were so unconcerned?" Kaidoh hisses, feeling his fingernails dig further into his palms. "You just had to swoop in and be the hero, didn't you?"

Momoshiro grins at him. "Of course. I have to show off to you, don't I?" He pushes at Kaidoh once more, hard enough so that they're finally separated. "Now, can we act like grown-ups for once, and not kill each other on the spot? As much as I like to kick your ass right now, I've got someone waiting for me at home."

Catching himself saying the word 'home', Momoshiro starts to splutter red. "I mean, back at my shack. Yeah. It's not home, why the hell did I even call it that …" A month is way too long to be spending on an island. Way too long. He wants to go home for real.

_Right_. Kaidoh was supposed to be a mature adult now. He was totally zen. He didn't need to fight idiots like Momoshiro, no matter _how_ infuriating they were being. He let his fists unclench and drop loosely to his sides.

"Your shack had better not just be some cardboard box with a door cut out of it," he says.

Frowning at Kaidoh, he shrugs. "You'll eat your words once you see my awesome fort. Or house. Or shack—whatever. I live in it and it protects me from rain and bugs. That's good enough for me. And good enough for Echizen. We've got a bed too." Momoshiro gives Kaidoh a disapproving look. "You're not sleeping in it."

Kaidoh huffs. "Like I'd even want to!" Well, that's not true. He would kind of want to. In fact, a bed sounds amazing right now. Sleeping on his rickety little boat was restless and uncomfortable. Kaidoh got maybe an hour of sleep each night. Two, tops. But no, a bed with Momoshiro sounds restless, uncomfortable, and, on top of that, just disgusting.

"Then it's settled!" says Momoshiro cheerfully. "You sleep on the floor." And, if he even needs to say this, "don't go anywhere near Echizen, he's still recovering." He claps his hands together and rubs them. "So, wanna go meet the little bugger and the rest?"

"Yeah, whatever," Kaidoh replies, ignoring the nervousness that zings through Kaidoh's bloodstream at Momoshiro's words. He doesn't know how he'll react to everyone, and how they'll react to him.

"Alright, let's go then. It's not far from here, just a ten minute walk or so. Maybe twenty." Maybe an hour. Momoshiro wasn't really paying attention to the time. He already starts to walk back into the direction he came from, but not before making sure the fire was really out. It feels weird to have Kaidoh by his side. Who would have thought, honestly? Though he's glad he seems to be alive at least. A bit malnourished, but he's got food and water back at his home.

Shack, his _shack_, damnit.

Kaidoh walks with Momoshiro, keeping pace with him out of old habit. he doesn't allow himself to fall behind, because that would mean losing, and he's already shown enough weakness to Momoshiro today as it is. He doesn't really know where they're going, but he trusts Momoshiro not to get them lost. Or maybe he doesn't. But anyway, Momoshiro seems to know where they're going, and Kaidoh supposes he'd better if he's been living here as long as he says he has.

After a while of walking, Momoshiro nudges closer to Kaidoh. "So," he starts. He swings an arm across Kaidoh when they're close enough, as if they're the best of buds. "I've got a question for you."

Kaidoh side-eyes Momoshiro suspiciously. _Why's he being so friendly all of a sudden?_ "What?" he asks.

"Are you gay?"

Kaidoh stops dead in his tracks. "What the hell?!" he yells, and before Momoshiro can get a word out, Kaidoh socks him in the jaw.


	7. Wet Cat

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **a direct continuation of the last log, but this time Ryoma joins in. Reverted back to past-tense in this log because of our third roleplayer.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo), Happiestwhen (Kaidoh) & Gottis (Ryoma, Karupin)

**Rating:** K+

**Events leading up to this log:** set directly after the last chapter

**Date:** May 25, 2012

* * *

This was not what he expected to bring with him when Momoshiro decided to go out hunting for fish. Really, who would have thought he'd come across someone who crashed on the island as well, and out of all people—it was Kaidoh Kaoru, former teammate/rival/buchou?

"Now, don't scare him with your scary demeanor, okay?" said Momoshiro as he faced Kaidoh. He looked him up and down; still the same scary old Kaidoh. Except a bit taller, and a bit uglier. "He's supposed to be resting still, so I don't want you to scare him off."

Momoshiro stopped in front of his bamboo built shack. Big enough for two people to live in, and perhaps one more, for now anyway. He was sure sharing the same space as the snake would be a bad thing in the long run. They'd already gotten in a few fights with the limited amount of time they'd seen each other again, so Momoshiro can only imagine the amount of fights they'd get into when they're sleeping in the same shack.

Kaidoh glared at Momoshiro. "Echizen isn't afraid of me, dumbass." In his head he was thinking, _And I don't have a scary demeanor either!_ Why was everyone always saying that about him? Just because he wasn't sunshine and rainbows all the time like stupid smiley Momoshiro didn't make him scary.

Momoshiro rolled his eyes. "Everyone's afraid of you at first sight." Except Momoshiro of course. Kaidoh looked kinda normal when he was very young, and the years have not done him kind at all. Not with those scary big eyes and tiny irises, and then those really big fish lips … Momoshiro should probably stop staring at Kaidoh right now. He cleared his throat, rubbed his jaw a bit—still aching after Kaidoh hit him from before—then knocked on the straw door. Wait, why the hell was he knocking!? This was his own home! Or shack, or whatever.

"Ryoma-chan, I'm back!" he happily announced himself, then pushed the door open.

Ryoma sat and fiddled around with his cellphone, playing one game or the other, hoping that the battery would at least last a little while longer. (He didn't know what else to do to kill boredom, really.) At the sound of Momoshiro's voice, he looked up and sighed. "You're late. Better have a shitload of fish with you, or..." He cut himself off, eyes widening.

Momoshiro awkwardly stepped inside. "Well …" he said, hesitating. "Someone seemed to have ate all of our fish." He stepped aside so that Kaidoh could walk in.

"Hey," Kaidoh said, shoving his hands into his pockets as he walked inside. "Long time, no see."

Momoshiro cheerfully placed an arm around Kaidoh's shoulder and shoved him close against his chest. "Yup, this guy ate our fish! So blame him, okay? Seems he's been roaming in the sea for god knows how long, until he crashed here, and I happened to stumble upon him by chance. I mean, wow, who would have thought, right?" Then he averted his eyes away from Echizen. "Is it okay if he stays with us for a bit?" he asked in a tiny voice.

Not in the same bed, obviously. No way in hell. He can sleep on the floor.

Kaidoh's mouth contorted in surprise as he felt himself crush up against Momoshiro. _Stupid idiot. What was he trying to do?_

"I don't mind either way," he said gruffly, shrugging out from Momoshiro's arm and stepping to the side. He attempted a smile at Echizen, which may not have been entirely successful. Damn, was it ever weird seeing him after all these years.

"Kaidoh-senpai." He was surprised that he didn't sound entirely awestruck or panicked or any of the more unflattering options. He actually managed to sound - in his own ears at least—somewhat calm. Somewhat. "... You've been... At sea. And... Uh. Are you... Like. Okay?" Dumb question of the century, probably. He could have bitten his own tongue, but that would have been rather messy. And stupid. … His thoughts were definitely running in the weird direction right now.

Momoshiro walked over to Echizen, and he leaned forwards to him, as if he were about to whisper a secret. "I found him crying out for help, dying of starvation, so I fed him some fish and gave him something to drink. I think he's fine otherwise," he said softly, though Kaidoh could hear everything perfectly.

Kaidoh's left eye twitched. "I was _fine_," he stressed. "I wasn't starving."

Rolling his eyes, Momoshiro smirked at Kaidoh. "Sure, keep telling yourself that. We've got more water here, unless you're 'fine' of course, and don't need anything to drink." Momoshiro pointed to a bunch of water bottles standing on top of a desk. He had been stocking them up once all the water had turned to normal.

Kaidoh's eyes narrowed and he was about to shout something back when he stopped himself. He didn't want to pick a fight with Momoshiro right in front of Echizen, not when they're meeting again for the first time, not right away. Then Echizen really _would_ think he was scary.

"Either way, you should sit down." Ryoma swung his legs over the edge of the bed and was about to stand up, when his ribs reminded him that it was probably not a good idea to make any sudden movements. He made a face, hand going to his chest, and he gave Kaidoh an half annoyed, half apologetic look. "Uh... Guess you'll just have to make place. Sorry." He raked a hand through his hair—careful not to touch the wound on the back of his head, even if it was mostly healed by now—and groaned. "Momo, instead of babbling, you mind handing _me_ some water? I'm dying here."

Freaking out a bit, Momoshiro made a beeline towards the bottles of water, snatched one, and handed it over to Echizen. "Sorry," he squeaked out. "Are you okay? Don't move too much."

Momoshiro turned around to look at Kaidoh. "And Kaidoh can sit on the floor, can't you, Kaidoh?" His face had a terrifying and threatening look on it that said; _if-you-don't-agree-I'll-beat-you-to-a-pulp._

"Yeah..." Kaidoh replied, eyeing Momoshiro skeptically. He dropped slowly to the floor, tucking his legs under himself.

"I'm fine, stop fussing..." Ryoma waved Momoshiro away as he received his water. In the meantime, a ball of fluff slowly poked out from underneath the bed, whiskers twitching curiously and big blue eyes locking themselves onto Kaidoh.

Momoshiro pouted at Echizen. "I'll fuss about you all I want, brat," he said in a mopey voice.

Meanwhile, Kaidoh's attention was drawn away from anything Momoshiro or Echizen were saying. His eyes had gone wide and glossy. Not being able to help himself, he held out a hand, flicking his fingers open and closed to beckon, and let out a long hiss.

Karupin meowed, and then started to purr, a low rumbling in the back of his throat. His back feet trampled impatiently and his tail flicked back and forth, before he made a leap from underneath the bed, aiming for Kaidoh's fingers. He did, however, not extend his claws.

Kaidoh clicked his tongue against the back of his teeth and soon he was smiling. He brushed his fingers over Karupin's head, gently stroking his ears and delighting in how soft he was. This, more than the fish, more than the water, really made Kaidoh feel like himself again.

Momoshiro gave Karupin a look of betrayal. _Traitor._ His eyes then looked back at Echizen once more. "So uhm, I don't have any fish. You up for something else? … Fruit perhaps?" he asked sheepishly.

"Whatever. I'm hungry. We should... I mean... You should go out again though, Momo. Find something. Kaidoh and I can catch up. … Or Kaidoh and Karupin, I... guess...?" He gave his cat a bemused look. Karupin, on the other hand, was busy bopping his head against Kaidoh's hand, alternating between licking his fingers curiously, and purring, even louder.

"Yeah sure, I'll go and try and catch some again, I guess," said Momoshiro, a bit unsure. Karupin licking Kaidoh's finger was gross, and it was grossing him out even more. "Kaidoh, come with me," he said. Partly because he wanted Karupin to stop licking, and partly because he didn't want to leave Kaidoh alone with Echizen.

Kaidoh looked up at Momoshiro, eyes darkening as though Momoshiro was demanding something insane.

Momoshiro simply stared back at him. "What?" he asked. "Want to punch me again?"

Was that some kind of trick question? Kaidoh always wanted to punch Momoshiro. "Fsshuu," he hissed.

Momoshiro scrunched up his face and hissed back at Kaidoh. "Fshuu to you too! Dickhead."

Kaidoh glowered. "Stop that!"

"What!" Momoshiro smirked at him. "You do it too, I can't believe you still do that hissy thing after five years. You've got trouble speaking with your tongue or something?"

Karupin ogled the two of them, apparently confused. Ryoma, in turn, simply groaned and rolled over on his side, closing his eyes. Maybe if he pretended to be asleep, the morons would leave... Or at least quiet down.

"There's nothing wrong with my tongue!" Kaidoh shot back. He nearly hissed again too, but caught himself this time and felt himself turning red. "Asshole," he grumbled. Momoshiro always ruined everything.

"Dumbass," Momoshiro fired back. It was like they went down a trip on Memory Lane, back in middle school, throwing insults at each other, while Echizen stood on the side, not caring at all. "Maybe I shouldn't let you sleep here," he said.

"See if I care," Kaidoh growled. He didn't need Momoshiro's charity. Not if he was going to be a jerk and make fun of Kaidoh's hissing. He could just... go sleep on the beach. Yeah. Because Kaidoh was tough like that.

Momoshiro pointed towards the door with his spear. "Door's that way." Smirk.

"Can you kids stop tossing verbal sand on each other and step out of the sand box?" Ryoma sat up with a groan. "This is stupid. Kaidoh's probably fatigued, the last thing he needs is even more exposure to the outdoors, and Momo, if you say you weren't the least bit worried about him, I'm gonna smack you one. Kaidoh, you should sleep here, at least for the night, okay? See how it works out, and how much time you need to recover. Until then, can you at least _pretend_ that you can get along? A little?"

Well, if Echizen asked … "Fine. The snake can stay. In his own little corner. Over there. Where we pee."

_Goddamnit, Momoshiro_, Kaidoh thought, and goddamnit Echizen for being so damn reasonable all the time. He'd been more than ready to storm out of there. Well, maybe not more than ready. He glanced down at Karupin, who was still contentedly rubbing his face into the palm of his hand and looking like the cutest cat in the world.

"Thanks, Echizen," Kaidoh said. "Thanks, Momoshiro," he added, though his tone this time sounded far from grateful.

Momoshiro smugly leaned in closer to Kaidoh, putting a hand at his ear. "What's that? I didn't catch that last part."

Kaidoh exhaled loudly through clenched teeth. "I'm not going to say it again."

Momoshiro threw up his hands. "Whatever. Just stay in that corner." He sat down next to Echizen. "And don't touch him. He's hurt."

"_Momo_...!"

"What!"

Ryoma flailed out with his hands in an exasperated gesture... Which incidentally made him wince in pain. Stupid, stupid sudden movements. He was half a mind to simply tear that stupid rib out of his body and have it over and done with. "You... Ow. I mean... _You_...!"

Momoshiro didn't know what to do when Echizen was flailing around himself and hurting himself. "Stop moving, idiot! You're just making it worse."

"Stop talking like that, then. You don't have to..." He cut himself short, turning with quite the puppy-dog expression at Kaidoh. "Uh. … You're welcome. I mean... It's only natural. We're..." He wanted to say 'friends'... But he hadn't been keeping in touch with Kaidoh for seven years. Could he even claim that they were friends anymore?

Momoshiro simply shut up for once, and stared with blank eyes at Echizen. Fine, he'll stop talking.

"Yeah, whatever," Kaidoh replied, blushing a little. "Hope I'm not putting you out or anything." He deliberately didn't look at Momoshiro as he said it. He didn't really care if he was inconveniencing _him_.

"Nah, we're cool." And suddenly this felt more than a little bit awkward. Ryoma frowned, mostly at himself.

Oblivious to his 'daddy's' mood, Karupin happily tried to chase his tail, bumping into both Kaidoh's and Momoshiro's feet as he did so, blissfully lost in his own world.

Momoshiro ignored the little traitor, then sauntered off to grab an extra blanket from somewhere across the room, and threw it at Kaidoh. "Make yourself at home," he said darkly. He grabbed the spear once more and stood in the middle of the room looking like Tarzan. "I'm going hunting. Won't be late. Don't touch Echizen. I'll kill you if you do." He looked at Echizen. "Scream if he touches you." He looked at Karupin. "Traitor."

And then Momoshiro marched towards the exit, glaring at Kaidoh the entire way.

Kaidoh looked at the doorway, then back at Karupin, and then up at Echizen. "Er," he started. "I'm not going to touch you. Just, you know, saying." He hissed.

"... Momo's like... Thinking that everyone's out to molest me or something." Ryoma shrugged, flushing. "It's not like it's anything personal..."

Momoshiro turned towards Echizen as he neared the door. "I know Kite does," he said, very confident.

"Oh _please_...!" Okay, Ryoma had to admit, that if there had been any truth in that, he would have been worried; having a soldier checking you out couldn't be good. He waved dismissively at Momoshiro.

Momoshiro stuck out his tongue and pushed the door open. "I'll be out at sea, so if you're looking for me Kaidoh ... that's where I am." Alright, those were really lame parting words, but whatever. He gave him one sneaky glare, and then finally left the shack.

Momoshiro sure had gotten weird since Kaidoh last saw him. Maybe it was this fucking island, he thought. He pet Karupin some more. At least he would never accuse Kaidoh of wanting to molest someone.


	8. Awkward Bandana

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **there was a lot of playing with comments, and no logging, so be sure to read this comment thread if you want to be completely up to date: **tinyurl dot com/dxtfxck**

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Kaidoh moves in with Momo and Ryoma  
- Kaidoh spends his days secretly fishing behind Momo's back to get better at it.  
- Momo asks him to show him how to tie a banana  
- Momo tells Kaidoh to stop hissing, and if he hisses, he'll punch him  
- Somehow Momo manages to get Kaidoh to tell him that he was the one to make those Valentine's Day chocolates in their third year  
- Momo asks Kaidoh if he liked him back then, he doesn't deny it

**Date:** June 6, 2012

* * *

Momoshiro has calmed down a little bit by now. Okay, it took about three hours, but he managed to not freak out so much anymore. What happened three hours ago? Kaidoh basically told him that he had a crush on him during middle school—and he wasn't sure if he still had a crush on him or not. And that's … awkward. Completely and utterly awkward. Momoshiro can't stop thinking about the many, many physical fights they have been in … and what Kaidoh could have felt differently about it.

Why does everyone have to end up being gay? And gay for him, no less!

But Momoshiro is rather fond of Kaidoh, and he does feel very sympathetic; crushing on a straight guy who was supposed to be your rival, isn't exactly the ideal crushing partner. But what to do? He can't kick him out, that's rude, and Echizen will kill him for it (who is already mad at him for some reason). And it's not like he returns his sentiments; hell no. Momoshiro is a straight guy. One hundred percent straight. He doesn't swing that way.

He can't help it if he's so dashingly handsome he gets all the gay guys crushing on him.

Okay, that was probably uncalled for, but _shit_—what is he supposed to do now? Let Kaidoh punch him? Punch Kaidoh instead? Hope for amnesia? That's actually a good idea … but perhaps not. Momoshiro sighs and finally walks out of the shack, leaving behind a grumpy and asleep Echizen. The best thing to do, is to get this over with. Make it clear nothing will ever happen, and that Momoshiro doesn't hate Kaidoh or anything.

Even if he's a teeny tiny bit weirded out by him.

Momoshiro walks across the beach to spot the damn snake, but the sun is shining high in the sky, and it's sort of blinding his eyes. He's probably out fishing or something, or doing some kind of training. Whatever it is, Momoshiro knows Kaidoh is somewhere out on the beach.

Kaidoh has been exercising for what feels like forever. It probably hasn't actually been more than a couple of hours, but to Kaidoh it feels like a lot longer. He doesn't want to stop. He doesn't want to see Momoshiro. He's frustrated, and embarrassed, and completely terrified.

Five years! It had been five years since he'd even thought about Momoshiro like that. Well, not counting all the thoughts in between about where Momoshiro might be at that moment… or what he was doing… or whether or not he'd ever see him again. Those didn't count because it wasn't like Kaidoh was _trying_ to think about Momoshiro. In fact, he was usually actively trying _not_ to. He thought he'd gotten over those stupid, stupid feelings. And he had. Probably. Maybe.

That is, until he got to this island and saw Momoshiro again and now he's just as annoyed, and confused (and annoyed that he's confused!) as he was at fifteen.

Kaidoh finishes off his eighteenth set of push-ups and collapses back against a tree, digging his feet into the sand and not caring how much of it gets in his shoes. Why did Momoshiro always have a way of pulling things out of him, of making him say and do things he never would with anyone else? He sort of wishes he could just take it all back and say, _Haha, it was just a joke, of course I don't really like you, dumbass!_ but Kaidoh Kaoru doesn't really tell jokes, and Momoshiro knows it, too. And now it's too late to undo or fix anyway.

Kaidoh punches his fist into the sand but there isn't anything hard to catch it and it just feels unsatisfying. "Fuck," he grumbles aloud.

Spotting Kaidoh while trudging on the beach after what feels like the longest time on earth, Momoshiro freezes up, and then he quickly hides behind a large palm tree so he won't be seen. It's cowardly of him, but it's the first instinct that kicks in. He sees the snake punch some sand, sitting against a tree, and he looks as annoyed as Momoshiro looks confused. This feeling of anxiety, distress, and uneasiness fills him up; all of the sudden Momoshiro Takeshi feels simply _embarrassed_ of facing Kaidoh. He's never been embarrassed of facing that snake, it's completely new to him. Kaidoh had always been grumpy, and pissed off, and easy to provoke, and fun to mess around with—but being around Kaidoh had never been weird, or awkward, or embarrassing. Never.

So what does he do now when he feels a lump beginning to form in his throat, and his stomach is churning in all different kinds of directions?

Momoshiro looks around the palm tree to observe Kaidoh, who is still sitting down. It still feels like one big joke to him, and he's waiting for Kaidoh to start cackling evilly and announce it was one big plan to mess with Momoshiro. Then it would be fine, then Momoshiro will simply pay him back triple the amount of awkwardness he's been forced through—but Kaidoh doesn't make jokes. And if he does manage to worm out a joke from his lips, it certainly isn't about him _having a crush_ on Momoshiro. Momoshiro is pretty damn sure he'd rather jump in a pit of lava than to joke about that.

But Kaidoh is not jumping in a pit of lava, instead he's a little ways ahead of him, hiding away from Momoshiro because he doesn't want to face him. And Momoshiro doesn't really want to face him either, but it still has to happen. He just doesn't know how to make the first contact, how to swallow that lump in his throat, how to calm down his stomach, and how to open his mouth to form words.

Childishly, Momoshiro slips a small white seashell he finds buried in the sand between his fingers, and then flings it at Kaidoh. It's the only thing he knows how to do; annoy Kaidoh to get his attention. Shyly, he retracts his body out from the open and hides behind the palm tree again. Smooth, real smooth Momoshiro. Fuck. Whatever.

Kaidoh feels something small flick against the back of his neck and his shoulders immediately tense up.

"What the fuck?" he hears himself growl, and there's an edge to his voice that he doesn't recognize. He glances back over his shoulder in the direction of the shell, but sees no one. He shifts on the sand to look at the ground behind him but there is nothing there but rocks and shells. _Great, now on top of it all he was starting to hallucinate_.

A long, frustrated hiss escapes his lips and he balls his hands up into fists again, wishing a little bit like he could punch himself in the face.

Okay, throwing a shell at Kaidoh's head was probably not the best idea he's gotten inside of his head. Momoshiro clears his throat, and awkwardly shuffles on his spot, debating whether or not to get out in the open and feed himself to the lions, or to run away with his tail between his legs. And then he hears it, even though he's still pretty far, the long and stretched out hiss coming from that snake's lips.

His legs start moving on their own, and before Momoshiro knows it, he's creeped up behind Kaidoh, who hasn't yet noticed his ninja-like presence. It feels weird, and awkward, and Momoshiro wishes the ground would swallow him up, but that never happens—so he punches Kaidoh's arm. Finally he stands next to him, staring out at the ocean, and hoping Kaidoh won't notice his clammy hands and sweaty forehead.

"You lost already," says Momoshiro. He tries to keep his voice from sounding so high pitched, but he can't help but sound like a boy approaching puberty.

Kaidoh turns and looks up at Momoshiro and something twists up inside his stomach that feels like a big, mortifying knot of confusion and nausea. He can't decide if he's about to punch Momoshiro back, or run away... or possibly just throw up all over Momoshiro's shoes. Thankfully, he doesn't, and just shakes his head.

"I didn't think you were serious about that," he says, and covers his arm with his hand, because it feels like it's going to flare up like a burn, as red as he's sure his cheeks already are. He looks at the ground as though maybe then Momoshiro won't notice. His stomach does a somersault. He thinks very seriously about whether or not he can make a break for his canoe, repair it, and paddle away before Momoshiro says another word. He knows he'd be fast enough, but his feet feel glued to the ground.

Momoshiro thinks for a bit, usually he knows how to vomit words out of his mouth like a constant stream of nonsense, but right now, it's kinda stuck halfway, and whatever he's trying to say feels forced, and it's simply not coming out. This is hard. Feeling his legs start to shake a bit, he sits down next to Kaidoh, sand attaches to his legs everywhere, but there's enough distance between them that either of them could make a break for it. However lame that is.

"Yeah well, I'm never one to give up the opportunity to punch you."

"Dumbass," Kaidoh replies quietly, wearing the insult like armor. It feels familiar on his tongue, like maybe nothing's changed at all, but his stomach is still saying different. He rolls his shoulders back and tries to think of something else to say. This isn't really a moment he's ever anticipated. It doesn't feel like a fight he can win, and maybe that's because, for once, it isn't a fight at all, and he isn't used to not having that to fall back on.

"So..." he says, finally, and his eyes flick up to meet Momoshiro's.

Momoshiro stretches his legs into the sand and places his chin on top of his knees. "So …" he drawls out. He tilts his face a bit and looks at Kaidoh, which proves to be a mistake, because looking at him makes him feel really weird, and now his cheeks are burning with red—not much different from Kaidoh himself. He sort of wishes he was like Echizen, and wore a cap all the time that he could hide behind, he feels strangely naked right next to the snake, with nothing to hide behind.

At least Kaidoh has a bandana on his head. Which reminds him ...

"You gonna show me how to tie a bandana, or what?" asks Momoshiro. He sounds slightly more confident, because he's really trying to avoid the subject of 'like'. He'll probably die of embarrassment if they really do talk about that in person. This is even more awkward than that time Echizen told him he was 'hot' and that touching him sent his hormones into overdrive. Echizen was Echizen—but this is Kaidoh. One whom he'd have never thought could even have the ability to like anyone, much less like _him._

Momoshiro's cheeks sting with red once more, and he breaks eye contact.

"Oh... You still want me to?" Kaidoh asks, and feels a rush of heat to his cheeks again as though he's accidentally said something really suggestive, like everything he says to Momoshiro now has to carry a double meaning. It makes Kaidoh want to swallow sand.

He reaches into the pocket of his shorts and pulls out four carefully folded squares of bandana fabric, a red one on top. "Here," Kaidoh says and, without looking at him, holds the square out to Momoshiro.

Being extra careful not to accidentally touch Kaidoh's fingers, Momoshiro takes the fabric from his hands, and unfolds it. It's a plain red bandana with some weird black and white patterns stitched into it. He can't help himself from asking, "how old is this?" He's under the impression it's been sitting in his pockets for years, for how clean and neatly folded it is. The fold lines were still visible, so it had to have been a while.

"Huh?" Kaidoh says, because the question catches him off-guard. "Oh, uh, I think I got it sometime in high school." He points to one of the stitches. "Those were supposed to be comets." Luckily he doesn't think he can blush anymore than he already is.

Momoshiro snorts. "You some kind of space fan?" He plays with the fabric between his fingers, stretching it out, and wondering if this was a good idea or not. They're …talking, so that's good, right?

Kaidoh feels the knot in his stomach loosen a little. "I just thought they would look cool," he says. At least, they were supposed to. They ended up looking just like jagged squiggle marks.

"Oh," says Momoshiro a bit surprised. He then holds the bandana in front of his face, shielding the sun rays simultaneously. "You did it yourself." Looking over at the stitches, he can see that they're crudely sewn into it, like an amateur did it at the spur of the moment. Though he _can_ seem to make out that they're … comets, or whatever.

"You suck at it," Momoshiro grins at Kaidoh. "You should have made hamburgers."

"Shut up," Kaidoh says, but the knot in his stomach disentangles, as though Momoshiro's words have untied it. "I told you I don't eat hamburgers. And anyway, they'd be a lot harder to sew." He can't really believe he is sitting here talking to Momoshiro about sewing, of all things, but as long as they aren't talking about... _that_, then Kaidoh will take it as a small victory. And hey, he hasn't thrown up yet either.

"Fine. Cats then," he says. Though cats would have probably be even harder to sew, but it's not like Momoshiro knows how good Kaidoh is at it. He did say he got it in high school, and they're way past the age of high school now. He stares at the bandana some more, until he holds the ends of it with his hands, and brings it up to his forehead.

"So, something like this?" he asks unsure. He sloppily wraps it around his forehead and stretches it to the back of his head, but then stops. Tying bandanas is really not his forte. His fingers awkwardly fumble around with the tapered ends, trying to make a knot, but as he had already expected; his hair keeps getting in the way.

"No, you idiot," Kaidoh says, "let me show you," and he reaches over to pull the ends of the bandana out of Momoshiro's hands. He stops himself a second before their fingers can touch and shoots a nervous glance at Momoshiro. He doesn't want Momoshiro to get the wrong idea... He doesn't want to freak him out again. _Shit_, Kaidoh thinks suddenly, _Can he even get into fights with Momoshiro anymore?_ His hand hangs awkwardly in the air between them before Kaidoh jerks it away again, blushing furiously.

Momoshiro is surprisingly observant of one's body language. It's one thing to be a complete airhead about what people are saying, it's another to blatantly ignore the signs of someone's awkward body movements. He hunches his shoulders, before slipping the red cloth from his hair, and places it in his lap. He then turns around until his back is facing Kaidoh, to give the both of them some space to breathe—and so Momoshiro won't have to look at Kaidoh blushing a terrible shade of red. It's making him red-faced as well, and Momoshiro doesn't like feeling his cheeks heat up like mini-power plants.

"Here," he says, and shoots out his hand behind himself, the bandana clutched in it. "You do it then."

The coil of shame and embarrassment has firmly retied itself into a knot in Kaidoh's stomach and has now decided to start climbing into his chest cavity. Kaidoh swallows hard to shove it back down and grabs the bandana out of Momoshiro's hand, telling himself to just think of it as putting the bandana on his own head. _Just pretend it isn't Momoshiro in front of you and it will be easy_.

He folds down the top corner of the bandana and then rises to his knees so he can get a better angle. He flips the material over and, after brushing the hair out of Momoshiro's eyes, settles it down over Momoshiro's forehead. Then he takes the two corner ends in his right hand and uses his left to brush the strands of hair off the back of Momoshiro's neck. Kaidoh's movements are quick and determined and _serious_, as though this is a challenge he won't back down from, but even though his fingers aren't lingering, he's acutely aware of how soft Momoshiro's hair is.

After he ties the two corners of the bandana into a knot, he pulls the top corner back, smoothing it over the top of Momoshiro's head and knotting it together with the rest of the bandana. Then he drops his hands to his sides and sits back. His stomach is leaping hurdles.

"How does that feel?" he asks, and his voice sounds weird; hitched and hoarse. He fists his hand into the sand and clears his throat, trying again. "I mean, is it comfortable? Is it on tight enough? I can adjust it."

It's one thing to recently find out that Momoshiro's neck is a rather sensitive spot, it's another to have Kaidoh's fingers brushing over them ever so slightly, and it feels like he's being stabbed by icicles. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up straight, and Momoshiro wants to dig his face into his arms, and use his hands to shield his neck from Kaidoh's prying eyes—and fingers!

"Uhm," he squeaks out. This is getting too weird. Way too weird. If only he knew when to shut up and stop prodding people, then he would have never found out about Kaidoh liking him. Then they'd be rolling around in the sand right now, trying to punch each other. Currently, that kind of thought simply makes _all_ the hairs on his body stand up straight; he looks like a damn chicken with its feathers plucked.

"Yeah, uhm, it's fine," Momoshiro finally says. It's actually rather not. His hair caught in between the knot either way, and it's a bit loose on the right side of his head, but Momoshiro doesn't want to go through that kind of thing again, so he lies. For the both of them.

"...Thanks," he breathes out slowly. At least the hair is out of his eyes, and thank god his back is facing Kaidoh.

"Cool," Kaidoh replies gruffly. Why the hell can't he stop blushing?! "So you can keep it if you want, I guess." He tries to sound casual, like he couldn't care less either way, but ends up just sounding angry. At least that's better than sounding like his voice is caught in his throat.

"We'll see," says Momoshiro. He's not even thinking about the bandana, in fact, he pretty much doesn't care about it anymore. What he can't stop thinking about though, is that this is Kaidoh. His rival whom he shared three years of rigorous tennis training with, and then half a year of simply bothering each other. They fought together many, many times, and they also helped each other out (despite denying it all the time). Momoshiro would have never admit out loud that they're friends or even like Kaidoh, but secretly, he thought Kaidoh was an awesome friend. One he didn't have to pretend around, and one he could mess around with.

And now five years later, he gets to hear that Kaidoh liked him all this time. So maybe it was only him that thought fighting was awesome, and coming up with the most clever and disgusting insults was a fun past time. Just how long did Kaidoh feel like this? How long has he known? For how long had those insults been something that probably felt like knives stabbing him in the back, if he valued Momoshiro's opinion like that? Did it start in their second year? Or perhaps during their third year as captain and vice captain? Or maybe even before that ...

Momoshiro really can't stop himself as he buries his face into his arms and asks, "How long."

Kaidoh's breath catches in his throat. There are some things he's never imagined telling anyone. Ever. And this is probably at the top of that list. He feels his skin crawl with nervousness but decides to just bite the bullet. It's not like he can dig himself any deeper than he already has.

"Uh. Remember the Regional Finals against Rikkai, second year?" he says, voice so low it's nearly a whisper. His pulse is racing the way it does when he's mid-sprint. "Since the day after that," he finishes, and curls away from Momoshiro, feeling completely mortified.

"Oh." Momoshiro covers his cheeks up with his arms. He remembers that match, he remembers Kaidoh shutting down, and he bled all over the ground when he fell. And then came the bandana … and suddenly, that tiny display of affection all made sense to him now. It's because Kaidoh liked him. Momoshiro feels as if all his memories are tainted now. Ever since that day Kaidoh … he … is it because he stupidly washed that damn cloth and returned it to him, giving him his thanks, and even smiling about it like they shared a secret?

What the hell did he do to make Kaidoh like him? He wants to ask, but feels he wouldn't get an answer anyway, especially since he knows Kaidoh is probably deciding whether or not to run off. Anyone would, really, after that embarrassing confession.

But wait—why did he never tell him? It's five years later, and the only reason Momoshiro knows, is because he bugged him about it enough.

He props his chin on top of his arm, and tilts his face to the side so he can glance back to Kaidoh. "That's an awful long time, too chicken to tell me back then?" He didn't mean for it to come out like it did, like an insult, as if he was angry—but it's the only way Momoshiro knows how to deal with Kaidoh. An angry Kaidoh is familiar. A blushing and stuttering Kaidoh is not.

"Asshole," Kaidoh growls, but there's no bite to it. "Why the hell should I have told you? I thought it would go away." He shifts on the ground again until his knees are pulled up to his chest. "I thought it would just... you know, stop."

Momoshiro bites his lips to prevent himself from asking if it still hasn't stopped. He's not sure if he wants to know for sure that Kaidoh still likes him. That would make everything awkward all the time, permanently. And for god's sakes—he sleeps with him in the same room!

And then Momoshiro lifts his face up from his arms, and turns it around to fully face Kaidoh. He pulls his lips up into a grin, and bends his head down a little bit so the bandana was completely in view. It's a bit uncomfortable on his head, but he's sure he looks awesome in it.

"Did my dashingly good looks pull you in?" he asks with such arrogance that it could rival Atobe's.

"I hate you," Kaidoh hisses, and knocks Momoshiro hard in the shoulder with his fist. The anger is sort of ineffectual since his face is bright red.

Momoshiro's grin grows wider, and he forgives Kaidoh for punching him, because he punches him back on the arm. A punch for a hiss after all.

"You suck at not hissing, creep."

Kaidoh glares at Momoshiro, but finds that he doesn't feel pissed, just relieved, because Momoshiro is smiling and no longer looks like he's terrified to be next to Kaidoh. And Kaidoh doesn't feel terrified to be sitting there either. Maybe they can be okay like this, he thinks. Maybe they can move forward and things that were done or felt five years ago don't have to matter... He still feels a bit of a knot in the pit of his stomach but he can ignore it this time, and for as long as he has to.

He still punches Momoshiro back, though. "And you suck at punching," he grinds out, but his arm stings enough to make that statement hardly true at all.

"You wanna test that out?" asks Momoshiro, pulling up his fist and playfully threatening Kaidoh with it. He raises his hand above his head, but instead of punching Kaidoh, he simply rips the red bandana from his head, and flings it at Kaidoh. "Re-do it, it sucked the first time. You tied in my hair. I told you it gets stuck in it." And Momoshiro promptly turns back around again, waiting patiently.

Kaidoh starts to hiss, but catches himself this time. "Demanding asshole," he grumbles, but sets about re-tying the bandana all the same. He takes more care with it this time, feeling less nervous about being so close to Momoshiro, less like he's about to flinch away and need to go drown himself in the ocean.

He takes time to make sure the edges are even, that he's swept all the hair out of Momoshiro's face, that the top of the bandana is smooth and tight over his head. When he reaches back to do the knot, he brushes Momoshiro's hair up off his neck and holds it against his head with the palm of his hand. Then he pulls the corners of the bandana together and once again brushes the hair up and away, catching any loose strands, determined to do it right this time. His knuckles push into the back of Momoshiro's neck as he ties the knot, making sure it's really secure.

He pulls the top corner back to do the second and final knot, but first pauses to ask, "Does that feel better?" Because he doesn't want to finish only to have to do it all again. "There's no hair stuck in the knot this time," he adds, and flicks a finger against Momoshiro's bare neck to demonstrate his point.

"Stop that," Momoshiro grumbles. "My neck's sensitive." All that brushing and prodding is making him feel goose bumps all over, and it's annoying, especially since Kaidoh is doing it. Stupid Kaidoh. It's all his fault.

He takes the time to concentrate on the question, and concludes that no, he's done a fine good job of annoying his neck, as well as keep out any hairs from the knot. "No, it's fine. Stop touching my neck."

"Okay, good," Kaidoh says. He ties the second knot, this time overly conscious of how his knuckles and fingertips press into Momoshiro's neck, of the goosebumps raising on his skin.

When he finishes, he pulls back and says, "There. Done." He sort of has to agree with Momoshiro. Compared to this effort, his previous tying job kind of sucked.

Momoshiro pats his hand on top of his head, to check how secure it's tied, and it feels a lot better than the previous attempt. He ignores how this is probably because Kaidoh was super nervous and highly conscious of touching him the first time, he really shouldn't think about that. But the bandana feels good on his head, and his hair is not annoying him. He can get used to this alright.

Once more turning to Kaidoh, his legs twisting around in the sand, he grins at the snake. "So, how do I look? Awesome? Better than you? You don't have to be shy now," he says, and then winks at Kaidoh, pursing his lips at him, making a kissy face.

"You still look like an idiot," Kaidoh says, and punches him in the face.

Momoshiro's nose stings like hell, and he's lying down in the sand, with his bandana now disheveled on his hair, but he doesn't care. He's so going to enjoy this. Beware Kaidoh, Momoshiro will never let you forget that you had a crush on him.


	9. Yakuza Showdown

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **Momo gets beaten up because of his increasing paranoia towards Kite! Kite is actually from the military.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo), Happiestwhen (Kaidoh), Gottis (Ryoma) & DA (Kite)

**Rating:** T for violence

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Within two days of the last log, Kite becomes increasingly more interested with trolling Momo, and gets him to believe he'll 'take Ryoma for himself'  
- Momo is paranoid and believes what he says, and is very protective of Ryoma  
- Ryoma and Kaidoh try to calm Momo down, but he's still very alert and has threatened Kite he'll kill him if he comes close to Ryoma  
- Kite decides to go fishing, but gets a little bit too close to Momo's turf ...

**Date:** June 8, 2012

* * *

It was early morning. Not so early that the sun wasn't up yet, but still early enough that the heat of the day wasn't an issue. Not that the heat would ever be. For a man who had been born and grew up on a tropical island, this place was as close to home as he had ever been recently. It even had nearly the same sort of fish. All it was missing was the star sand and the endangered wild cats. It even had the same sort of people. Namely idiots he didn't really enjoy mingling with. Not because he was anti-social...okay, exactly because he was anti-social. He didn't have patience for stupidity. Not when it was a matter of living until someone came to get their sorry asses off this lump of rock in the middle of the ocean.

This was why he chose odd times to appear out of the thick jungle and step foot into semi-civilization. Less likely for most morons to be awake yet. And those who might be would know better than to bother the darkly tanned man melting from the jungle like a camouflaged ghost. Which meant he could go about his business in relative peace. And this morning, his business was simple. Fishing.

As always, he was armed to the teeth. Ever present knife tucked away in his boot, spear cum harpoon, a hand tied net, and...of all things a bamboo fishing pole. It looked more like Kite was going to be going to war with the fish instead of catching one for his breakfast. And perhaps he was. Being like he was, he wasn't going after the little fish. He wanted something much larger. Maybe a shark. Cooked and dried properly, the meat would last for a week. He could add it to his small stock of other dried delicious dead things hanging from his pantry. That way, he wouldn't have to hunt for a while and should there be an emergency, he had extra rations. Not that he would be humane enough to share them with the rest of the idiots down here.

Footsteps were, as always, silent, even in heavy boots, even on sand. A dark shadow, approaching his favorite fishing spot and setting down his equipment to watch the waves for a second, looking for the tell tale signs of shark. Crossing his legs under him, he sunk to the sand and cast his line into the water, contemplating how to put blood in the water to attract his dinner.

Kaidoh wasn't sure how long he'd been walking, but he was conscious of the sun rising steadily above him and knew the shack was a ways behind him by now. Which was good, since Kaidoh didn't want to be seen. His goal was to get back to where he'd first encountered Momoshiro, because the fish seemed to be biting there, if Momoshiro's ability to catch them was any indication. Kaidoh didn't want to admit that maybe Momoshiro was just a better fisherman than him. It simply wasn't possible.

Kaidoh had been up at the crack of dawn every morning since he arrived, first finding a branch to carve into a primitive spear, and then fishing, fishing, and more fishing. He'd been out for several hours every morning, standing in the shallow water, jabbing the pointy end of his spear at everything that moved, but he wasn't having any luck. It was downright pathetic. Each morning, he'd return to the shack empty-handed, stash his sorry excuse for a fishing tool around the back, and come in pretending he'd just come from a long run.

This morning he was determined to get something. Up ahead he could see where the island curved around into a long peninsula and knew he was close. Something sparkled in the water and Kaidoh saw the shiver of movement beneath the waves. He steeled himself with determination. _I can do this_, he thought firmly.

Then he saw something strange. He noticed, as the shoreline tapered back around the bend, that he wasn't alone on the beach this morning. There was another figure, one Kaidoh didn't immediately recognize, already sitting on the sand with what looked like a hulking mass of tools and weaponry assembled around him.

Kaidoh stopped walking. He was never as good at spying as the rest of his teammates. He usually didn't care enough to try and be stealthy, but this guy looked dangerous, so Kaidoh crept closer, suddenly very aware of the sound of his breath.

And then it all clicked into place: He looked dangerous. He didn't look like he belonged here.

He was wearing camo.

_Oh crap_, Kaidoh thought, eyeing the long and rather menacing harpoon at the man's side. Sure, he'd sort of thought Momoshiro was spouting bullshit when he ranted about the creepy yakuza freak in the jungle who was coming to kidnap Echizen and eat him, and it had been beyond annoying to put up with that kind of blabbering day in and day out for the past week, but maybe Momoshiro hadn't been _totally_ delusional. This guy looked like he meant business, and Momoshiro would probably smash his face in if Kaidoh didn't at least warn him that he was hanging around on their beach.

Kaidoh turned and sprinted back to the shack, leaving his spear sticking upright in the sand, abandoned. Well, it wasn't like he was going to catch any fish with it anyway.

When he got back, Momoshiro was already up. Kaidoh was sure he looked a bit flushed, but he didn't care. He marched over to Momoshiro and grabbed him by the shirt.

"I need to talk to you," he growled, voice serious. He moved in closer and lowered his voice so that Echizen was out of earshot. "That guy is out on our beach," he said, and narrowed his eyes meaningfully, just in case Momoshiro didn't know exactly what guy he was talking about.

Blink. Blink. "Huh?" was Momoshiro's intelligent reply. His brain was still trying to figure out how to make a lock for the door of their shack, so he was only half listening when Kaidoh pulled him at his shirt. A bunch of tools to help aid him in making one were spread out on the ground.

"What guy?" he asked, completely oblivious to the real lurking danger.

"The one you never shut up about," Kaidoh replied flatly. "You know, the one you hate?" He sighed. "I just saw him out on the beach while I was... running. It looked like he had a bunch of knives with him."

"That yakuza? Kite?" Momoshiro looked serious all of the sudden, dropping the wrench that he had in his hand. "He's really fucking here?" He had actually gotten the nerve to waltz up at their place?

Rage welled up inside of Momoshiro, and he was overcome by this need to protect Echizen, as well as his own territory. Swiftly, Momoshiro tore himself away from Kaidoh, then snatched his fishing spear—the one with the steaknife attached to it—and he turned to face Echizen, deadly serious.

"You, stay here. Don't come out. Don't you dare and come out." It wasn't a question, it was a _command._ He turned to Kaidoh. "You, come with me. I can't take that guy alone." Even if there were two people, Momoshiro knew in the back of his mind that this was still not in their favour, not with the military freak who had training experience. But Momoshiro was blind with fury; all he wanted to do was keep Echizen safe and away from that creep.

Kaidoh glared at Momoshiro and grabbed him by the wrist.

"What's the plan?" he hissed. "Just march out there and poke your spear at him? Don't be an idiot, idiot."

But Kaidoh knew that look, and he knew that words weren't going to sway Momoshiro's mind. He sure hoped that Momoshiro had learned some better fighting skills in their time apart. He certainly didn't want the dumbass to get his ass kicked just because he overreacted to a dumb taunt. Especially not when it was Kaidoh's fault he even knew Kite was there in the first place.

Momoshiro glared right back at Kaidoh, and yanked his wrist free. "_Yes._ I'm going to shove my spear down his throat. Or perhaps fling it at him and stab him through the heart. Either way works for me. Why, got any better ideas?" he asked sarcastically.

Kaidoh thought back to what he'd learned in high school about conflict resolution. He hadn't really been paying attention at the time because he'd been busy fighting with Momoshiro about something, but wasn't there something about how the two parties should attempt to talk it out first? How violence was the last resort? He knew he couldn't very well suggest to Momoshiro that he and Kite should sit down and have a friendly chat and work out all their differences; not now when Momoshiro's spear was glinting ominously and the look on his face was just as threatening.

Kaidoh wasn't used to being on the same side as Momoshiro in a fight. "We have to assess the situation first," he said levelly, parroting back words he'd heard Inui-senpai say in the past about how to approach an unfamiliar tennis game, or a particularly difficult math test. This was nowhere near the same thing, but he'd had a point. _They had to be prepared_.

Momoshiro's spear had done a decent job of catching fish, but Kaidoh wasn't sure how it would be against a soldier. Or, rather, he was pretty sure how it would be, in that it wouldn't pan out so well for the two of them. They'd both been in physical fights before, namely with each other, but this seemed different and Kaidoh was worried Momoshiro might do something truly stupid and get himself hurt.

Worried was maybe a bit of an overstatement. More like, he felt vaguely concerned.

"We should find out why he's here," Kaidoh said, before adding, "and then you can stab at him all you want."

"Like I need your permission," snorted Momoshiro. But Kaidoh might have had a point there. A teeny tiny, unimportant point. He couldn't simply barge out there, spear in hand, with a wimpy Kaidoh right behind on his tail, and intend to actually beat Kite down.

No, they did need to have a better plan than that. Momoshiro lowered his gaze at the ground for a few long seconds, pondering on what to do, staring emptily at the wrench on the floor. He was definitely _not_ going to be nice and talk it out—they were way beyond that point. Kite meant business, and so did Momoshiro. He had repeatedly warned him to stay away, so if he was here, that meant he was simply out there looking for a fight.

Or worse, kidnap Echizen and rape him.

Fury flashed onto Momoshiro's face once more. "You're right. This spear won't do." He then shoved the spear into Kaidoh's chest, as he bent back down to grab the wrench from the ground that he had been using to create a lock with (don't ask how). "This will be much better, blunt trauma will definitely knock that guy out compared to a few measly stabs." Momoshiro looked at the decent sized steel tool in his hand and nodded.

Kaidoh's eyes widened and then narrowed again. So this was really happening. They were going out onto the beach to fight some guy Kaidoh didn't even really remember ever knowing, all because of what? Things Echizen had assured him were probably just jokes. He and Momoshiro were going to beat this guy up. _Or die trying_, a tiny voice in his head whispered. Kaidoh hissed at it. He didn't need that kind of discouragement right now. Not when he was already feeling nervous. Sure, stupid Momoshiro could feel confident with his wrench. He hadn't seen that guy's weapons.

"It'll be good if we can catch him off guard," Kaidoh said, willing his voice to sound as confident as Momoshiro's did, like he knew what he was talking about and was himself a seasoned fighter. "We've got surprise on our side." He thought about his pointy fishing stick back on the beach, the one that couldn't even really stab fish. He hoped he wasn't about to look completely embarrassing in front of Momoshiro.

"Then let's ambush him!" Momoshiro's tactical and analytic skills went as far as 'charge in running', which is what he referred to as a surprise attack. No one could see that coming.

"Now, are you with me? Or are you going to stay here and," Momoshiro tilted his head sideways to glance over at Echizen. "Try and prevent him from leaving?" Like a chicken, was what he also wanted to add, but Momoshiro would in all honestly be glad if someone stayed behind to keep watch on Echizen. It might have been several long years, and they might have had more fights than they had conversations, but there was one thing Momoshiro knew; Kaidoh would keep his word—and he was damn persistent. Freak.

At least if someone watched over Echizen, it would make him feel a little bit better going into battle. If he didn't return then … then … suddenly this was starting to look a little bit frightening. What if he didn't return, and Kaidoh had to take care of Echizen all this time? He couldn't even take care of himself! Let alone another person who was still in the process of healing up.

Kaidoh couldn't even catch those damn fish. They were doomed if Momoshiro didn't return.

Which was why Kaidoh had to come with him; to prevent Momoshiro from dying, if at all possible. Or to warn other people of Kite if he eventually does die, so that they could all swamp on him and finish him off. That'll show him.

"No one's going to watch me. And Momo, are you fucking _listening_ to yourself?!" Ryoma had gotten to his feet, arm draped around his torso. "You know what? I'll go out there right now and talk to Kite-san. Gotta warn him about you, you moron..."

"You're not going anywhere!" His voice sounded much more fearful than he had wanted to. "I'm not letting you near that guy. Over my dead body." Literally. "So stay here. Kaidoh and I will deal with him."

"What—I... Oh... _God_, you're so stupid! Are you listening to yourself? Have you heard anything Kaidoh said? Why do you even think you're in any position to threaten Kite? Why are you so dead set on getting your ass busted?"

Momoshiro was torn between walking out, and gagging Echizen with a sock in his mouth. He didn't have time to explain that all he wanted was to keep him safe. He knew Kite was serious, and he was right there on the beach to prove it too!

"Look, that guy made it clear he wanted to do some crazy shit with you. And now he's out there walking on the beach, coming towards our direction. Do you really think—after repeatedly telling him to back off—that I should _leave him be?_ Do you even _know_ this guy enough to be sure that what he said was a joke? How do _you_ know? Huh, tell me that, Ryoma."

Ryoma threw up his arms in exasperation. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I think that a guy who's intelligent enough to be a first class yakuza or whatever he is, is _maybe_ smart enough to not announce to the world that he's going to do this or that or whatever it is that you think that he's planning to do." He refused to put the exact words that he was thinking into his mouth.

"Maybe that's just what he wants you to think," concluded Momoshiro confidently. "To make everything seem like one big joke, while he's secretly planning to kill us all or something. You know that stupid book people keep talking about? Lord of the Flies or something like that? Yeah, I heard they all eventually killed each other on the island. Well—look no further than military man himself, announcing proudly that he _prefers your type_, and will _get you before I do_—and I don't even know what that means! But it's gotta be something bad."

Momoshiro lowered the wrench and sighed with a deep breath. "Look, I won't do anything rash. I guess Kaidoh's right—I can't just barge in. I'll see what he's up to, okay? Will that make you feel any better?"

"... If you won't demand me to stay put like some damn damsel in distress." Ryoma pouted. "I can keep myself out of trouble, okay?"

"... Yeah, I'm gonna lock the door on my way out."

"You had better be joking." Ryoma's face darkened.

Momoshiro actually managed to grin a little bit, despite being faced with a life or death kind of situation. "Don't be stupid," he said, and then referred to the make-shift lock he was making earlier. It was a simple hook mechanism, which still wasn't finished. "You're still staying here—don't tell me you actually want to come with us. That's insane!"

There was a quick tug at the corner of Ryoma's mouth, but then he crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Momoshiro, jaw set stubbornly. "Not more insane than you going after him. Of course I'm coming."

Momoshiro started to chew on his lip as he pondered about what to do. Unless he could physically restrain Echizen (which he didn't want to do in fear of worsening his injuries), there was no way he would stay behind on his own. And with no lock on the door … what could he do?

"Okay, fine," he bit out after thinking it over for a bit. "But not before I dress you up with pillows." Momoshiro sauntered over towards their bed and yanked off a fluffy white pillow.

"Yeah... No." Ryoma started towards the door after one quick, incredulous stare at said pillow.

Before Echizen could reach the door, Momoshiro had softly flung the pillow at his head. "No!" he yelled. As the pillow fell down, Momoshiro slumped his shoulders and gave him his best puppy dog eyed look he could muster. "I'm doing this so you won't get hurt … it's kind of pointless if you _do_ get hurt. You've already been hurt. Please don't let me see that happen in front of my eyes ever again."

Kaidoh grimaced. "Momoshiro's right, Echizen." _Well, maybe not about the pillows... Did Momoshiro know nothing about armor at all?_ "It could be really dangerous."

"Ow! You know my head's sensitive, right?" Still, it unsettled him a bit that even a soft pillow tossed without too much force could make his head spin for a moment. He couldn't look at those puppy dog eyes without caving in, so instead he turned to Kaidoh. "Could be dangerous for you guys as well. If anything, there's at least safety in numbers. And I still think we should simply _talk_ with Kite. Okay? Diplomacy? It's not a bad idea, Momo." Now he could turn to him again.

Momoshiro could talk with his fist, he was thinking quietly. But then he smiled at Echizen cheerfully. "It's okay, I'll die for you." And he did mean that rather seriously. He wasn't so sure about Kaidoh though. So he elbowed him hard in the side and gave him a creepy smile. "Right, Kaidoh?"

"You're not going to die, moron," Kaidoh said, although he wasn't so sure about that, what with Momoshiro being so gung-ho about this stupid plan.

"Of course I'm not. I'm just saying … " Momoshiro wasn't quite sure what his point was anymore, but he did know it was to prevent Echizen from tagging along. "Do you really have to come? I promise I'll talk first. No promises if he attacks though." And if he said anything lewd about Echizen again, then Momoshiro would throw out all the promises in the world and kill him. Except for the one about keeping him safe, he'll take that to the grave.

He was definitely taking his wrench with him though.

"... Just get out and get yourself killed then, I don't care." If it would shut Momoshiro up, he could pretend that he'd stay put. He couldn't bring himself to outright lie to the two of them, but there were other ways to indicate that he'd stay behind. Like moving over to his bed and sullenly flopping down on it, back turned to both Momoshiro and Kaidoh.

"I will," he said with a smile. "I mean, I won't," he quickly corrected. "Yeah. Stay here, don't let me catch you sneaking away. Or there will be hell to pay. Like … like …" Momoshiro quickly found out that there was no way he could ever punish Echizen. "I'll figure it out when you do it, and I'm sure it won't be pleasant." Yeah, that was better. An empty threat. "So don't do it."

Taking one last look at Echizen, Momoshiro walked back over to the door and tugged at Kaidoh's arm. "Come on, let's go."

Kaidoh hissed and shrugged Momoshiro off.

"Let's get this over with," he grumbled, holding tightly onto Momoshiro's fishing spear and marching outside.

Momoshiro glanced behind himself at Echizen's back one last time, before closing the door and following Kaidoh towards purple yakuza man.

Kaidoh explained to Momoshiro where he'd seen Kite; down the beach near where they'd met before. He avoided saying, _Where you caught and cooked fish for me and I drank all your water_, because that sounded embarrassing, and he was sure Momoshiro knew where he was talking about anyway.

He led Momoshiro through the trees at the shoreline, careful to maintain their cover. The last thing he wanted was for Kite to spot them. They were already at enough of a disadvantage as it was.

Soon they were nearing the peninsula and Kaidoh could see his stick speared into the sandy ground up ahead. He glared at it for good measure, silently blaming it for all of this, and then he slowed his pace, crouching down in the bushes and pulling Momoshiro down with him.

"There," Kaidoh hissed, pointing ahead to where Kite was sitting in the sand. His figure was slightly obstructed by a low hanging palm, but it was unmistakably him.

Alright, _diplomacy._ Momoshiro would take a few minutes to honour Echizen's suggestion, and if that didn't work, well, then, the outcome was obvious. "Okay then, here we go." With the wrench still clutched in his hand, Momoshiro walked out into the open to announce himself—eyeing a suspicious stick standing up straight in the sand—and he stared right at Kite.

"So, you decided to show your face," said Momoshiro with a chillingly calm voice. It was then that he finally spotted the weaponry lying down in the sand. Tons of them; that guy was going to a war, and he was heavily prepared. Screw diplomacy—he came here to kill them! Momoshiro clutched the wrench possessively in his hand and snarled at Kite.

Peace and quiet. Just a man, the sea and...the sound of footsteps in the sand. Kite kept his focus upon the waves, however his attention was on the sound. Someone was trying to be quiet. Someone was trying to get behind him. There were probably maybe three people on this island remotely allowed to do that without his noticing. And two of those three were absolutely harmless. Everyone else immediately brought his guard up. Even if at the moment, he didn't look guarded at all. At the moment, Kite was just alone, sitting in the sand, drowning worms and considering how to chum the waters.

He didn't even turn when he heard the owner of the footsteps break whatever cover he had. He didn't make a visible move. However, in front of him, his left hand had dipped just slightly, to rest upon the hilt of his boot knife. Nothing visible to anyone behind him. Then the voice. Kite smirked to himself. He didn't need to find chum to bloody the water; chum had found him.

With utter calmness, as if he wasn't concerned at all at the tone of Momoshiro's voice—which honestly he wasn't, he started to pull in the line. "Loud idiots scare all the fish away you know. No wonder there were none. They heard your stupidity long before I did." Finally with his fishing line reeled in, he stood. It was a motion that was smooth and graceful, the flowing of a man that had no wasted energy or movement. The deadly rise of someone who could kill a man in 78 different ways—with just his bare hands—and innumerable more with something in them. With that same fluid calmness, he dusted off the knees of his military issue pants, looking from the moron to...well, the poor asshole that seemed to have been dragged into this somehow. Smart move for a dumbass. Bringing backup. For only a brief moment did he even glance down to the other's hand. Armed too. "I wonder what brings the dumbass brigade here so early in the morning."

Amused, he straightened up and crossed his arms over his chest, making the ID tags he wore clink just so softly. "And no Echizen in sight. Pity. I'd love to give him my pole."

Momoshiro pointed his wrench at Kite, a glint reflecting off of the metal and shining directly into his own eyes.

"I'm not letting Echizen anywhere _near_ you, perverted bastard. What the hell are you doing here? I told you not to come close to us." It was all a trick; Kite was simply 'pretending' to fish, all the while he was hatching a plan to kill them in their sleep. To pretend to be innocent until he pulled a knife from his military boots and tossed it at their retreating backs. There was no way Momoshiro was going to believe a word he said, not with that smug look on his face, and with all the cruel torture devices at his whim.

Good thing Echizen stayed behind, Kite would have surely gone after him if he was there.

He still didn't move, even when the wrench was pointed at him. Probably because he was so amused by the reaction to what was a not quite innocent remark. The idiot really was far too easy to rile up with the slightest of things. Kite wondered how much more he could push before the other just proved his utter lack of intelligence by attacking. After all, if Momo attacked him, then he wasn't bullying the weak. He wasn't starting the fight. He was ending it.

"And unless you have a different definition of close, it was you that approached me. I would have happily fished and gone back home. But here you are, approaching me. I'd almost think that you want me to come closer. I think...all the way over to..." And then it happened. Kite moved. He was standing there in the sand, away from the duo and the next second, he was right next to them, almost shoulder to shoulder, as if he had teleported there. "Here. Or maybe down that way. Your hut is that way, isn't it? You're not good at hiding your footprints. If I follow them, I'll know just where to go when I want to visit a fluffy kitten."

Momoshiro sprang apart from him and Kaidoh, both from surprise, and from instinct at staying away from him. He glowered at Kite and examined all his closest options right now; hit him while he's still cocky, run away while he still can, or try Echizen's way and talk his way out of it.

But when Kite was suggesting to go find Echizen himself, there was hardly any rational thoughts left in Momoshiro's brain.

"Go into that direction, and I _will_ attack you," said Momoshiro in all seriousness. "So kindly turn your ass around and walk away."

"He'll really do it," Kaidoh growled, voice more exasperated than threatening. His fingers gripped the spear more tightly and he tried to look serious too.

So the other could move. That was obvious. The other wouldn't have been able to place semi-decent tennis if he had been a lazy ass. It also showed Kite that maybe the other's smarts were completely a lost cause. But then he was proven wrong yet again. He was being threatened. And on top of that, being told what to do. "I think not." He muttered, looking from Momo to Kaidoh. Already he was judging the reach of the spear.

"I can go where I want. And I doubt either of you could stop me. So let's cut to the chase. Don't make threats you have no ability to keep. It just shows how weak you are." He then looked to Kaidoh. "And as for you, I'd suggest that you just stay out of this. This isn't your fight and I believe in a lot of collateral damage."

"Kaidoh's here to make sure you don't get anywhere near Echizen," Momoshiro spat out. "I don't care how many threats I need to make, just get your ass away from our side of the beach. Go back to your stupid jungle." He can rot there, for all he cared. "And if you make another stupid comment about Echizen once more, I swear I will lose it and smash your face with this wrench." Momoshiro tightened his grip on the wrench to show he was serious.

So that was how he was going to play it. Kite could only stand there and let himself be threatened so long before he got sick of the stupid. And he was at that point. There was just so much dumb he could take and he'd had his fill for the day. "The beach." He stated, quietly. Coldly. "Belongs to everyone." He raised one hand...and flicked the man in the forehead. "Dumbass."

He lowered his hand and out of trained habit—due to the fact that his friends back on Okinawa were all martial artists, his back foot slid back, bracing for a retaliation.

A flash of disgust was stretched all over Momoshiro's face, and he immediately reacted to the flick to his forehead by swinging his arm, and hoping he could hit Kite with the wrench in his hand.

He was ready for it and honestly, he had been wondering if Momo would even try or if he was just going to keep barking. It seemed that pushing was an effective way to get idiots to do what one wanted. He'd have to let Echizen know this fact. He didn't seem too concerned by the attack though. He continued to smirk even as he moved to the side, the wrench moving past him without hitting anything but air. Once more, his hand went up and one more, he flicked the angry man. "Bravo. You've managed to hit nothing." And though he was focused on the man before him, he kept himself aware of the bandana clad male that could make things a little more challenging.

Like in true Mamushi fashion, Momoshiro hissed through his teeth, already aggravated, and completely provoked by Kite. He was so going down, Momoshiro didn't care how it would happen; someone needed to beat that guy down a notch. Or twenty. Or completely dead—that's what he preferred at least.

Momoshiro took two steps sideways, wrench hanging dangerously from his hand by his waist, and then he gurgled up some spit inside of his mouth, and—one step forwards now—spat it at Kite's face.

"Drop dead."

Wet. Nasty and dripping. He scowled and reached up to silently wipe the spit off his face. Any idea of talking things over had just died. Then again, it had probably died the moment the two men had approached him. Kite wasn't a diplomat, he was a soldier. And even before that, he was a yanki. He didn't take kindly to being spat on, regardless of how many times in his life such a thing had actually happened. And he didn't take too well to being told to die. Even though that happened with disturbing frequency as well.

"Since it's going to be like that...your friend should have brought a shovel. You've just put one foot in your grave. I'll put the rest of you there." And in that calm tone, it was obvious it was not a threat. It was a promise and Kite was going to be more than happy to show this idiot that there were just some people it was better off just running the hell away from as fast as possible. Starting now.

Once more, Kite moved. Once more, he all but teleported that short distance, fist stopping just right before it actually hit the shorter boy's windpipe. A proof of the absolute control over his own skills. "Dead." He wondered how many more times he'd be able to _kill_ Momoshiro before he actually **did**kill him or his friend tried to step in and stop them.

Kaidoh felt something churn inside of him and he launched himself forward, half expecting someone to be behind him holding him back—most of his fights didn't get this far—but there was no one there. That meant he was going to have to actually _do something_ now, instead of just standing there like Momoshiro's cowardly sidekick and hope the situation sorted itself out. He felt frozen in motion for a moment, because he sure as hell wasn't going to try swinging at that guy. That would be suicide.

His hand didn't seem to be listening to his brain because it flew out and caught on Kite's wrist, as though Kaidoh was going to, what? Somehow hold him there and keep him from ripping Momoshiro's throat out? If Kite possessed that kind of skill, which Kaidoh thought he probably did, he'd just turn and rip Kaidoh's throat out next.

"Momoshiro may be a complete moron..." Kaidoh hissed, voice low and dangerous in a way he hadn't expected it to be. He shot a sidelong glare at Momoshiro, eyes narrowed, because that idiot really _was_ a moron. "...but if he dies, so do you." It sounded a lot cooler in his head, but when he said it out loud, the words came out with a squeak.

_Oh crap_, Kaidoh thought. Now he was probably going to die too, and he let go of Kite's wrist abruptly. So much for not embarrassing himself. At least the spear in his hand still looked menacing.

While Kite was momentarily distracted—or so Momoshiro thought—by Kaidoh's very inspirational words (he'll have to probably teach him how to fish now), Momoshiro ducked below their intertwined arms, and swung his fist at Kite's ribcage. If any time was a good time to get in a lucky shot, now probably was. The wrench in his other hand was temporarily forgotten.

If he had wanted to rip the other's throat out, he already would have. As it was, he had been letting the other know just how deep he was wading into very very deep shit. And it seemed that his poor loyal toady had just got on his hip waders too. Had he any heart, he might actually have felt sorry for Kaidoh. The problem was that he didn't have a heart. And so he didn't feel a damn thing for the hissing man other than annoyance. Even more annoyed because this novice had actually grabbed him. It didn't matter that he had been let go a moment later. He had still been grabbed. He decided then and there he was going to train himself even harder than before on his situational awareness.

His awareness however did key him in to the fact that there was a fist coming his way. And that Momo was under his arm. However, Momo didn't know one thing. Kite didn't just know Okinawan karate. He had learned a few other arts as well. Muay thai ki boxing was great for close in combat and with his unnatural balance, he could easily shift and perform a knee strike, not to dodge the hit but to injure the arm and make it unable to be used. A knee strike that could go through 15 wooden boards piled against one another. Only he didn't want to break it, so he exhibited more of that control and just deflected it with as much pain as possible.

Rebalancing, he looked to Momo. "Next time, I break it."

A surge of pain shot through his entire arm and Momoshiro winced back on reflex, taking back a few steps and holding his arm possessively to his chest and narrowing his eyes at Kite. So this was it, no more holding back. Kite certainly wasn't—and so Momoshiro wasn't going to either. And if there was one thing Momoshiro was bad at, it was at thinking things through; he had tunnel vision, and was blind to what might happen to him if he would keep this up.

Momoshiro simply did not want to admit to defeat. Never. Not with Echizen on the line. He'll die trying.

With his previous demonstrated lack of skill, Momoshiro simply launched himself at Kite, intending to tackle the man to the ground so then they could beat the crap out of him. Down on the ground is always a good thing.

Actually, the sad fact was that Kite was sort of holding back. Had he not, Momoshiro would have been holding a shattered arm to his chest. But it looked like maybe he would have to put a little more effort into this than before. That was fine with him. He would consider it an early morning workout.

The shorter man came at him and Kite just shook his head. It was reckless to just launch yourself at someone far more trained. Without hesitation, Kite dropped one shoulder just slightly and continued the other's momentum. It was simple. Even with the other's power and his rage fuling his speed, the Okinawan simply took hold and flipped Momoshiro. Sending him from heading at him to being up on the air to being slammed into the sand.

Momoshiro bit back a mouthful of sand, and promptly started gagging on it, spitting it out as fast as he could. The wrench that had been in his hand, was now flung away, lying uselessly ways ahead of him, buried in the rich golden beach sand. He sat up straight with a growl; this was seriously pissing him off. He couldn't land a hit on him, fucking arrogant bastard.

Wiping away some sand from his lips, he looked up at the yakuza. "Hold still already," he bit out. As if this would actually keep the other man still so he could hit him, but hey, he could try. And then, as he tried to get up, Momoshiro kicked out one of his legs, aiming for Kite's shin, and hoping to every god known to man that this would bring him down too.

He raised an eyebrow. Hold still? Every time he thought that the man couldn't get any dumber, he defied all the odds and managed to get one step worse. Honestly, the depths of idiocy was astounding. Very astounding. Because there was no way in hell that Kite was ever going to lose his balance. Instead, he caught the foot as it came at him and twisted it. "Idiots should stay on the ground."

Lost with no sense of direction for a moment, Momoshiro went down face-first into the golden sand. He groaned in pain as his foot got twisted, and then kicked up a sandstorm with his other foot, and in the confusion, jerked it away from Kite's hold. This time he really did pick himself up, in case Kite was going to do something else to him. This was not going well for him, and Momoshiro was starting to get really damn pissed. For crying out loud; he had been in fights before, but never this one-sided. Then again, he'd never tried to land a hit on someone who served in the military. They were definitely something else. He walked in a circle around the arrogant bastard, glaring at him the entire time, and waiting for an opening. But Momoshiro wasn't very good at spotting them (much less create one), so he did what he does best; taunt his opponent while throwing a fist at them.

"Then why don't _you_ stay down!" Momoshiro braced his feet into the sand and then tried to give Kite a mean right-hook with his fist.

At no time did Kite ever allow the circling man to stand behind him. Of course that meant he had to make the sacrifice of letting the other man behind him. He didn't like it, but so far, the other had only made one move. Momo on the other hand seemed unable to stop himself for continuing on this collision course with his inevitable death.

And then Momo threw a punch, Kite did as well, his fist hitting Momo's. But unlike him, he then shifted and his elbow swung to knock him under the chin. "You make no sense. You're the only one who's been on his ass on the ground." He kept moving, flowing around the other as if he was standing still to press a palm hard against his back and push. "And if I pulled my knife, this is the second time you'd be dead." Yes, Kite was going to start keeping count of the number of times he could have easily killed Momo and made the world short one idiot.

Getting more and more agitated by the lack of any result, and being toyed around with as if Momoshiro were nothing but a punching bag, he quickly whirled around on his feet as he got pushed away, ready to counterattack and shove him back. Though this time—through neither one's fault—Momoshiro stood on top of his shoelace, and then as he moved forward, he got pulled back and tripped over his own feet, landing in front of Kite's shiny polished military boots, face down in the sand once more.

Well, at least he's sure he didn't expect _that_.

Lifting his face up, before he could get his face kicked in with those boots, when he noticed the long handle of a very big military grade knife stuffed in his boot. Well … since he's there already. Momoshiro shot out his hand to reach for the knife, his fingertips grazing the handle only barely.

Kaidoh saw a window of opportunity with Kite's back turned to him and his attention on Momoshiro who'd just fantastically faceplanted in the sand. He decided to seize it, and shot forward as out of a cannon, whipping the spear to the side. As soon as he was within striking distance, he knocked the blunt end hard against Kite's shoulder.

With Kaidoh finally getting some action (if this thing was over, Momoshiro was going to shower him with fish every single day), Momoshiro saw his chance and slipped all his fingers around the long brown metal handle of the knife and pulled it out in one swift moment. He rolled backwards and shot up straight, knife dangerously clutched in his hand—and wow, that thing was _huge_, what else did he store in that boot of his!? Whatever it was, Momoshiro was going to use this opportunity, it was a fine knife indeed, once which he pointed at Kite.

How could he have made such a green mistake? It was...it was humiliating really. Had this been war, Kite would have been dead because he had forgotten the second rule of combat. Onlookers were just as dangerous as anyone else. Anyone could be the enemy and he had turned his back on Kaidoh. Perhaps the idiocy was spreading. He had to put them both down before there was an epidemic and Momoshiro ushered in the Idiot Apocalypse.

It was hard to hide the fact that the hit had hurt. He was good at hiding pain though. Or forcing himself to enjoy it. He hadn't survived sadistic coach Saotome and been captain of Higa without such an ability. And what was more, Momo had managed to disarm him. Not that he had pulled a weapon yet. He was still unarmed and now the idiot had his best knife. One that Kite was going to get back. But not before he repaid Kaidoh for his cheap hit with a cheap hit of his own. A beautiful roundhouse kick that shattered the spear.

He landed gracefully and eyed his knife and his eyes grew dark with murderous intent. A fool with a wrench was one thing...this was a moron with a knife. A moron that would be giving him back his knife. Without hesitation or doubt or even the slightest bit of fear, Kite set himself. He had learned to unarm people while Momo was still learning how to pee standing up. He was sure that in the mood he was in now, the shorter man would be getting stabbed in the process.

Momoshiro was suddenly a lot more serious with that big knife in his hand. It felt real, somehow. Knives could stab, and stabbing lead to bleeding, and he sure as hell hoped he wasn't on the side with the pointy end. He didn't really want to stab anyone, but Kite's eyes were dangerous, and he wasn't fooling around either. If he had to, he'd stab the hell out of him, but for now, he'd keep the knife safely clutched in his hand.

Except of course, Kite had to go and _break_ the awesome fishing spear he had created for himself, and that really rubbed him the wrong way. So Momoshiro lashed out at Kite, intending to slash his arm or something, or his hands, anything would be good in his book.

The knife came at him in a way that was almost comical. Kite would have laughed had he not been busy showing Momo just why coming at him with a weapon was a big mistake. He was faster than before, showing just how much he had been playing around. His hands hit harder too. A rapid succession as he traveled around the stabbing, slashing motion as if it was in slow motion, freeing the knife by transferring it to his own hand still moving. It all happened so quickly that when he finally stopped, he now had the blade and it was pressed quite firmly against the other's throat. Enough that Momo could feel the razor's edge. His voice was a dirge in the other's ear. "Don't pull a knife unless you really are ready to kill someone." He could already see a small stain of crimson on the very edge.

"Yeah well, why don't you go fuck yourself," choked Momoshiro out.

The cold steel blade of the knife was pressed up against his throat so hard, that he could already feel it pierce his skin. His breath quickened, and his heartbeat was going fast as well, but strangely enough, it wasn't his own life that he was fearing. It was actually Echizen's and Kaidoh's at the moment.

Speaking of Echizen... A rock suddenly came flying through the air, towards the knuckles of the hand holding the knife.

The moment it hit Kite's hand, Momoshiro sprung free from the momentary confusion, and he looked at the direction the rock came from. Kaidoh was standing off near the side, looking useless and completely scared that Momoshiro had just gotten a knife to his throat, so it couldn't be him. His eyes widened when he realized who it was.

Momoshiro didn't know what to do anymore. He _told_ him to stay put, told him to stay behind so that he couldn't get hurt himself. But now that he was actually here, Momoshiro didn't know whether to tell him to go back, or pretend it was a magical flying rock so that Kite didn't know Echizen was out there hiding. Well fuck.

The rock hit with pinpoint accuracy. There was no question where to came from. Or who it came from. Very few had that sort of skill with small ball shaped objects. He didn't drop his blade though, even though he did allow for Momo to get away. His mark had been made. There might even be a small scar across the man's throat as a reminder of this day if it wasn't taken care of properly. Perhaps it would make him think a little before doing anything.

Without hesitation and without removing his gaze from Momo, he spoke. "And there's the last player. I was wondering when you'd show up. You know none of this would have gotten this far if you were just honest with yourself and this dumbass." He wiped his knife and tucked it back into his boot. "So, get out here and tell him that next time he pulls a knife of me, he'll be breathing out a different hole."

Momoshiro furiously whirled around. "Shut the hell up! Don't talk to him." He turned back to Echizen, and now fear was displayed all over his face. "Why did you come!?" Now he could actually hurt him!

"You can't pin it on me if the two of you act like morons," Ryoma muttered, stepping out from the shadows. "And for fuck's sake, the hell do you pull a knife on someone like that? If you want this island to turn into the next Lord of the Flies, you're doing a damn good job." He ignored Momoshiro for now, glaring at Kite.

Torn between wanting to run over to Echizen, and keeping Kite in check, Momoshiro simply stood in between them, glancing worriedly at Echizen. "Go back home!" he yelled. "This guy's nuts!"

It wasn't him who had pulled the knife, but he wasn't so childish as to point that out. He had other things to point out instead. He didn't like turning his attention away from Momo, but he wanted to say one thing to Ryoma. Just one. "I'd stop looking at me like that if I were you. You're the one that asked for this. If you'd be more honest with yourself and this dumbass here, none of this would have needed to happen." He slipped the knife back into the sheath as he spoke.

"Well, screw you," Ryoma muttered, his cheeks a deep red. "Momo, Kaidoh, let's just go back, okay? Stop bothering Kite." Everything was just so _stupid_. And Momo bled from his throat. Ryoma tried not to stare, but his eyes kept coming back to the wound, his mouth dry.

"No!" Momoshiro yelled back. "This guy has to leave. Not us. This is our side of the beach. He can go rot in the jungle in his stupid treehouse for all I care. Right Kaidoh?"

"Right…" Kaidoh said, but the truth was Kite was making him nervous and he just wanted the whole thing to be over with. He looked at the slivers of the fishing spear scattered on the ground and imagined that could easily be one of them just as smashed up. But they had strength in numbers now at least. Or something. "We're not leaving until he does," he finished, and balled his hands into fists.

"There's your answer, Ryoma, now please go back. I don't want _him_ anywhere near you." Momoshiro turned to Kite and glared at him. "Don't know what the fucker will do." He wiped away the trail of blood on his neck with this thumb, his eyes still glued to Kite.

"But... But..." Ryoma threw his arms up in exasperation. "Listen... Kite-san. This is getting out of hand, yeah? Please..."

It was getting out of hand. It had when his happy little fishing trip had been interrupted. And it was going to get even worse very quickly, not that it hadn't already gone there and well beyond. But Kite wasn't going to stand there are play gradeschool games of "my side, your side". Because he didn't like being told where he could and couldn't go. He'd had enough of that in bootcamp.

He glanced from Momo to Kaidoh and then to Echizen, gaging the distance. He knew they had all seen him move before. He knew they all knew he could move from where he was to where ever he wanted, in any direction like he was teleporting. He was going to show them the true horror of that ability now and closed the distance between himself and Echizen. Standing, looming over him, looking like he would be living up to his old tennis nickname of "hitman".

"Wrong answer, Echizen." He reached out and placed a hand on the other's shoulder. "Try again. Or do _you_ need a push as well, to get over that cute little Tsundere streak of yours."

One moment, Kite was behind Momoshiro, the next he was in front of Echizen. _And then he placed a hand on Echizen's shoulder._ What little rationale Momoshiro had inside of him was shoved to the depths of hell as he saw nothing but deep red.

Everything seemed to slow down for Momoshiro, everyone's movements were like slowmotion for him. The surprised look of horror on Echizen's face, Kaidoh who whipped his head around to look at them—and then there was Momoshiro, who took each long step in tune with his heartbeat thumping loudly in his throat.

One, two, three; Momoshiro was right behind Kite's back. The silence was ringing through his ears as he tuned everything out. Another loud thump went down his throat. He bent through his knees, before springing up his left leg high in the air, and he gave a well aimed roundhouse kick to the side of Kite's face. It made contact, and the older man had been seemingly caught off guard, because he went down to the ground from the hit.

Momoshiro's eyes watched as he fell, and without even looking at Echizen, he jumped on top of the man, his knees on both sides of his waist, and his hands holding his black tank top in a knot. He yanked Kite closer to him and raised a fist at him so that he could pummel the man's face in with his rage. But before he swung at him when he still had the chance, his worry took over his anger, and Momoshiro glanced back at Echizen standing behind him. To see if he was okay, to see if he wasn't hurt—and that was probably Momoshiro's most fatal mistake. In the split second he could half-way turn his face back around, he knew he had lost.

It wasn't quite his most fatal mistake. He had made that when he had picked a fight with Kite Eishirou. He had driven the nail deep into his coffin when he had done something very very few had done. He'd managed to upset the one man that could not fall down. He'd managed to get Kite onto the ground. And what was more, he had managed a hit that did make Kite's ears ring. It was a small victory but one Kite was not going to let his savor for very long.

Though he was on the ground with Momo above him, he had learned how to get out of such things. It was a simple procedure of grabbing the other by the shoulders and headbutting him. Usually the shock was enough to get let go. But that wouldn't be the end to it. He'd learned one more thing, though it was something he was still trying to integrate into his already bastardized Okinawan martial arts. A strange twist of the hips and his legs were out. One foot already connecting to the temple, right at the spot he had just headbutted. Then as he spun back to his feet, the other foot connected. He wasn't done yet. The last boot to the head was a skull crushing heel drop. Confident that Momoshiro wasn't going to be moving anytime soon, he looked back to the others gathered. His voice was a freezing wave of promised death. "Pick up your idiot and leave before I break his neck."

Momoshiro lay face down in the sand, a thick stream of blood going down from his temple, and rolled over his cheek, pooling up below his face. He wasn't moving.

Kaidoh didn't need to be told twice. He glared daggers at Kite and immediately rushed over to Momoshiro's side, pulling him up and draping him over his shoulder. As he rose to his feet, he could feel blood hot on his back.

"You fucking moron," he muttered to the unconscious idiot, his voice thick with worry. "Echizen, let's go."

It had happened so fast. Too fast. In a second, Kite was there, in front of him, and he felt his heart stop for a minute. That way Kite looked at him reminded him too much of his ex-boyfriend, and it froze him completely. His mind blank, he couldn't come up with a single word to say to his defense... And in the end, that didn't even matter, because just as suddenly, Kite wasn't there anymore. All he saw was Momoshiro's back, and the sounds of flesh hitting flesh rang through his ears. He swallowed. Took a step forward. Or rather, he tried. He couldn't move. Couldn't move when Kite turned the tables on Momoshiro, landing one, two, more, far too many hits to his head.

Ryoma vaguely registered how odd it was that Momoshiro went down without a sound. Shouldn't there have been sounds? Screams? Something? He couldn't hear a thing. Kite stepped back, looked at him, at them—Momoshiro didn't move and there was blood—and said something—blood—but he couldn't hear it. Kaidoh moved Momoshiro—blood, so still, _his_ fault—and said something as well, lips were moving again. He could see it—could see the unmoving body _blood_ and could see Kite and—but he couldn't hear. Numb. He felt—blood, Momoshiro's blood—completely numb.

No, not completely. He felt something. _Something_. He felt sick. Far, far too sick. He stumbled over to some vegetation and threw up. Again and again. Didn't know how long. How—too much blood, Momoshiro's, his fault—much. But once he had finally finished up, he stumbled over to Kaidoh. Yes, they had to get him back. He'd help.

He didn't say a single word.

The blood seemed to stain the sand where it dropped, but Kaidoh could feel Momoshiro's pulse and it made him feel a tiny sliver of relief. At least the idiot wasn't dead, he thought. He looked at Echizen, who appeared completely stunned and a bit sick. Kaidoh understood the feeling... This whole thing was hard to process, and he felt a bit like he was on auto-pilot. All he could think was that they had to get Momoshiro somewhere safe and away from here and then take the next step as it came.

Kaidoh threw a final, dangerous glare at Kite, as if to say, _Try this again and it will be your blood in the sand_, before turning and carrying Momoshiro's slumping body away from the beach and back to the shack.


	10. Forgotten Memories

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **set directly after the last log, Momo gets amnesia!

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo), Happiestwhen (Kaidoh) & Lurk (Oishi)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Kaidoh takes Momo back to his hut, where he is unconscious for the rest of the day

**Date:** June 9, 2012

* * *

The wind was howling through the cracks of the bamboo pipes, and the sound of waves washing up on shore filled his ears. He had to wonder what kind of idiot did such a shoddy job at building a wall with bamboo, that he was able to hear all of the outside sounds. Then he started to wonder why he was even in such a house, and he looked around. He was in bed, a blanket covering him, there was a pit of fire in the middle of the room, and another heap of blankets in the corner.

He blinked a few times. This ... didn't look familiar. In fact, he felt like a stranger in this house; was it his house? Was it someone else's? He tried to remember, but he's not digging up any kind of memories. Until he realized he's not digging up _any_ memories at all.

The black haired boy stood up from the bed, and he felt his head hurting as he did. Ow, it felt like he was hit by a bulldozer or something. It _really_ hurt! What was he doing before he woke up?

Hmm ...

He looked around some more, and concluded people lived in this badly built bamboo shack, but there was no one there. Maybe he hit his head earlier, and someone found him and brought him back here to take care of him. Well, that's nice of them, he should probably go find them and say thank you. Maybe they know what happened.

Without another thought, the young man walked towards the door (well, it looked like a door, but it had no lock, and was very crudely crafted), and opened it up. He was immediately met by the blinding sun and the horizon of the ocean. Oh, so it was a beach shack. No wonder he could hear the ocean waves from here. It was a nice and sunny day as well, though the sun was making his eyes hurt, and he felt a small headache coming up.

He stepped outside, and only now he realized he wasn't wearing shoes. Oh well, walking across sand barefoot was probably a better idea than getting sand in his shoes. Noticing fresh footprints in the sand, he realized he wasn't alone after all, and decided to follow them, all the way alongside the shore. He was far away from the shack by now, at an almost secluded place on the beach, and then he noticed a figure standing in the ocean, holding a spear, and stabbing at the water like some kind of hulligan.

The black haired man placed on a gentle smile; this was probably the person who helped him out. He walked closer, until his feet were in the water as well, and called out to him.

"Hello," he said in a friendly voice. "Are you the one who brought me back to the shack?"

Kaidoh froze in place. He was shocked to hear Momoshiro's voice, mostly because, well, wasn't he supposed to be unconscious? And now he was up and about and intruding on Kaidoh's secret fishing time. And instead of hollering out an insult in his big annoying voice and sounding smug like he'd caught Kaidoh in the act, he sounded... cheerful? Actually, he kind of sounded confused. But that had to be some kind of trick.

Kaidoh wasn't falling for it. He was too proud and too stubborn to have Momoshiro find out that he hadn't caught anything yet _again_, despite the fact that he'd been out half the day trying to get something to feed Momoshiro whenever he finally woke up. If he woke up. A part of Kaidoh was terrified than maybe he _wouldn't_. Kite had hit him pretty hard. But Momoshiro had hit his head so many times and somehow always bounced back. Maybe he was like a cockroach, unable to be killed, and just as annoying.

Kaidoh immediately flung the spear away, making a mental note of where it landed in the sandy ocean bed so he could come back and retrieve it later, and turned around to face Momoshiro.

"Well, I see you're up," said Kaidoh, trying to sound casual.

The black haired man brushed the hair away from his eyes and looked up at the person in front of him. He didn't recognize him, though he's sure he'd remember him now. He looked kind of scary, kind of dangerous. Small eyes, a glaring and unwelcome expression on his face, and a pirate's bandana secured over his head.

"Yes, I am," he replied. "Were you fishing right now?" he asked curiously. Though he had to wonder why the other man threw the spear away when he approached him. Maybe he did it to not scare him off, which was actually very kind of him.

"Good," Kaidoh replied, thinking that Momoshiro was playing this whole innocent act a little too well. Shouldn't he be laughing at him by now? Momoshiro wasn't really giving him anything to work with at all, and it was kind of confusing. Maybe he was building up to something good. Or maybe he'd been possessed by one of the ghosts Kaidoh was sure was still lurking on that ship and this wasn't Momoshiro at all.

Kaidoh shuddered.

"Why..." he said after a moment, words careful and drawn out, "would I be fishing?" He watched Momoshiro's face for a reaction, expecting an explosion of mocking accusations.

He shrugged. "I don't know—is it your hobby, or something? Or are you trying to get some food?"

Kaidoh's mind reeled. Had Momoshiro gone insane? What the hell was going on? Why was he acting like he didn't know Kaidoh at all? Because if he knew Kaidoh, he'd know Kaidoh damn well didn't fish.

"Momoshiro?" Kaidoh asked. "You feeling all right?"

What's Momoshiro? Some kind of catch phrase? "Hmm, my head hurts," he said instead. "Like I got hit real hard. Do you know what happened to me?"

_Shit_, Kaidoh thought. He must have blacked out and forgotten the whole fight! Kaidoh took a few steps forward in the water until he was close enough to Momoshiro to reach out and touch his head, where a pretty nasty bruise had flared up. "Kite happened," he said seriously. "He knocked you out cold."

Blinking at the other man's hand on his head, he wondered who Kite was. "Oh. Is he dangerous?" he asked instead. That much was obvious; anyone who could knock someone out cold was dangerous. "Is he still here?" he asked afterwards. He didn't really want to be hanging around people who would knock him to the head so hard, he didn't remember anything from it.

Kaidoh gave Momoshiro his are-you-seriously-this-dumb look and said flatly, "He's gone now. He would probably have gone earlier but you, like a moron, wanted to pick a fight with him. Do you seriously not remember any of that?!"

He decided he did not like this man, who was calling him a moron and yelling at him with those scary eyes. He backed off, so that the hand slipped away from his head. "No, I don't. I don't remember," he said in a much more serious voice. In fact, he didn't remember anything. Where he was, what had happened, who this guy was, and most importantly … he didn't know who he was _himself_.

"I don't remember _anything._ "

"Shit," Kaidoh said, out loud this time. This was not good. "Okay, Momoshiro, think. What's the last thing you remember?"

"Hmm … The sounds of the wind howling through the bamboo shack. It's not really that well built, you know. Did you build it?"

Kaidoh stared at him open-mouthed and dumbfounded. "Are you serious?" he asked. "Nothing before that? _Nothing_?!" Kaidoh sort of felt like punching Momoshiro in the face. Maybe _that_ would jog his memory.

"Uhm …" He tried, real hard, to remember anything else, but came up with nothing. "Oh!" he suddenly exclaimed. "There was a cat clawing at my arm before I woke up. Yeah, I think it was a cat. Is it yours?"

Kaidoh threw up his hands in frustration and let out a long hiss. "You idiot, that's Karupin. What the hell is wrong with you?"

The man flinched back, startled at that weird hissing noise emerging from the other one. He looked threatening, like he was about to hit him, and after feeling what it felt like to be punched once already, he didn't really want to go for a second time. He also really didn't like being called an idiot.

"I think … I'm gonna go now," he said, uneasy and glancing up at the other with worried and fearful eyes. He was starting to feel unsafe in this man's presence.

"What the fuck, Momoshiro," Kaidoh growled. It was really unnerving to see him looking scared, possibly even terrified, of him. "Snap out of it."

There's that word again; Momoshiro. Maybe it was a kind of insult, some slang word he'd never heard of. Not that he would remember either way … But he decided it was probably for the best if he walked away. Maybe find other people. More friendlier. Someone who didn't spout insults every time they opened their mouths.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna …" he looked around, not quite sure where he was going to go. "Good luck with that fishing thing." He then turned away, and walked out of the water.

Kaidoh didn't know what to do. He couldn't just let Momoshiro wander around the beach on his own, not when he didn't even know who he was and it _wasn't_ just some terrible joke to get back at Kaidoh... but he also wasn't sure how much longer he could put up with Momoshiro like this without wanting to throw his fist into his stomach in frustration. He was used to Momoshiro being a dumbass. He wasn't used to Momoshiro being a dumbass who also couldn't remember a damn thing.

But even though Kaidoh felt like punching him, he also felt a little bit worried, and a little bit responsible. Even though Momoshiro had been bullishly adamant about fighting Kite, and Kaidoh was sure he would have done it with or without help, Kaidoh had been right there along with him, and he hadn't tried to stop it.

"Wait," Kaidoh called after him. He sprinted out of the water and caught Momoshiro by the shoulder.

Again, flinching at the contact, he turned around with a shocked expression on his face. He froze at the hand on his shoulder. Was this man going to punch him like the other one apparently did? Were they friends or something? He probably had to get out of here …

"Please let me go, thank you," he said, trying not to sound scared.

Kaidoh let go abruptly. He couldn't remember Momoshiro ever speaking to him that politely. In fact, he probably never had. It freaked Kaidoh out and he seriously reconsidered the idea of demonic ghost possession.

"Let me help you..." he said softly, heat rising in his cheeks. He felt like if there were any moment for the real Momoshiro to pop out and yell, 'Fooled you, you loser!', it would be now.

Help him? He looked like he'd do the opposite of that. But he didn't know where he was, and the beach was eerily empty and devoid of any other humans. So he turned around again, head hung down, staring at the sand. "Just don't … hurt me … or something," he said in a tiny voice. "I don't know who you are, I really don't. I don't even know who I am, and it's scary."

Kaidoh raised an eyebrow at him. It was definitely Momoshiro's voice coming out, but Kaidoh could hardly believe the words it was saying.

"I'm not going to hurt you, you moron," Kaidoh said, and it was true. For now. It wasn't like Momoshiro was doing anything to provoke him, so he didn't really have a reason to hurt him, but at the same time this was just _so weird_. It was like Momoshiro had done a body swap with a small lost puppy. Only he didn't look like a puppy, so it was more confusing than cute.

"I'm Kaidoh," he added.

"And I'm not a moron," he said, staring back up at him. "Don't call me that. It's really rude."

Kaidoh growled, feeling his right hand instinctively ball up into a fist. _No_, he couldn't fight Momoshiro the lost puppy. It wouldn't be a fair fight, and if it wasn't fair then Kaidoh didn't see the point. "Sorry," he said, blushing again at saying those words to Momoshiro, even if the Momoshiro who remembered him wasn't exactly there to hear them.

"Okay. Then. So, you know me?" Obviously he did, he seemed to know what happened to him before he was out. "Why did I get punched anyway? And how long have I been sleeping? Are you alone on this beach, living in this shack, fishing for food? Is that the only way to get food around here? Or do you rely on your cat for hunting small mice or something? It's a poorly built shack anyway, I don't know how you can keep up with the cold bursts of wind flowing through it. Even with the blanket it's cold, and not to mention that bed is really uncomfortable. Now that I mention it, it wasn't even a bed, I think it was a chair or something. Are you really poor? Or are you some kind of escaped convict and you're holding me hostage?"

"Oh my god, shut _up_!" Kaidoh hissed, but secretly felt a little relieved that at least Momoshiro seemed to remember his inability to stop talking.

He blinked again, staring blankly at him. "So you _are_ an escaped convict?"

"No, dum—" Kaidoh stopped himself before the insult got all the way out. Because _this_ Momoshiro didn't get that that was just how they talked to each other. He breathed in and out and then said more calmly, "No, I'm not."

Not believing a word, he nodded. "Okay." He took a tiny step backwards. "So what's my name? Are we friends? We don't look like friends." More like a banchou, who owned a small private island, and held him hostage on it.

Kaidoh was tempted to tell Momoshiro that his name was actually Asshole, or Fucking Dickhead, but he wasn't _that_ mean, so instead he just said, "Momoshiro." He looked at Momoshiro's eyes for some spark of recognition, but got nothing. "And uh," he started," yeah, I guess we're friends."

That's how a banchou would answer the question. So, he was Momoshiro. And this was Kaidoh. Hmm.

"Okay, well, it's nice meeting you, Kaidoh-san, but I'll be going now. I'm going to see if …I can find somebody else, who might be able to tell me what happened to my memories. You're not the only one on this island, right?" Hopefully he wasn't, that'd be pretty creepy.

The weird version of Momoshiro did have a good point. Kaidoh probably wasn't going to be much good in giving Momoshiro a medical explanation for what happened. His version would just be, 'The dumbass hit his head again'. Didn't Momoshiro say that Tachibana-san was a nurse? Kaidoh wondered if she would be able to help. Momoshiro had mentioned caves... He looked down the beach and could see an outcropping of rocks far in the distance.

"I'm going with you," he said, his voice firm. He tried to look friendly. Momoshiro seemed scared scared of him, which he'd probably use to his advantage under any other circumstances, but right now he didn't want to scare Momoshiro off when he was just as likely to run into someone friendly as he was to... wander off into the jungle and end up at Kite's doorstep. Kaidoh wasn't going to take that chance. He would drag Momoshiro by the hand if he had to.

"Oh, then do you know somebody who could help?" Help sounded nice. Being stuck with this hissy freak didn't sound as nice, but help from other people did. "Like, is there a doctor around here? I'm sure I need one."

_You definitely need one, idiot_, Kaidoh thought. The sooner Momoshiro had someone look at him and turn him back to normal, the better. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take.

"Something like that," he grumbled, and before Momoshiro could protest or ask any more dumb questions, Kaidoh grabbed his hand and started pulling him down the beach.

Momoshiro had this feeling he was being led into the lion's den, and that this guy was going to do something really horrible to him. But what else could he do? Yanking back his hand would probably provoke him, and finding other people who might be able to help him sounded very promising. So he said nothing at all, and obediently followed this 'Kaidoh', staring at his green bandana this whole time.

Being dragged around like that was no fun though, especially since this Kaidoh took very long strides, and he felt like his arm was going to be ripped off if this went on any longer. So Momoshiro curled up his fingers against Kaidoh's, and gave him a slight pull. It was kind of pathetic and weak, but he didn't really want to piss him off, he simply wanted to walk a bit slower. He looked at him with these big eyes, eyes that said 'hey slow down you idiot'. Though he wasn't quite sure where the insult came from.

Kaidoh slowed down and let Momoshiro walk in stride with him. He could feel his face heating up and was worried his palm was going to get sweaty from being pressed up against Momoshiro's. But for some reason he didn't feel nervous, maybe because this Momoshiro didn't know anything about him, or what he felt, or how terribly embarrassing those feelings were. This Momoshiro was cluelessly holding onto his hand and hadn't said a single thing to mock him! It was... nice. And also very weird. Kaidoh sort of wished he _was_ being mocked, or punched, or pulled by the collar and shoved around, because that was what made sense. This felt like he'd been out in the sun too long and was starting to see things.

Momoshiro was completely oblivious to Kaidoh's inner turmoil, and walked with him, side by side. He was probably keeping him in check or something, so he wouldn't run away, hence the hand holding. He said nothing the whole time they walked alongside the shore. He wondered if it's because the other man had nothing to say, or simply because he was plotting something. Or maybe he was getting a heat stroke, since his hand was getting really sweaty. So sweaty Momoshiro wanted to pull away and wipe his hand clean against his pants. But he probably wouldn't like that. Maybe he should see a doctor too?

"Your hand is sweaty," he noted dully.

Kaidoh grimaced. "Shut up," he said, but sort of wanted to correct himself and say, 'don't shut up', instead, because this Momoshiro actually listened to him and did what he told him to do, and Kaidoh didn't know what to do with that. "We just have to walk a little bit further," he continued, awkwardly trying to fill the silence that Momoshiro would normally be talking over. He couldn't believe he actually kind of missed the idiot's arsenal of annoying jabs.

After a while of more walking, and more sweating and blushing on Kaidoh's part, Kaidoh saw the outline of the caves looming ahead of them. "In here," he said, tugging Momoshiro into what looked like the biggest cave.

And then Momoshiro stopped dead in his tracks. He looked at the ominous cave. "I'm not going in there," he said flatly. "I don't want to die." He lost his memories, but he's not _stupid_.

Kaidoh hissed. "Are you seriously scared?" He had to admit, he wasn't super comfortable with the idea of caves himself, and this one looked as dark and creepy as any he'd seen, but he wasn't going to lose to a memory-less Momoshiro at bravery. "_You_ said people were living here," Kaidoh pointed out, hearing a little irritation edge into his voice. "It must be safe."

"People _live_ in there? Are you sure?" Momoshiro was still not moving from his spot. "Must suck to be them." They must be cannibals waiting to eat him or something. "You guys are really poor." Which really meant 'please don't eat me'.

"Do you like holding hands?" asked Momoshiro. He eyed the hands that were still clasped together.

Kaidoh immediately dropped Momoshiro's hand as though it was a hot potato. "N-no," he stuttered, his whole face going completely red. "I was just... looking out for you," he said. "I thought you were gonna run."

"... Was it that obvious?" Momoshiro felt like smirking for some reason. Kaidoh didn't seem so scary when he was stuttering and turning red from the remark. "Sorry, I won't run. Promise." He didn't want the hounds after him.

"Good," Kaidoh said, but just in case, he grabbed Momoshiro's hand again.

"I guess you like it then," he said simply.

"Dumbass," Kaidoh replied, before he could stop himself.

"Asshole."

Wait—why did he say that? The word came out of his mouth before he knew it. "I mean ... er..." How to not insult a guy who had buffer arms than his own. Hmm. "Sorry, I don't know why I said that."

"No," Kaidoh said, feeling the corner of his mouth twitch. "It's fine. That sounded more like you."

"I must not be a very nice person then, if that is true." His face was unreadable. He didn't remember what kind of person he was like, but the insult flung back at Kaidoh felt … natural. And he didn't really want to know what kind of person he was anymore. What if _he_ was some kind of gangster? And this was his buddy in crime?

Momoshiro raised up his hand, which Kaidoh was still holding. "Is this what you meant by friends?" And he meant gangster friends. "Like, are we together?" In a faction. And the cave was their operating base.

Kaidoh stared at him, and then at their hands. He felt like his whole stomach had just leapt up into his throat. "Um..." he said slowly. "...No."

"Okay then. You must have felt pretty bad if we were. Since I don't remember you at all. Sorry." Forgetting gangster buddies was like against some kind of code, right? And the penalty was death? "Thank you for taking care of me though, Kaidoh-san," he said with a smile. At least he won't face death if someone takes care of him. He hoped.

"No problem," Kaidoh replied and, before he could really help himself, added, "And it is still really stupid that you don't remember me, loser."

Momoshiro smiled politely. He hoped there really wasn't a penalty in forgetting. That would really suck, and his head still hurt. So in the hopes of not getting his ass kicked again, he latched onto Kaidoh as if he were his saviour, his hero protecting him from the other gangsters. He squeezed his hand, and he resisted the urge to complain how it was sweaty again.

"I won't forget now," he said, still smiling fakely.

Momoshiro was really creeping him out. Kaidoh sort of expected his eyes to start sparkling to go along with his smile. Momoshiro never normally smiled at Kaidoh like that; like he thought Kaidoh was going to punch him. Momoshiro often looked at Kaidoh like he thought Kaidoh was going to punch him, to be sure, but never with such a... weird face... Usually he just looked like he was more than ready to hit Kaidoh right back. This Momoshiro doesn't look like he'd even try to hit Kaidoh in the first place.

"Let's go in," Kaidoh says, tearing his gaze away from Momoshiro's weird face and tugging on his hand to pull him along.

The fake polite smile turned into one made out of horror. He tugged back on Kaidoh's hands and looked at him wide-eyed. "Uhm," he said. "Can't we just … call them out?" Or whoever was there, waiting for him in the dark.

"Losing your memories has really made you a coward," Kaidoh said, enjoying how scared Momoshiro sounded. For once Kaidoh wasn't the one getting mocked for a fear.

Momoshiro frowned. "Who's a coward?" he said immediately. "I'm not." He can take them on. All the gangsters. Probably. Did he know how to fight?

"Then let's _go inside_, moron," Kaidoh grumbled. "Stop stalling if you're not afraid."

A whimper flew out of Momoshiro's mouth, and now he glomped Kaidoh's entire left arm. "Nu-uh," he said childishly. He'd rather die.

Kaidoh felt his whole arm go tense under Momoshiro's touch, the muscles seeming to buzz with electricity. Well, Momoshiro _had_ warned him that he was into touching people... But somehow 'people' had definitely never included Kaidoh. He was torn between shoving Momoshiro off and shouting at him and... just standing there.

For some reason, or maybe not just _some_ reason, Kaidoh ended up standing there. "What do you think is going to happen to you if you go inside?" he chided.

Momoshiro pressed his face up against Kaidoh's muscular arm, eyes blinking wearily at the cave. "Gangsters," he mumbled.

Kaidoh gaped at him. "Huh? Where?"

Momoshiro simply pointedly stared at the cave, not letting go of Kaidoh's arm anytime soon.

Kaidoh hissed. "There aren't any gangsters in there, you idiot. Just a bunch of losers. You don't have to be scared of them. You're stronger than most of them." Kaidoh was talking about tennis, but Momoshiro probably didn't remember anything about that, and Kaidoh didn't want to confuse him further.

"I am?" he asked, genuinely curious and surprised. "But your arms are much more buff than mine. What do you do? Play boxing?" He squeezed the upper tricep of Kaidoh's arm for good measure.

Having Momoshiro fawn over him was weird, and made Kaidoh feel funny, but he also had to smirk a little. "They are, aren't they..." he said. "Don't forget that either, okay?" He thought about telling Momoshiro that he _was_ a boxer, because he sort of was, if Momoshiro's face were a punching bag. Instead he just said, "I work out a lot."

"You suck at fishing though," Momoshiro pointed out. He could tell the other man was simply gloating now, he was probably giving him too many compliments, and on some level, that felt wrong.

Kaidoh's free hand shot straight for Momoshiro's collar. "I don't suck, dumbass!" he growled. "I wasn't even fishing!"

Momoshiro immediately let go of Kaidoh's arm, and took back any thoughts he had about him being a hero, or someone who might have protected him. Hell no—he needed protection _from_ him!

He held his hands up innocently. "S-sorry," he squawked. He's pretty sure he looks completely frightened by now, and he was. He simply wanted to get away from Kaidoh right about now, he'd welcome anyone else walking onto the scene. Someone who didn't keep yelling insults at his face, or raising their voices, or holding onto his hand, or holding his shirt collar.

Kaidoh glared at Momoshiro, but loosened his grip on his collar. "Don't apologize!" he hissed. The way he reacted to everything was so strange; it made Kaidoh feel off balance. "You really need to get your head sorted out."

Meanwhile, inside the mouth of the cave, Oishi had been organizing some of their supplies and debating to himself whether they'd have to make another trip for more when he heard a startling but familiar commotion outside— a sound he recognized as the two notorious rivals of their former team going at it again. Rising to his feet, he sighed and left to separate them, "Oi, oi, you two…!"

Momoshiro backed away from Kaidoh, and he turned his head to look at … another banchou? He wasn't as muscular as the other, and had a really, really strange hairstyle. Momoshiro figured he was wearing plastic on the top of his head to get it to look like that. _These people are weird._

"Hello," Momoshiro greeted politely, and bowed his head as well. He wanted to ask him if he was the leader of their faction, but figured it was better to keep quiet.

"A-ah, hello… Momo." Oishi's answer was stilted, his eyebrow quirked. He gave Kaidoh a puzzled look at just how quickly their fight had fizzled. It seemed uncharacteristic. Setting his hands on his hips, he let his own policing attitude fizzle at well, "Is everything all right?"

Kaidoh shot a glare at Momoshiro. "Oishi-senpai?" he started, voice still edged in irritation. He couldn't believe what he was about to say. It sounded idiotic, but then he remembered who it was he was talking about: "Momoshiro got into a pretty bad fight and now he can't remember anything." _Or possibly he's been possessed by ghost demons_, Kaidoh added mentally.

Staring back at the two of them, it briefly entered Oishi's mind that this could be some kind of joke or prank, though he'd never known Kaidoh to waste his time with that sort of thing. Instead he gave him a scrutinizing look, one that carried over as his eyes panned toward Momoshiro. "… You're serious?"

"I don't know?" said Momoshiro with a huge question mark stamped on his forehead. "Have we met before?" Surely he would have remembered such a person with a weird hairstyle. "Do you know anyone that can give me medical attention?" Like a doctor, preferably.

His hands falling from his hips, Oishi realized this really _was_ happening and that somehow Momoshiro had gotten himself into another mess. "Just what kinds of fights are you getting into that-" he stopped himself, taking a deep breath and looking at Kaidoh, "How long has he been this way?" And this was awkward, but, "I'm Oishi Shuichiro, we went to middle school together," he said toward Momoshiro, "I'm a medical student so I could take a look…" Amazing how at university they stressed how they shouldn't have contact with patients until they graduated, and a month or so on this island and Oishi had done nothing _but_.

Great, a medical student! Maybe he can patch him up. "Hi, nice to meet you. This guy said my name's Momoshiro." Unless he'd been lying and it wasn't his name at all.

Kaidoh sighed with relief. Oishi would have an answer. If nothing else, at least Kaidoh was no longer stuck alone with Momoshiro, the lost puppy; it was seriously driving him nuts.

"He was unconscious for about a day," he explained. "He took a hard hit to the head..." Kaidoh gave Oishi a flat look. "I wasn't the one who hit him, don't worry."

"Out for a day…?" Oishi gave a somewhat reassuring smile towards Momoshiro and approached to look him over, his brows slowly furrowing with worry. "If it wasn't you, who was it?" He didn't think Kaidoh would be one to hit Momoshiro _that_ hard, regardless of how much they fought. So there was someone else on the island smacking people around…? Though knowing Momoshiro, he might have earned it. "Hm, either way, there's not much I could do for an injury like that… we probably just have to give it time."

"Yes, Kaidoh-san, who was it that hit me?" he asked, genuinely concerned and curious. He'd rather avoid this person at all costs.

Kaidoh hissed and turned to Momoshiro in annoyance. Did he seriously not remember _anything_ about his stupid attempt at 'bravery'?

"That guy, Kite..." he said. "You wanted to fight him because he was out on the beach and..." _What was the reason again?_ Momoshiro's rants about Kite had all gotten so dramatic and convoluted. At one point he might have suggested that Kite was going to molest Echizen. Or eat him. Or possibly both.

"Anyway," Kaidoh continued, "you had some kind of disagreement." He gave Oishi a look that suggested said disagreement was pretty moronic. "Momoshiro was in over his head trying to fight that creep... What do you mean just give it time? Isn't there some kind of medicine he can take?" His eyes widened nervously. "W-what if his memories don't come back?" Kaidoh wasn't sure he could put up with Momoshiro being permanently stuck like this, walking on eggshells around him like he was some scary stranger. He'd probably end up giving Momoshiro another head injury if that kept up.

"Can't I take any memory pills or something?" Momoshiro helpfully suggested.

"Like I told you-" Once again Oishi cut himself off, putting his hand to his own forehead with a wince, "No, wait that was… I told _Momo_, when Echizen had his head injury, it's common to lose your memory temporarily after a hit to the head." He sighed, checking Momoshiro's pupils quickly to assure they weren't independently dilated.

"U-unfortunately there's no way of telling when his memories might return," Oishi gave Kaidoh a glance that communicated a silent, _Or if._ "It could be a day, or a week…"

So Kite was the cause… though it sounded like they'd been provoking each other. "I-I guess the first priority would be to keep Momo away from him," there was only so much any of them could tend to head injuries before they'd need hospital equipment- a luxury they didn't have.

"That's it? I'll remember with time?" asked Momoshiro. That didn't sound hopeful at all, what was he supposed to do then? Walk around? "Can't I do something that will help me remember?"

"Hmm, I suppose that might jostle something," Oishi mused aloud, his hand on his chin, "while I would normally recommend that you rest…" The downtrodden look on Momoshiro's face told him that wasn't a satisfactory answer, "It couldn't hurt to try and remember things on your own. People, for instance." It was pretty convenient they were on an island with people his former teammate once knew, maybe it could increase their chances.

Of course he'd likely confuse a lot of people, introducing himself over and over, but Momoshiro's health was the greater good here. "Could you lead him around?" He asked of Kaidoh, "Maybe seeing a few familiar faces will do it."

"I can go alone," said Momoshiro quickly. He did _not_ want to be alone with Kaidoh. He was was too scary and violent for him, eager to hit him it seemed as well—and Momoshiro wasn't stupid enough to hang around people who could potentially hurt him. He looked up at Kaidoh and swallowed.

"I don't need his help. You say there's more people on the island? Great. I'll go look around myself then." Maybe they weren't all gangsters like Kaidoh.

"Like I'd even want to help you anyway, asshole!" Kaidoh growled, tempted to take a swing at Momoshiro's face. His fist was more than tempted, if the fingernails digging into his palm were any indication. If Momoshiro was going to be an ungrateful idiot and not even thank him for looking after him all this time then _fine_. Kaidoh didn't care.

Again—what's with the anger management issues!? Momoshiro should probably get away from this guy, _fast_. "I don't need your help, not from someone like you," he mumbled, and then stared at his bare feet, covering in sand. Could he make a run for it … ?

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kaidoh hissed, mouth twisting into a snarl. "What the fuck do you mean, someone like me?!"

"Exactly like that!" Momoshiro fired back at him, and then took a few steps away from him. "You yell too much, and you look like you're using drugs!" Momoshiro looked back at Oishi, who at least seemed to be a decent human being, though he wasn't going to stay around them much longer like this.

"Asshole! Do you want me to hit you?!" The words exploded out of Kaidoh's mouth before he really knew what he was saying. It felt so much like a real fight that he couldn't help but get fired up. A second later he remembered that this was not the Momoshiro who knew him, and that this Momoshiro knew nothing except that he'd suffered a blow to the head. Threatening him with another was probably not the most helpful thing to do. But Kaidoh couldn't help it! An insult was an insult no matter what version of Momoshiro was shouting it.

Well, that did the trick. Momoshiro took one frightened glance at Kaidoh, before turning on his heel, and making a beeline for the jungle trees a ways ahead of the cave, leaving both Kaidoh and Oishi alone.

It didn't take much for Momoshiro to provoke Kaidoh into defensive posturing, and besides the topic of their arguing, and the fact that Momoshiro was cowering more than usual, it was just like old times. Oishi made a few attempts to interject as their volume increased, but not before one of them had bolted off like a scared animal, "O-oi, Momo…!" He took a half step forward and watched as Momoshiro disappeared toward the brush, deflating helplessly.

"Momoshiro!" Kaidoh yelled, running off after him. "You moronic coward, I wasn't really going to hit you!" And he wasn't... then. Now if he caught up to him he probably would. Hard.

Momoshiro glanced back as he ran, his eyes widening. "Your actions do not match your words!" he yelled, and then continued to sprint away from the scary guy chasing him. Eventually he reached the line of small trees, and wormed his way through the leaves and trees, to hide himself completely out of view.

One moment Momoshiro was ahead of him and then the next, Kaidoh had lost sight of him completely. He slowed to a stop and listened for movements, but heard nothing. _Fuck_, he thought. He really hoped that memory-less idiot didn't get himself into too much trouble. Well, it wasn't his problem anymore.

Momoshiro leered through the bamboo pipes sticking up from the ground, hiding himself carefully. He could see Kaidoh, but he slowed down, indicating he had lost sight of him. Good. What a fucking asshole that guy is. Momoshiro decided to go deeper in the jungle, anything was better than staying behind with _him._ In fact, he'd rather avoid most people now.

He could take care of himself. Now … what to do about food.


	11. Forgotten Idiot

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **Momo gets his memories back after seven days. One-sided MomoRyo. Ryoma wears a gold diamond plated necklace, which he's been wearing for the entirety when he was on the cruise ship.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo), Happiestwhen (Kaidoh) & Gottis (Ryoma)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Momo spends seven days wandering around with no memories, avoiding people as he's afraid of them  
- Kaidoh and Ryoma both continue to look for him to no avail  
- Ryoma gets increasingly worried that something bad happened to Momo  
- Back on the ship, Ryoma confirmed to Momo that he didn't have a crush on him (after he confessed he was gay)

**Date:** June 16, 2012

* * *

Seven days. He'd been wandering around without any recollection of who he was for seven damn days. That guy—the one with the weird hairstyle—had said his memories would come back with time. The one with the glasses gave him some ointment. But time continued to pass on, and Momoshiro didn't remember a thing. He'd met some really crazy people, who all seemed to know him, but that didn't jog his memories whatsoever.

Sometimes he'd do something subconsciously, something that he might have done if he knew who he was, but those times were sparse, and came and go whenever it wanted. Momoshiro was simply stuck; he still didn't know, and it was getting really damn annoying.

He walked alongside the shore that he'd seen so many times; he made sure to stay away from that shack he woke up in, in fear of seeing that Kaidoh guy again. He looked very violent, and Momoshiro was almost convinced that it was _him_ that knocked him hard that he lost his memories. Like hell would he go back to that shack again. Even if that meant sleeping out in the open, and scavenging for food himself; it seemed like the better option for him.

"This sucks," he said out loud, and kicked a stupid rock into the ocean. He crouched down to his knees, and stared with blank eyes at the ocean, standing with his feet on top of some rocky parts.

What could he do to remember? He already saw so many people, but nothing … simply nothing. Momoshiro was seriously considering hitting his head again; maybe that would trigger his memory. It's better than nothing, right? He rested his arm on top of his knees and stared down at one particular black rock. He shifted closer, and reached for it with his hand, picking it up out of the muddy sand and gripped it tightly within his hand. He studied it with empty eyes, it was big enough, sturdy enough, dangerous enough. Could he do it? Could he hit himself with it?

Well, maybe.

Momoshiro raised the rock high in the sky, shielding the sun away from him, casting a shadow on his face. It was starting to look like a good idea; nothing else had helped so far. Really, the positive outcomes far outweighed the negative ones. If he was wrong, he'd simply have a huge headache—and it's not like he could remember any less than he already did. If he was right, he'd remember everything again. So what was he waiting for?

The ocean waves washed up to his bare feet, but he ignored them, his mind was dead set on this. He clenched his fingers and dug them inside the small hollows of the rock, and then stretched out his arm to the side, ready to hit the blow. But then something caught his attention. Some light was reflecting into his eyes, and it wasn't the sun. No, it was something next to him, in the same spot he lifted the rock from.

It was a golden necklace.

Momoshiro dropped the rock from his hand, and instead slipped his fingers around the cool jewelry and lifted it up from the water. It was a long golden chain, decorated by diamond shaped plates—five of them to be exact. Two smaller diamond plates on each side, with a bigger one hanging on the end. It wasn't even dirty, it was a shiny gold, the ocean water did nothing to deter its beauty.

Something began to stir up inside of him. He scrunched up his face and narrowed his eyes at the jewelry. Had he seen this before … ? It couldn't be … he didn't remember anything. Yet somehow, this necklace was tugging at his brain, like it had always been stored deep inside of his mind.

Where had he seen it?

Momoshiro slipped the necklace in between his fingers as he fumbled around trying to make sense of it. Was it his? Maybe … Was it someone else's? Someone he knew? Someone he should be remembering? He closed his eyes and gripped the necklace until his knuckles turned white. There was something, something bugging him, prodding him—something that was urging its way up.

_Where had he seen this!?_

And then it came, a sudden rush, filling up his mind. A blurry image flashed in front of his eyes, the image of a naked, white chest, slipping on this necklace, and turning to him. Momoshiro squeezed his eyes shut tight; who was this? Why couldn't see see his face? Think harder, Momoshiro!

Another flash came, the necklace sparkling bright as slender fingers toyed around with it. Those fingers reached out to grab a hamburger. Hamburgers … ? Momoshiro clutched his head as even more images filled in. One where he was working his hands all over someone's body—a small slender body that was wearing this necklace, struggling against him as he tickled him. Then a different one as the same body laid down on the ground next to him, the necklace slipping into the small of his neck. None of the images showed this person's face, and it was driving him mad.

There was flash filled with blood. Blood dripping down and spilling onto the necklace. Blood? What happened? Did this person get hurt? He could see his own hands rush out to dark green hair, which were now a tangled bloodied mess. Tears were fighting its way out as he cupped the blurry boy's face, before wrapping something around his head to stop the bleeding.

Then suddenly he could see a small lifeboat, out on the ocean, carrying this lifeless body on his back. And there it is; the necklace snapping and it slipped away from the unconscious boy's neck and fell into the water. Momoshiro never gave it a second thought, as he was way too concerned about Echizen Ryoma, to care about some stupid necklace.

Momoshiro's eyes snapped open. His breath hitched inside of his throat and he could feel his heartbeat beating loudly in his ears.

Echizen … _Echizen!_

He almost tripped and slipped on the rocks as he made a hasty getaway from the ocean shore, the necklace still clenched safely in his hand. His legs carried him running all the way back to the place where he knew he built his shack. The place where _he_ should be. The shack he built for the both of them.

_He remembered._

Everything went by so fast, Momoshiro's mind was getting flooded with memories, memories he'd forgotten, memories he never even knew about—everything was rushing back to him. Echizen Ryoma—of course! Momoshiro had already known of his name, and a few people told him about the boy wonder, but it never seemed significant to him at all. Not until now, when he finally remembered. He remembered being so concerned about Echizen that he set out to protect him from Kite who had issued threats against him before. It had all gone horribly wrong, and the last thing he remembered, was Kite putting a hand on Echizen's shoulder. His stomach twisted in knots just thinking back on it; it was all his fault. He brought him in danger.

But what happened afterwards? Was Echizen alright? Did he escape alongside with Kaidoh unscratched? They better have, or otherwise Momoshiro would seriously murder Kite the next time they would cross paths.

The sand pinched between his toes as he ran along the beach. Then, he saw an all familiar figure standing in the water. Taking a moment to study said figure, Momoshiro couldn't have been happier. At least one of them was okay.

Before Kaidoh even knew what was coming to him, Momoshiro had slowed down, and punched him right in the face.

"Asshole!" he yelled at him. "Fucking asshole!" he continued to yell at Kaidoh as he remembered everything again, crystal clear. "Do you know how fucking scary you are when people don't know who you are!? Learn some fucking manners!" Momoshiro paused to breathe, before adding. "Or get some plastic surgery."

Kaidoh felt his face zing with pain and splashed back into the water sputtering. "What the hell?! Momoshiro, you fucking dumbass, don't—" Then he stopped mid-sentence and looked up at Momoshiro, realization dawning on him. "You... you called me asshole," he said slowly. Relief swelled up in his chest, threatening to burst, but it was crushed down abruptly by the echo of Momoshiro's words and Kaidoh leapt from the water, lunging at Momoshiro with full force.

"There's nothing wrong with my face!" he growled, voice full of irritation, and thought, _Thank god you're back_.

Momoshiro grinned at him, full of his usual confidence, and sidestepped him. Hell yeah, he was back. And he was happy seeing Kaidoh again. He can't believe how much he actually did miss him, and it's not something he'll admit to straight away. "Lots of things are wrong with your face. Look what you made me do, I actually ran away from you! Asshole, seriously. You should have tried to find me."

"Why the hell should I have tried to find you?" Kaidoh shot back. But he did try to find him. Every day. "You were acting like a fucking freak." Kaidoh thought about how long he'd spent holding Momoshiro's hand. Okay, so maybe he'd acted like a bit of a freak himself, but if he was lucky, Momoshiro had forgotten about that.

"Whatever, where's Echizen? Is he … okay?"

"Echizen... well, how do you _think_ he is after you just left the shack and took off? Moron."

Momoshiro's eyes cast downwards and his stomach twisted in a big knot again. "Yeah … probably not good, huh?" He turned his head into the direction of the shack. While he couldn't see it, he knew it was there. "I need to see him." He turned around, away from Kaidoh, but not before throwing his head back with a smirk. "At least I'm better now, no need to worry over me!"

Kaidoh hissed at him. "Who worries about you!?"

Momoshiro laughed; it felt like he hasn't in ages. "You still suck at fishing. God damn moron." And then he sprinted away. "And you're such a girl for holding my hand!" he added as well.

Kaidoh kicked the water grouchily, wishing Momoshiro was still within punching distance. He settled for yelling, "I hate you!" at his retreating back. He didn't at all.

Momoshiro simply blew him a kiss in return. He'll deal with Kaidoh later.

And then he returned to running at full speed ahead, back to the shack he hadn't been to for an entire week. His heart thumped louder with every step in the sand he took. An entire week he was wandering around not having a clue who he was. It was frightening and scary, he'll admit that—but it was probably even scarier for Echizen to not know where he had been, and if he was alright. He's fine now … yeah … he _had_ to get back.

The shack was finally in view and he felt his heart jump inside of his throat. He kicked up his pace and arrived at the door completely out of breath. A thousand thoughts rushed through in his mind; was Echizen okay? Did he eat well enough this entire week? Did Kite try to threaten him again? How was he holding up after seeing him get beaten up like that? Did Kaidoh provide him with food and water, and medical attention when needed? Momoshiro sucked in a breath, and didn't even bother to knocking—why should he—and he flung the door open.

"R-Ryoma!" he called out, his voice hitching as he did. His foot got caught in the blanket Kaidoh used for sleeping, and he almost stumbled right inside of the firepit, but steadied himself just in time. Phew, that could have ended up really badly.

"I'm okay, I'm okay!" Momoshiro immediately called out, referring to both his stupid flailing, and his memories returning.

Momoshiro entered with the force of a minor hurricane, but Ryoma—who sat on his bed—didn't immediately leap to attention. He looked up, frowned and then simply stared at the dark haired young man, mouth slightly open and eyes large and confused.

Momoshiro took in another deep breath as he stood up straight and studied Echizen sitting on the bed. No bandages … no bruises … slightly longer hair than normal, and a confused expression on his face. He seemed, well, fine. Not harmed at least. He breathed out a sigh of relief; that was a load off of his chest. He made his way over to the younger man, wobbling on his feet because it was as if all his strength had left him.

"You're fine," said Momoshiro. He plumped down next to Echizen and rubbed his own forehead, as if it would massage all the bad memories out of him. The memories of him picking a stupid fight with Kite, and getting Echizen in danger because of it.

"I'm sorry for not, you know, coming to see you. I had no idea who I was, and I was … uh … kind of scared of Kaidoh at the moment, and wanted to avoid him as much as possible. Do you know he's really fucking scary when I had absolutely no idea who he was? It didn't help he was threatening to punch me either! And then I just wondered around, talking to other people, and they kept saying I did something stupid to lose my memories like that—well, I guess they were right—but I was still too stubborn to come here. Anyways, I didn't remember anything up till now! Look, look what I found." Momoshiro lifted up his hand to show Echizen the golden necklace he still had with him. "It's yours, isn't it? I found it on the beach in the water, wedged underneath a rock. When I saw it … suddenly everything came back to me, hah. Who knew this stupid necklace would be the trigger? I didn't even pay any special attention to it when you wore it. I think it broke off when we escaped from the ship, sorry about that, it was probably my fault. But oh man, I can't believe I forgot _everything_." Momoshiro sighed once more and buried his face into his hands.

One violet eye peeked out from behind his finger, glancing at Echizen. "I'm sorry for, you know, starting this whole mess."

He continued to listen to Momoshiro with half an ear. He continued to look at Momoshiro who sat there, next to him, whole and talking and moving and _here_. Momoshiro talked a lot. Said so much... But he didn't register anything of what was said, not until the necklace flashed before his eyes. Pure gold, worth a fortune, really, but still, he hadn't missed it. Not much, at least. He took it with one hand—the fingernails were bitten down to the flesh on each and every finger—and brought it close to his chest. Something buzzed in his ears. Roared, rather. If it was his own blood that rushed through his veins, or if it was the distant—not so distant—roiling of the sea... It didn't matter. His hand that held the necklace fell down in his lap as he continued to stare at Momoshiro, still dead silent.

Momoshiro still kept an eye on Echizen, waiting for him to speak, to move, to do _something_. Perhaps he was too shocked to say anything? Or maybe really angry at Momoshiro. Or maybe _he_ had lost his memories. Say something, he wanted to tell him. Anything. A greeting will do. Slowly, he reached out with this hand, his fingers stretched out and hovering above Echizen's lap. The tips of his fingers touched the gold, and he toyed around with one of the diamond plates a little bit, staring at it, avoiding Echizen's silent stare.

"You wore it a lot, didn't you? I never really noticed, but I think my subconscious did. That's why I remembered … remembered all the times you did wear it." Momoshiro's fingers stopped toying with the necklace when he spotted Echizen's own fingers. His nails were shredded and bitten raw, it looked red and painful. Hesitating slightly, Momoshiro trailed his index finger alongside Echizen's. Smooth babyhands were smooth no more.

Momoshiro finally looked up again, at Echizen's golden and unwavering eyes. Those eyes that made his heart jump into his throat and lodge itself deep inside of it, refusing to let go.

"I …" Momoshiro didn't quite know how to finish what he started. Words felt like the hardest thing to form all of the sudden, and stringing together a sentence felt like carrying around the heaviest metal on earth.

Thankfully, Momoshiro's dumb mouth wasn't open for too long, because suddenly Ryoma's was on top of it. The kiss was brief, rough and completely undignified, no real romance to talk about what so ever, but Ryoma's face was, nevertheless, beet red when he pulled back.

It had happened so fast; Momoshiro's face was frozen when he saw Echizen move towards him, and then pull back. It stayed frozen like that, for a very long time. Something in his brain wasn't working, the wheels weren't turning—it was probably because he had hit his head one too many times, but Momoshiro was, for lack of better word, simply flabbergasted. It was like his brain had truly been fried for a few long seconds.

Or maybe he was starting to hallucinate things. That was probably the best explanation he had for this sudden molestation of his lips. Had he drank any cactus juice lately?

He stared long and hard at Echizen's flushed face. No, this wasn't really making any sense to him. Echizen didn't just _kiss_ him. That couldn't be true. He probably had something on his lips. Like a dark smudge of dirt or something. Or maybe Echizen felt his lips looked too cracked and dry so he took matters in his own hands.

Momoshiro flopped his head to the side, imitating a dog that was staring at something thoroughly confusing, and he frowned so hard, his eyebrows touched his eyelashes.

"Hah?" he exclaimed in this completely unintelligent voice. Maybe this wasn't reality. Maybe this was an Echizen clone, and Inui had cloned him and replaced him during the week he went missing. Or maybe Inui gave him something weird to drink, like kissing Inui juice.

But none of it really made any _sense._"Ryoma, are you okay?" he decided to ask. "Y-you, didn't drink anything weird, right? Did you hit your head?" Momoshiro would have to interrogate Kaidoh later on what happened to Echizen during his missing week. He shifted closer to Echizen on the bed, and rough hands danced around the dark green hair, inspecting his head for any injuries. Finding none, Momoshiro cupped both his cheeks; they were red and hot. "Or maybe a fever …"

Why had he done that? That was so stupid, and he should have _known_ how Momo would react and that he would simply end up feeling more stupid than ever, and why had he worried himself sick over this idiot in the first place, and was he really that stupid (probably) or was he mocking him? No, of course he wasn't, Momoshiro wasn't like that when it came to him. Well, he could _tease_, but he wouldn't mock. That... Honor (?) was more Kaidoh's department. But, the important thing was... He felt stupid.

He wasn't even pouring his heart out to Momoshiro and saying really embarrassing things that would compromise him completely, but he might as well have been doing just that. Ryoma entertained the thought of simply getting to his feet and run out into the ocean to drown himself. That... Seemed almost tempting right now. He pushed Momoshiro's hands away, golden eyes ablaze. "I'm _fine_, and apparently you are too, because you're stupid and slow and just..." Back. Momoshiro was back. Most of him wanted to focus on simply that, nothing more. But... But...

"You realize I kissed you, right?"

"Ah." Momoshiro wrinkled his nose. "You did?" He did. "Why? Is it some kind of American greeting you picked up? Missed me that much?"

"French people kiss-greet. Or Italian. I forgot." Ryoma shrugged, annoyed. "But _yeah_, you ass. I missed you that much. And you're blind and stupid and I...!" He groaned, cradling his head in his hands. "You know what? Just... Forget it. Don't look at me. Don't talk to me. I'm just gonna go drown myself now, if it's all the same to you."

"Wait—hold up a second there. What's going on? Did something happen while I was gone? I don't really understand … I'm sorry for, you know, leaving you and all that. I just, didn't remember, and Kaidoh seriously scared the crap out of me, and made sure I didn't go anywhere near you guys. But what happened to you?" Suddenly Momoshiro felt very, very concerned, he was turning into a mini-Oishi. "...No one hurt you, right?" Because if they did, Momoshiro swore he'd really kill them. Laws be damned.

He sighed and hung his head down. "I'm sorry for not being there. But I'm here now. Please don't be mad at me."

_You hurt me_, Ryoma wanted to say. But it was unfair, he knew that. Momoshiro couldn't very well help that he had gotten amnesia and got scared of Kaidoh or whatever it was that had been going on... But he shouldn't have fought in the first place. But that fight was _Ryoma's_ fault, so when it all came down to it... All the hurt he felt was his own fault. Simply that. "Nothing happened," he mumbled after a moment's silence. "Nothing. Just... Worried about you. I... And, and then, I..." Had been so afraid everything was too late. Was afraid Momoshiro was dead and he would never get the chance to _tell_ him. But here he was. And even though he hadn't _told_ him, he had... Kissed. Kissed Momoshiro. But the damn idiot still couldn't get the hint, apparently. "Damn it. I can't spell it out for you. Not now." Not when he was feeling so emotionally unstable.

It was nice to know that no one had hurt Echizen while Momoshiro was gone, but something was still wrong. Something didn't feel right. It might have been a week that he was gone, but it felt like Momoshiro returned to a whole other Echizen; one who was flustered, couldn't seem to finish his sentences, and there was something he wasn't telling him. What kind of secret was he hiding? Was it dangerous? Why couldn't he come out and say it?

"Spell what out for me, exactly? I'm confused." Really confused. Echizen also kiss-greeting him didn't help matters. "Did something important happen?" Aside from losing his memory and wandering around like an idiot? What news could be more important than _that_?

Maybe something happened with him and Kaidoh … they _were_ together for an entire week. Though Kaidoh wasn't really all that sociable, and Echizen wasn't one to talk much either, it was hard to believe anything would have happened between them. Maybe someone else?

Who made Echizen act like this? Unless it was …

"Did _I_ do something?" asked Momoshiro.

"Nope." He paused. "... You _didn't_ do something."

"Eh ... are you expecting me to do something?"

"I've got no expectations. And man, I _have_ to spell it out, don't I?" Ryoma pulled a hand through his hair. "You didn't kiss me back, asshole."

Momoshiro snorted out loud at that. "I'm sorry if I'm caught a little bit off guard when the first thing my best friend does, is gnaw on my lips after one week of no communication. ...Are you part French?"

"... I'm Japanese by blood, and American by upbringing. No French." A beat. "_That's not even important_!" He picked up a pillow, about to throw it at Momoshiro, when he thought better of it. The last thing he wanted to do was hit him over the head and maybe get the amnesia to return.

"Then tell me what is!" Momoshiro snapped back, and immediately regretted raising his voice like that. He took a deep breath, and calmed himself down somewhat. "Okay, fine. You're not part French—then why the hell are you kissing me." Unless … he was kissing the Japanese way.

Which couldn't be possible. Echizen wasn't like that towards him. He even told him so! Back on the ship at least.

"Why do you think?!" It was Ryoma's turn to raise his voice. "Because I'm a fucking idiot who's realized that I like a total moron and I feel really stupid right now so can we _please_ not talk about this anymore, because I _am_ going to drown myself, I swear!" Well, he wasn't, but he was so frustrated and humiliated right now that he simply wanted to scream and hurt something or someone, and the only person he could imagine hurting right now was himself—since hurting Momoshiro was out of the question. Probably.

"Stupid, no one is drowning today!" He placed a hand at Echizen's chest, to keep him seated on the bed, in case he really was thinking of running away. "Nor tomorrow. Or, any day really, don't do that, I don't want you to drown. Drowning is scary. I couldn't remember if I was able to swim or not a few days ago, so I decided to try it out. Man, that was terrifying trying to get into a deep enough part of the ocean so I could see if I would live or die. Turns out; I didn't lose the ability to swim! My brain is weird, why would I remember that, but not anything about you … nothing at all. It sucked. It really sucked, I hated it. I'm glad I saw that stupid necklace of yours and triggered everything again. I don't want to not remember you … and …"

Momoshiro snapped his head back up straight as he looked at Echizen with wide and confused eyes. "Wait. Rewind—_what did you say?_ You like a total moron? Are you talking about me? No …" Momoshiro took his hand off of Echizen's chest and head leaned back, his eyes so confused and looking to his left, to his right, to the ceiling, to his fumbling hands, and back at his best friend.

At least, Momoshiro thought that was his best friend.

"I'm not a moron," he said sheepishly.

A rather horrified look passed over Ryoma's face as Momoshiro mentioned his tries at remembering swimming again, but then the other boy's hand was gone and he was free to pull his legs up close to his chest, so that he could hide his face against his knees. "I know. I'm the moron. But... But, _yes_, Momo. I'm talking about you."

This thoroughly confused Momoshiro. He was pretty sure that the memory of being back on the boat, and Echizen telling him in all certainty that he _didn't_ have a crush on Momoshiro, was not some kind of fabrication. Or at least, he didn't think it was. Was it? Did memory loss also mean memory gain?

The confusion he was experiencing was enough for him to slightly reject reality, and to not start stuttering and stammering, and maybe even fall off the bed with his face as red as a crab. Maybe Echizen didn't mean like _like_, yeah, that could be it. But then why kiss him? Hmm, dilemma.

"But," said Momoshiro. "But … But back then you said … you didn't. Did you lie? Or are you lying now?" It didn't even occur to him that it could have happened sometime in between—they had been together for more than two months after all, almost three!

"Oh man... Follow me here. People can change. Feelings can change." Ryoma tried to think of a way to explain it so that it would—hopefully—sink into Momoshiro's brain. "It's like... Imagine a food you really, really love right now, but you didn't _love_ it the first time you tried it. But the more you ate, the better it tasted, and you got all these emotions that were connected to the food and the experience of eating it, you know? It's the same thing. Kinda."

Food … Echizen was talking about food. Maybe he thought Momoshiro would understand it better this way, but he didn't. It simply made him even more confused.

"So you're saying you love me?" Blunt as ever.

Maybe it didn't matter, since the crucial question was asked anyway. "Yeah."

"Oh." Momoshiro blinked a few times, swallowing the words stuck in his throat. He took a moment, maybe two, maybe five minutes, to let it sink in. But it wasn't. It's not something he had ever expected, not even from the day Echizen told him he was gay. He was still weirded out by the fact Echizen thought he looked good and he couldn't touch him. And now he's saying he loves him?

As a friend?

No, don't be stupid Momoshiro.

_But I'm not gay._ Those words never left his lips, because he's sure if he said them, there would be hell to pay. And he'd probably lose his best friend forever. He didn't want to lose Echizen again. Not the first time, not the second time, and definitely not ever again if he could help it.

Then what is he supposed to say to that? Thank you, but I don't see you that way? There are plenty of other gay guys out there that might give you a chance? Can you hit my head again? Why all of the sudden love me? Why? What can he say? Momoshiro didn't know what to say. Didn't know what to do, nothing at all. He was drawing a blank.

Usually, when that happened, Momoshiro would start to ramble about something. Something stupid. Something insignificant, but he couldn't find his voice to start his motor mouth. It was confusing, and his chest felt tight, and his toes were curled up against the floor, and he's clawing at the fabric of his shorts. Just what was he supposed to do?

"Since when?" was what he decided to ask. It's stupid, it's a really dumb question, but he asked it anyway. If he didn't, he'd probably screw everything up at once, and lose his best friend.

Ryoma watched as the emotions came and went across Momoshiro's face; it was like watching the roiling waves, so animated and different, and still the same, over and over again. He blinked, trying to clear his mind from that thought, as it only served to make him feel dizzy. "Since... I don't know. I didn't just wake up one day and go 'oh, I _do_ like Momo like _that_. Okay? That's... not how it works. I don't know. And this isn't going anywhere, maybe I should just..." He threw his legs over the edge of the bed, about to stand up. He needed fresh air, needed to get away from this, somehow.

Again with the running away.

"Don't." Momoshiro wasn't even looking at Echizen as he said it, he's not even physically stopping the brat. But when he did tilt up his head to look at him, there's this sorrowful expression on his face. "Let me be selfish, and tell you to stay. I already lost you once this week, please don't go away again. I know … you … well, no, I _don't_ know. I can't imagine what you're feeling right now. I bet it sucks. But. Nothing is going to change by you walking out right now, except leaving me behind confused, and kind of scared too. It was a scary week … and … I just remembered everything again, so I'd really rather not go anywhere right now, or let you out of my sight either. I know, it's selfish, and I'm pretty sure you probably want to hit me right now, but … don't just leave after saying something like that. Just don't."

"Momo..." The plea was enough to grab a hold of his heart and twist it, hard. He fell back against the bed, rolling over onto his stomach so that he could bury his face into his pillow. "Alright. Okay. I won't go. I won't leave. But... I don't want to talk right now. I... I don't know. I just feel... No. You're right. It sucks. I feel shitty. So... Don't know." Why was he even talking? He wasn't making any sense, was probably just confusing Momoshiro even more, or made him frustrated. He knew he made _himself_ frustrated, so...

It started to sink in a little, seeing Echizen lay back down on the bed, defeated, and hurt. And it's Momoshiro who was causing that hurt this time. He felt his throat close up, and for some reason, he couldn't remember how to smile anymore. He didn't want it to be like this. Didn't want to be causing feelings inside of his best friend that he had no control over.

Maybe he should have seriously stopped to listen when Echizen said not to touch him. He had done it an awful lot. And crap—didn't he even hold his hand at one point? And then they slept together … Ah. First Echizen wouldn't even let him sleep in the same bed when he built this shoddy shack, they had to resort to lying upside down. That was more than a month ago, but the time they fell asleep together under the stars, he had heard no such protests from Echizen. He simply snuggled closer.

Shit, this really _was_ his fault, wasn't it? Why … why was he always touching him so much. It's no wonder it made him confused, and told him to stop. But Momoshiro never stopped to think what could happen. What _did_ happen.

"I'm sorry," whispered Momoshiro in a soft voice. He slumped down his shoulders, then with one hand, he carefully placed it down on Echizen's back, and started to stroke him comfortably. "For the things I did," he finished. For all the times he ignored Echizen's personal space. For the times he got over protective. For the times he was simply being an idiot. What a horrible friend he was.

The hand was warm and comforting, even through the relatively thick fabric of his t-shirt. And suddenly, uncharacteristically, he felt like crying. Luckily, he still had his face pressed into the pillow, so if the treacherous tears escaped his eyes, at least Momoshiro wouldn't be able to see them. Or so he hoped. But then he didn't take his shaking shoulders into account.

The trembling of Echizen's body shot up through Momoshiro's fingertips. It traveled all the way up his arm, towards his chest, and something twisted and turned inside of him. Something hard, something heavy, like it was clenching around his lungs and it was getting harder to breathe, harder to move. His hand stopped stroking Echizen's back. He paused for several seconds, feeling nothing but the shaking body of the person he deemed most important.

Momoshiro had never felt so helpless before. Not even when he lost his memories.

What could he do?

"I'm sorry," Momoshiro repeated. He dug his fingers into Echizen's hair. He wished he could take everything he's ever done to Echizen away. A clean slate.

Momoshiro seemed so tense, Ryoma vaguely registered. Was he _that_ upset? That angry? Was he going to hit him? If he was, what should he do? Maybe he deserved it, for making things weird/horrible/awkward between them. Maybe he wasn't meant for relationships at all, he always ruined them, didn't he?

The tears wouldn't stop.

But Momoshiro apologized. Again. Why did he do that? He had nothing to be sorry about. Or maybe he did, but Ryoma was the one mostly at fault here. Like always. Momoshiro shouldn't feel bad.

No, the tears weren't stopping, but he had to say _something_. Break this... atmosphere that lingered between them. Even though there wasn't much space between them to begin with. Not now. Not with Momoshiro _this_ close. Too close? Ryoma inhaled slowly, shakingly, searching blindly for the right thing to say. He couldn't come up with anything, other than...

"I'm sorry. You shouldn't be. Stupid. Just... Don't be afraid I'm going to go around molesting you at every chance given. I'm not like _that_." In case Momoshiro's mind wandered off with him again, into strange country. His head hurt, Ryoma thought. The emotional strain was too much, it was tiring. He felt exhausted, and he really wanted to simply cuddle up against Momoshiro (but they were almost as close as they could be right now anyway) and fall asleep. But that was childish and needy and stupid. And it really seemed like a bad time. Ryoma silently cursed his own emotions up and down, and he returned to burying his face into the pillow. Better that way.

"It's not _you_ molesting me I'm afraid of …" Momoshiro trailed off. "But …" Momoshiro sighed. "I'm just very touchy feely ... and I don't want you to cry or feel bad … or think it means something."

Ryoma only heard one thing from that babble. "You like to touch me." And for once, it didn't freak him out. Rather, there was an incredibly smug tone to his voice. Which... Was abruptly ruined by a huge yawn.

Now his cheeks were red. "Shut up, brat," said Momoshiro, pouting at Echizen. "I'm sorry, okay? I should have never … I shouldn't now … but it's really kind of hard not to when you're looking at me like that. And wipe that smug look off your face." Momoshiro felt a bit better now. Echizen wasn't crying, instead he was being Echizen again, and even yawning. Was this boring him!?

"... I'll take what I can get, for now." The smirk was back, for a moment, before it melted into something kinder, something almost... Shy. He turned around so that he was facing Momoshiro, and shifted a little so that his head rested partly on one of Momoshiro's arms. "I'm sleepy."

"You don't need my permission to sleep," Momoshiro said with a sad smile.

"I've already got it," Ryoma mused. An arm to sleep on, a warm body... They were all there. His head and throat hurt, because of the crying, but Ryoma was Ryoma, someone who could fall asleep at the drop of a hat, and now he was completely drained, emotionally. He sighed, but it was a soft, almost content sigh, and he closed his eyes, sleep grabbing a hold of him almost immediately.

He felt almost completely safe, the second before he drifted off. It was an odd, nearly euphoric sensation which he carried with him into the Sand Man's world.

While Echizen fell asleep right away, Momoshiro stayed awake, the entire time. He couldn't sleep, not even when he tried. Because he couldn't stop thinking.

Echizen was in love with Momoshiro.

What the hell was he doing to do with this?


	12. Lost Brother

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **enter Hazue!

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo, Hazue) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** K+

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Momo, Kaidoh and Ryoma continue to live in the same shack, awkwardly (Momo tries to spend less time with Ryoma alone)  
- Kaidoh gets better at fishing and Momo asks him to prepare dinner for them  
- Kaidoh makes dumbbells for training, fashioned out of a stick with coconuts. Momo dubs these 'dumbnuts', and therefore names the island Dumbnuts as well  
- Kaidoh and Momo find seeds on the ship (which is a wreck, but still accessible), and turn it into a small garden that they both take care of  
- Momo is excited to have strawberries, and keeps asking Kaidoh to prepare him a chocolate cake with strawberries when they're done growing  
- Momo also keeps whining about wanting a medal (he likes shiny things)  
- Momo lets it slip out that Ryoma loves Momo in front of Kaidoh  
- Kaidoh starts working on his own hut in secret, wanting to not live with Momo and Ryoma because it's awkward  
- Momo finds out that Kaidoh's building a hut, and secretly helps him finish it without Kaidoh's knowledge  
- Through a conversation with Sanada, Momo gets the idea of wanting a rainbow rose. He asks Kaidoh if he's able to make some, and he agrees to growing rainbow roses for Momo (he can't resist Momo after all)  
- Kaidoh finishes his hut, and moves out, leaving Momo and Ryoma alone, and gives Momo a farewell present; a better fishing spear  
- Momo gives Kaidoh a late birthday present, which is a blue pillow, which he doodled on some cat faces. Kaidoh secretly really likes it  
- Meanwhile back in civilization, Hazue is preparing to go find his missing brother, as Kaidoh's been missing for months now  
- Hazue manages to fly to America without his parents knowing, and goes to Florida and searches around. He's eventually gotten onto a small tourist plane that crashes into the ocean, and he manages to escape and wash up onto an island

**Date:** July 12, 2012

* * *

How long has it been? Hazue thinks maybe one, two—no, even three days, since he crashed from his small airplane. The pilot had mysteriously vanished (he should definitely investigate that when he gets the chance), and Hazue was left with no choice: jump the plane and into the ocean. He drifted for a while until he washed up ashore on a beach.

It's deserted though. Hazue has been walking around for what seems like forever, and he's been grabbing fruits from the trees of the jungle to survive. He swears at one point he sees someone else, but before he could get a good look at it, it disappeared. Maybe it was an animal. Perhaps a bunny. Hazue likes bunnies, he doesn't think he could kill any for food. He probably wouldn't be able to catch fish either, but that's starting to look like his only option.

Hazue sits down underneath a large tree for shade from the sun. He's tired, he's exhausted, he's lonely and he wants to go back home. He's also disappointed he crashed while trying to find his own disappearing brother; he's such a failure. He rests his face onto his arms, and he watches the big green leaves tussle around in the wind. He's so damn lost.

Back on the beach, Momoshiro is tugging Kaidoh to come along.

"Come on, I'm going to prove to you that I wasn't hallucinating a couple of days ago," he says confidently. Momoshiro pulls Kaidoh by his arm and drags him out of his newly built hut.

Kaidoh tries to shrug Momoshiro off of him. "I can walk by myself, you know!" he says with a scowl. _Of course_, Momoshiro would still be thinking about this. He gets fixated on things so easily. And of course, Kaidoh can't seem to say no, especially lately, which is how he's found himself agreeing to do completely idiotic things like grow rainbow roses or dance with fire in hula skirts. It's like he just can't control himself, like Momoshiro makes his brain fizzle up.

"Where are we going?" he asks, once he's successfully jerked himself out of Momoshiro's grip.

"To, uhh," Momoshiro trails off. To his secret spot no one should know about? Yeah, he can't exactly word it like that. And he especially won't ever tell anyone what he does there. That would be mortifying. "To the jungle," he says, being vague enough. He'll find a new secret spot.

"Yeah, just follow me." Then Momoshiro starts to walk away in a quick pace, leaving the beach. Leaving behind Kaidoh's newly built hut. It'll be weird now that Kaidoh has moved out, since he sort of started getting used to it. It had been like what, a month now? Yeah, something like that.

And now Momoshiro is alone with Echizen in his shack, and that's actually sort of awkward, so Momoshiro doesn't want to be left alone in a small cramped room with his best friend, and goes and bothers Kaidoh instead. To find his imposter, of course. Or his good twin. Either way works.

They trek through the jungle based on Momoshiro's horrible sense of direction (not really, he's just trying to avoid going to his secret spot on purpose).

It's an hour or so later, when Hazue notices he has dozed off. He's been drooling on his arm, and when it finally pools up so much that he can't ignore it, he wakes up. With a jolt, he sits back up straight and awkwardly wipes off his mouth. He looks around himself a bit; the jungle still looks the same. Still green, still lush, still lonely and depressing. Hazue sighs and finally gets up; he should probably look for food or something to drink before he really perishes.

But then he hears something. Something …that sounds like a voice.

"I'm telling you I wasn't imagining the thing! I seriously saw him!" Momoshiro barks at Kaidoh as he pushes away a really big fern leaf out of his way.

"Whatever," Kaidoh replies flatly, obviously not really believing any of Momoshiro's ranting.

He takes another step and the fern rebounds and slaps him cleanly in the face. _What the hell?_ He growls and punches Momoshiro in the shoulder. "Idiot."

Momoshiro kicks him in the shin in return. "Asshole."

And then they all three meet. Momoshiro is the first to spot Kaidoh's evil twin, standing there with a blank gaze on his face. Shorter, younger, cuter too, but it's not Kaidoh. Momoshiro lets out a girly shriek and he stumbles back, crashing against Kaidoh's chest and making the both of them tumble down in all the fern leaves. Momoshiro ends up in between Kaidoh's legs and resting against his chest.

"What the hell," says Momoshiro. He tries to struggle out of Kaidoh's weird position.

"Uhm," stumbles Hazue as he approaches the fallen duo.

Kaidoh flails his arms, trying to shove Momoshiro off of him and out of his lap, and then he freezes as he looks up and sees who's standing in front of them. This isn't right... How the hell could his brother be here? Is Kaidoh hallucinating too now?!

But the hallucination just spoke. And it... didn't sound imagined. Kaidoh blinks and the hallucination is looking less and less like a hallucination and more and more like his brother. His brother who should be home in Japan.

Kaidoh gives Momoshiro a hard shove to the side so that they're no longer an awkward tangle of limbs with Momoshiro's hands in even more awkward places, and he sits up.

"Hazue...?" he asks carefully.

"K-kaoru-niichan?" asks Hazue. He looks dazed, as if he's in some kind of dream, and he's finally found his brother. But that can't be true, he crashed on this island, he couldn't suddenly have found his brother by sheer accident. Or could he?

But the man in front of him was definitely the brother Hazue remembered—though he didn't recognize the other one who was currently spitting out some fern leaves—and he was starting to look real. Less like a dream.

"Nii-chan!" Hazue chokes out. He then runs towards Kaidoh and flings his arms around his chest, giving him an awkward hug. He starts sobbing into his brother's tank top.

Kaidoh pats him on the back and lets his hand rest there. It's as much of a hug as Kaidoh knows how to give. He feels kind of stunned. This is so weird. When? Why? How? _What is he doing here?_

"What are you doing here?" he asks out loud. He sort of wants to tell him to stop crying, too, but he doesn't, so he just stands there.

"I-I!" Hazue pulls his face away from Kaidoh's tank top and looks up at him, with sparkling eyes (too much crying). "I came to find you! A-after you disappeared you … no one could find you! And the police weren't doing much to try and find you … everyone was too busy with that cruise ship disaster. But I went out myself to find you! And … I did! I found you!" He squeezes tighter. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

Momoshiro finally stands up and marches over to the two awkward hugging males. "Hold up a second—you're his brother? Kaidoh, what the hell is your brother doing here?"

Hazue presses his face into Kaidoh's chest. "Kaoru-niichan, who is that man?" He looks a bit familiar though …

Kaidoh hisses. "That's Momoshiro. We, uh, played tennis together in middle school." It's a pretty inadequate introduction, all things considered, but Kaidoh isn't really sure what else to say. He can't really call Momoshiro the guy he gets into fights with, and he _definitely_ can't call him the guy he _likes_ getting into fights with. He doesn't want Hazue to know that.

The name rings a bell though. "Oh! _The_ Momoshiro!" Hazue cracks a smile at Momoshiro, who simply raises his eyebrows back in return.

"_The_?" Momoshiro looks over at Kaidoh with a smug look.

"What?!" Kaidoh sputters, his whole face flushing red. "No... No! He just means that you're _the Momoshiro_ who was on Seigaku's team!" Kaidoh gives Hazue a very meaningful glare that seems to say, _What the hell are you doing?!_"Right, Hazue...?"

Hazue, as bright as ever, simply nods his head at Momoshiro. "Of course! I know all about you!" That was most likely an understatement. "Kaoru-nii-chan was a huge fan of you!" Hazue feels almost silly that he didn't recognize the man simply because his hair wasn't spiked up.

Momoshiro blinks once, twice, then grins the widest smug smile that he's ever achieved with his jaw. He looks at Kaidoh—who is completely red—and wiggles his eyebrows at him. "Was he now? Should I give him an autograph? From Awesome Momo, with love?"

Kaidoh kind of wants to die.

"Shut up..." he says, both to Momoshiro, who is looking at him with all the smug self-satisfaction of someone who's just discovered buried treasure, and to his brother, who, well, _How could his own brother betray him like this?!_

His brother isn't even supposed to be here!

"Uhh..." Kaidoh starts, and clears his throat a little too loudly, painfully aware of how red his face still is. "How did you get here anyway?"

Momoshiro is giving Kaidoh winks and kisses behind his back as Hazue starts to talk again. "I came to find you! I flew all the way to Florida, and then I met up with this man that I met on the internet, and he said he'd fly me over to where you were last spotted if I gave him something … I don't know what that something was though, he was speaking in English, and I don't really understand English that much." Hazue clings on Kaidoh's tank top. "Oh, and then! Then he disappeared from the plane! I had to jump out of it wearing a parachute—I've never been so terrified before in my life!"

Hazue looks up at Kaidoh with a quivering lip. "I thought I was going to die before seeing you again, Kaoru-nii-chan."

Momoshiro stops blowing air kisses at Kaidoh, and puts on his serious face. He pats his hand on Hazue's shoulder. "It's okay squirt, you're here now. You're safe and sound on this island where your brother and I have been stranded at for a while."

"Oh ... both? Is that what you were doing Kaoru-nii-chan? Were you looking for Momoshiro-san?"

Momoshiro snorts.

"No!" Kaidoh scrunches his face up. "No... I wasn't looking for _him_," he says, narrowing his eyes at Momoshiro.

Then he looks back at Hazue, who is still clinging to him much more tightly than he is really comfortable with. "I didn't mean to end up here. I didn't even know what had happened to the ship until after I got on the island."

"Ship?" asks Hazue. He's not quite sure what Kaidoh is talking about. "Did Momoshiro-san get into a ship crash?"

Kaidoh nods. "There's a big cruise liner sunk just off the beach. Most of the people here were on it when it crashed."

A cruise ship? No … it can't be the one that was all over the news, right? "Is it from Atobe Cruiseliners?"

"Is that what he calls his stupid boat? Then yes. Me and several other people were on a cruise ship many months ago, until we crashed here," explains Momoshiro.

"Oh! That was on the news!"

Momoshiro suddenly looks hopeful; at least people knew they disappeared. "Really? Are they looking for us?"

"Yes, they're trying, I think. Lots of ships and helicopters, but they can't find anything … I can't believe I happened to stumble upon you so easily." But most of all, Hazue can't believe he's found his brother after all this time.

"Kaoru-nii-chan, mom and dad are so worried about you. _I_ was so worried about you!" But now they're going to be worried about the both of them … this was not a good situation.

Kaidoh had been trying not to think too much about his mother and father, because being apart from them is harder than he thought it would be, but Hazue's words make it really dawn on him: He's been gone for over a month now! He can't imagine what his parents have been thinking all this time, or how hard it must be for them. And all the while, Kaidoh has been alive and well and halfway around the world.

"I'm glad you're okay," he says simply. At least they have each other.

Hazue finally lets go of his brother and steps away from him. "I'm not the one that's been missing for over a month," says Hazue with a stern voice. "How have you been surviving on this island?"

Momoshiro props his elbow on top of Hazue's shoulder—it's the perfect height. "Well you see, Kaidoh arrived here, on the brink of death, and then I _saved_ him by giving him water and food, and then a place to stay, and I gave him more food, and I cooked him food, and oh I did lots of stuff for him." Momoshiro couldn't be more arrogant.

And Hazue falls for it hook line and sinker. "Really!? That sounds amazing! Momoshiro-san, you're such a good person."

"He's not that great..." Kaidoh grumbles. He wishes he could punch Momoshiro in the face right about now. Stupid asshole.

Momoshiro simply puckers his lips at Kaidoh, and then he messes up Hazue's hair. He likes the kid already! Well, anyone is good in his book that strokes his ego. "Speaking of food and water, are you hungry? Thirsty? We've got lots back at our shack."

"_Your_ shack."

Momoshiro rolls his eyes. "Right. Fine. My shack. Go cower away in your stupid beach hut. He can stay with me and Echizen. It's better built than yours anyway. So what do you say, uhh … what's your name again?"

"Hazue!"

"Hazue-chan then." It would be weird calling his brother Kaidoh as well. To Momoshiro, there was only one Kaidoh, and that was that grumpy snake standing right in front of him with that grumpy blushy look on his face. "Want to stay at my place?"

Hazue looks down, fumbling around with his fingers. "Oh … that's a very nice offer Momoshiro-san but I …"

"... can stay with me," Kaidoh finishes. There's no way he's letting his brother stay with Momoshiro. That would be way too weird.

Momoshiro simply gives him the same grumpy look Kaidoh is giving him. "Fine. Take care of your brother." Then he leans over to Hazue and whispers into his ears, "But you're welcome to escape to my shack if your brother is giving you a hard time."

He stands back up straight with a smile on his face. "I told you I wasn't imagining it! I told you I saw someone! And he's so cute too." Momoshiro pinches Hazue's cheek and the boy gives a tiny little protest.

Kaidoh grimaces at him. "Don't do that... That's my brother."

Momoshiro rolls his eyes. "He doesn't seem to mind."

Hazue blushes a tiny little bit and nods his head in agreement. "I'm a little bit thirsty?"

"Oh, Kaidoh, got some with you?" asks Momoshiro.

Kaidoh nods and pulls out a bottle of water from his shorts pocket and tosses it to his brother.

Gratefully, he accepts the bottle and starts drinking all of it. It was a lie; Hazue isn't just a little bit thirsty, he's _really_ thirsty. But he sort of feels like he needs to act tough in front of his brother, like this is no big deal, and that he can manage on his own. He can't disappoint his brother—after all, he's the one that's been surviving on this island alone. Well, alone with Momoshiro. When he's done drinking the entire thing he wipes off his mouth with the back of his hand and returns the empty bottle to Kaidoh.

"So you two were together?" he asks, referring to living arrangements.

Kaidoh lets out a small hitched squeak. "We were _what_...? No! Nothing like that! What's wrong with you?!"

Hazue looks at his brother, shocked at the outburst of the question. Momoshiro looks equally shocked.

"Eh, Kaidoh, I think he was referring to us living together," he says dryly. Hazue nods his head in agreement.

"Oh..." Kaidoh says slowly. "Yeah. That's what I meant too..."

"Sure … you were," says Momoshiro with a sideways glance. "But yeah, we were together, actually Kaidoh moved out just yesterday. Or today." He looks at Kaidoh. "When did you .. ? Right, yesterday, I wasn't sleeping next to you last night."

Now Hazue really does give Momoshiro a weird and questioning look. "You sleep together?" he asks dryly. He looks back at his brother; to have sunk so low. Is this what all fanboys do? Sleep with their idols? He'd rather not think of his brother like that.

"On the floor though," adds Momoshiro.

"On the floor …" Hazue repeats. "Right."

"_Not_ together," Kaidoh emphasizes, feeling his face heat up again as he speaks. "Just... next to each other."

"... Oh, I get it. Is it because it's cold at night? And you sleep together for warmth?"

"NO," Kaidoh squawks, mortified. "We don't sleep that close! He just doesn't like the bed, okay?!"

Momoshiro starts making kissyfaces at him again, enjoying this to the max.

"Okay. You sleep on the floor. Away from each other. Got it. Where do I sleep then?" asks Hazue. "The floor too?" He doesn't really want to sleep on the floor. Though he guesses that's better than on some sand that he's been doing for the past two days.

"Well, I'm not sleeping _there_ anymore," Kaidoh says. "You get to sleep in _my_ hut. On blankets, I guess. Oh, and Akutagawa-san brought me a rug... So, yeah, the floor. But it's not bad. You get used to it."

"... So no one has made any hammocks yet?" asks Hazue curiously. Surely, a hammock wouldn't be hard to make, if what they were saying was true, and they had a shack and a hut—those were much more complex than a piece of cloth strung between two trees.

Momoshiro scratches his cheek. "Kid's got a point, Kaidoh."

Kaidoh's eyebrows knit together and he hisses. "Well... I could help you make one," he says to Hazue. "If you want that instead."

"Oh, you could? That would be really nice of you, Kaoru-niichan!" says Hazue happily. "You can actually make one inside your hut, or shack, or what it is that you made again?"

Momoshiro swings an arm across Hazue's shoulder. He's a little bit shorter then Echizen, it's cute. "Why don't you find out? Come on, let's take you back. Then we can go meet with the rest of the guys as well."

"How many are there of you?" asks Hazue curiously.

"I don't really keep count or something ... but around thirty?" He looks over at Kaidoh for some kind of confirmation.

_Hell if I know_, Kaidoh thinks, and shrugs, then nods. "Yeah, I guess."

"Well, you heard your brother. Now let's go get you back to our sha—fine, Kaidoh's stupid hut." Momoshiro starts dragging Hazue along, with his arm still around the boy's shoulders. "And call me Momo-chan!"

Hazue smiles slightly at him and nods. "Kaoru-nii-chan," Hazue calls out to his brother. "Are you actually okay?" he asks in a tiny, but serious voice. It still feels like this is a dream, and it's not reality at all, and he's been thirsty for so long he's starting to hallucinate, and this was an illusion. Hopefully, it wasn't at all, and his brother was safe and sound. And they were going to be okay.

"I'm _fine_," Kaidoh replies, grumpily trudging behind them. And he is! He'd be better if Momoshiro stopped making weird faces at him though.

Momoshiro's arm slips away from Hazue and he falls back a few paces until he's next to Kaidoh.

"So, Kaidoh, should I have written 'With Love, Momo' on the pillow instead?" he asks him.

Kaidoh doesn't bother to answer him, just punches Momoshiro in the arm. Hard.

Hazue is blissfully unaware, and starts humming over Momoshiro's groaning. He's happy he's found his brother again. And that he is alright. That's all that matters.


	13. Awkward Talk

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **some awkward times between Kaidoh and Ryoma after Momo blabbered out Ryoma was in love with him, and Kaidoh moved out.

**Authors:** Happiestwhen (Kaidoh) & Gottis (Ryoma)

**Rating:** K

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- set directly after the last log

**Date:** July 13, 2012

* * *

Kaidoh is a creature of habit. He's out on the beach, in the protective shade of a few palm trees, and he's training, as he always does this time of day. He's just finished his third round of crunches and has moved on to doing bicep curls with his coconut dumbbells (which are absolutely not called _dumbnuts_). No one's bothering him, which means he can focus.

Although apparently that focus is off today, because the dumbbell he's holding suddenly slips from his hand and crashes into the sand, sending dust up into the air and sand all over his shoes.

Ryoma, once he notices Kaidoh on his way back from talking with Sakuno, is about to turn the other way and simply ignore his former teammate for now - he doesn't want to talk with Kaidoh yet, if he can help it, because he honestly don't know what to say - but as Kaidoh drops the dumbbell, he can't stop a small chuckle escaping him. "You've gotta have a strong grip too, senpai, or those biceps don't mean shit."

Kaidoh turns around and sees Echizen standing there, and probably would have gotten angry at the comment had it come from anyone else, but instead he just frowns.

"That doesn't usually happen..." he says, and picks the dumbbell off the ground, brushing the sand off it. Then he looks at Echizen again, but isn't really sure what to say. To call things a little awkward would probably be an understatement.

Ryoma blinks at him, face blank for a moment, before he crouches down, picking up a handful of sand and filters it through his fingers. Suddenly, the look on his face is almost wistful. "So..." He starts to talk, but stops himself, not quite sure how to continue.

"So…" Kaidoh repeats, and goes back to doing curls with the dumbbell to give him something to occupy himself with, but he's lost count now, and can't really concentrate. He's aware that Echizen's still standing there, looking at him, waiting for him to say something. Kaidoh has never been good at filling up silences.

He puts the dumbbell back down, giving up on it for now. He looks down at the ground and his voice turns gruff. "So what?"

"I dunno," Ryoma mutters. And he feels stupid directly afterwards. Making a small, annoyed sound in his throat, he spins around on his heels and starts towards the shoreline in as long strides as he can manage. Once he feels the water reach over his ankles, he stops, bending over so that he can scoop up some water in his hands. He splashes it in his face and blinks, hoping that it will help clear his mind some. "Hey," he says over his shoulder, "did you make those yourself?" He points at the dumbbells. "Everyone's so damn crafty..."

Kaidoh nods. "Yeah…" he says, and scuffs the toe of his sneaker against the coconut husk. "They weren't that hard to make." He shrugs. "Gave me something to do, I guess." He's been keeping himself busy with fishing and running, now gardening and building his hut. It keeps his mind occupied.

"Haven't you like... Done a lot of things? Why're you pushing yourself so hard?"

"I'm not!" Kaidoh protests, not sure why he feels defensive. "I'm working as hard as I always do."

"Hey, okay...! Jeez..." Ryoma puts his hands up defensively, giving Kaidoh a pointed look. "But you're doing an awful lot on your own, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Kaidoh hisses. "But I don't mind." He's good on his own. He likes the familiarity of something like training, where the only thing he has to control is how fast he runs, or how much he lifts. There's nothing complicated about it.

"What about you?"

"Haven't done jack shit since we got here." Ryoma shrugs, hand going automatically to his ribs, even though they're healed now. "And no, that doesn't feel good, but I'm still trying to figure out what I can contribute with. Except food gathering and all."

Kaidoh's eyebrows crease and he looks thoughtful for a moment. "If you want to help me with the garden, I could always use another pair of hands," he suggests.

"You're gonna have to tell me what I'm supposed to be doing, then," Ryoma smiles bleakly. "I'm... Totally not good with gardening. Or growing things. Or living things." Maybe he should just stop.

Kaidoh snorts. "You can't be _that _bad at it," he replies. "It's not hard. Momoshiro sucks at it but that's just because he's an idiot who can't tell weeds from vegetables. I can show you which is which."

"I think I know the difference anyway." Probably. Hopefully. Who knows... Yeah, he will need some help with this, he feels. He takes to scratch the back of his head, stopping himself as his fingers dart over the newly formed scar; it still feels odd. Unfamiliar. "Momo, huh..." Kaidoh likes him. Or had he liked him? Kaidoh knows, thanks to Momoshiro's blabbering nature, that Ryoma likes him. Suddenly everything feels a lot more awkward.

"Yeah," Kaidoh says. "He doesn't know what he's doing at all." Meaning growing vegetables. Although when Kaidoh sees the look on Echizen's face, he feels a little like that's suddenly not all they're talking about. He hisses and looks away again.

"Not that that's anything new..." Ryoma sits down, legs pulled up to his chest. "So... You like living on your own? You didn't move out because you thought you were in the way or anything, right?"

Kaidoh shrugs. "It's not bad," he says. "And no, I just felt like it. I shouldn't have imposed on you for as long as I did." Which is Kaidoh's very polite way of saying he didn't want to make things awkward and complicated and sleeping on the floor next to Momoshiro was probably making them both feel really weird.

"It got pretty weird, didn't it?" Ryoma guesses he's supposed to say that of course Kaidoh didn't impose, but platitudes aren't really his way of expressing things. "You know, since I'm here and all... Are we good?" He knows he wants them to be. If not friends, then at least two people with an nostalgic connection that can still get along, despite any added heartache.

Kaidoh's eyebrows crease. He doesn't feel like fighting Echizen or anything...

"Why wouldn't we be?" he asks gruffly. To Kaidoh, they're as good as they've always been. Which is to say, Kaidoh stays out of Echizen's way and Echizen stays out of Kaidoh's. It's why Kaidoh's never really had a problem getting along with him.

"Yeah, I guess." But... Momo. He wants to say it, halfway at least. But then again... He doesn't feel comfortable talking about Momoshiro. He really doesn't feel comfortable talking to Kaidoh at _all_, not until he's managed to clear his head out. "... Good luck with that." He nods at the dumbbells. "I... Gotta go." He can't think of a good excuse as to _where _he should go. So stupid.

"Right," Kaidoh replies. There's a weird edge in Echizen's voice, and Kaidoh feels like maybe he's supposed to say or do something, but he doesn't know what. Maybe things _aren't _okay between them and Kaidoh is just bad at noticing.

"Good luck with... whatever you're doing too," he adds as an afterthought, and immediately feels stupid for the way the words tumble out.

Ryoma stops for a moment, turning around to gawk at Kaidoh, before an amused smile spreads across his face. "Thanks, man." He lifts his hand up and waves, and then he walks back towards his own hut, his steps considerably lighter for some reason or the other.


	14. Rainbow Roses

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **yay for Kaidoh making Momo things, rainbow roses are awesome.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo, Hazue) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** K+

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- The rainbow roses are finished, and Kaidoh lets Momo know he can go pick them up  
- At some point, Momo decides to dance with fire for his upcoming birthday in hula skirts  
- He manages to convince Kaidoh to join, as well as Tachibana and Chitose

**Date:** July 14, 2012

* * *

Hazue crouches down on the floor, his face hovering over the bunch of roses. The petals are coloured in all of the rainbow colours. Pink yellow, green, blue, purple—it's actually really, _really_ pretty, and Hazue wants one too.

"They're so beautiful, Kaoru-nii-chan," he says happily. He's even more impressed with his brother right now. "So, these are for Momo-nii-chan?" Hazue looks up at Kaidoh, who seems to be half listening, and staring at the entrance of his hut, and he looks awfully hot and nervous … It reminds him of that one time, during Christmas, he had the exact same look. And a few other times as well, Hazue still remembers, even if it was years ago.

"Yeah..." Kaidoh replies, looking guilty. His palms are sweaty. This is so stupid. They're just flowers. It's just Momoshiro.

He looks over at his brother. "Can you..." he starts. _...leave me alone?_ That sounds creepy. Why would he need to be alone? Kaidoh's face heats up at the thought, and he covers his cheek with his palm.

"You should do some training," Kaidoh says instead, shoving the weird thoughts out of his mind. "The weather's good for running right now, maybe five laps down the beach and back."

Hazue shoots up straight, as if he's just gotten a command from his superior, and he needs to do it straight away. "Y-yes, I shall!" he says immediately. "I will double it—I'll run ten laps!" Hazue wants to make his brother proud.

The younger boy grabs a water bottle on his way out, and he smiles at his brother. "I'm sure he'll like them, Kaoru-nii-chan, you don't have to be nervous." Alright, off to run ten laps! Hazue dashes out through the small makeshift door and starts to run along the beach.

On his route, he comes across Momoshiro. "Momo-nii-chan!" he calls out at him, waving. "He's waiting for you!"

Momoshiro who had been walking so far, jogs a little to catch up with Hazue and smiles at him. "Of course he is. Are you training?"

"Yes, ten laps around the beach," says Hazue while smiling proudly.

Momoshiro ruffles up his hair. "Don't work too hard, okay?" He then leaves Hazue alone to his training and walks all the way up to Kaidoh's newly built hut.

He's known about it since Kaidoh started secretly building it behind his back. Except Kaidoh really sucks at hiding things from Momoshiro (maybe he does it on purpose?) so it was pretty easy to figure out why he kept sneaking off and blowing him off. Of course, Momoshiro had to help him out; leaving Kaidoh to do all the work alone was cruel, not to mention a recipe for disaster. Momoshiro has a bit of experience building things now, so he helped out every now and then, when Kaidoh wasn't looking. He still doesn't suspect.

Which is why Momoshiro knew the route to the hut on the beach perfectly. It was only a three minute walk away from his own. It seems Kaidoh didn't want to stay that far away from him, which makes him smirk. Then he thinks about the rainbow roses that Kaidoh has grown for him, and the smirk explodes into a very broad grin; he's so stoked about this. When he first told Sanada about rainbow roses, it was such a throwaway remark; he didn't realize he'd end up asking Kaidoh to grow some for him—much less have Kaidoh actually do it! And now they're ready and done, and Momoshiro feels so bubbly and happy at the moment. He really needs this kind of distraction right now.

His shoes are filled with sand by the time he reaches the hut. "Kaoru-chan!" he yells out as he climbs up the wooden stairs to reach the entrance. "Saw your brother on my way here, you're really making him work his ass off, aren't you?"

Momoshiro finally enters inside the hut, and there's this anticipation sparking in his fingertips. He wants to see the roses. He also wants to see Kaidoh, simply because he's never been that nice before, and he wants to give him a pat on the back. Maybe punch his face too, since that's how they say hi.

He kicks his feet against the wooden planks to dust off some sand from his shoes, and he spots the blue pillow he made for Kaidoh on the floor as well. Then he looks around, and sees Kaidoh standing in the middle of the small room. Momoshiro cracks another wide grin at him.

Kaidoh feels the corners of his mouth pulling up against his will, like he's a puppet and Momoshiro is pulling his strings, especially when Momoshiro looks at him like that, with a wide smile just for him. Kaidoh can't help himself. It makes him want to smile too.

"Moron," he says, and drops his gaze from Momoshiro's face, because just looking at him is making him blush. It's super annoying. Momoshiro is the worst.

He pulls a bundle of the rainbow roses from behind his back and thrusts them at Momoshiro's chest. "Here," he says gruffly, still looking at the floor. His cheeks are as red as some of the rose petals.

Momoshiro's face is rubbing against the roses sooner than he thought, because there's a bunch of colourful petals brushing up against his cheek, and he's even managed to get one inside his mouth on accident. Spluttering the petal out, his hands reach out to catch them before the entire bouquet falls down, and they wrap around the stems of the roses.

Which aren't thorn-free, and Momoshiro cuts himself twice while holding it. He lets out a tiny little yelp from pain, and there's a slight grimace on his face, but it's soon pushed to the back of his mind when he really _looks_ at the roses. They really are pretty when he sees them for real; all these vivid colours that are absorbed into the petals of the roses, swirling around in a rainbow—and so many of them too! It makes him feel happy; the colours are pure eyecandy, and his eyes start sparkle from looking at them.

Looking back at Kaidoh with those sparkling eyes, Momoshiro can't help himself but laugh at the awkward looking snake in the room.

"They're awesome!" Momoshiro exclaims. His fingers tighten around the stems, and he pushes his face into the sea of rainbows, happily smiling into them. They smell … not much like anything, mostly like the ocean and sand and dirt, and a little bit like real roses—his most favourite flower smell.

Pulling his face out of the roses, Momoshiro quickly scans the room for anything to sit on, and spots a chair on the other end of the wall. He hops over to it, ignoring awkward Kaidoh for a bit, and he sits down.

"Look at how vibrant the colours came out! I'm amazed you actually managed to do it …" Momoshiro plays around with one particularly big rose; it's a like a small miniature of a rainbow tornado. It's cool. He leaves the roses resting on his lap and he pull his hand away from it, bringing it up to his face; two of his fingers are pricked and little drops of blood are coming out of his skin.

"Didn't bother to de-thorn them, I see."

Kaidoh hisses. Momoshiro being an idiot is familiar territory, and it jolts him out of his awkward blushy trance.

"_Obviously_ there are thorns," he says, walking over to where Momoshiro is sitting. "You were just too excited to notice." He takes Momoshiro's hand and inspects it. (He really hadn't been looking for an excuse to hold it or anything!) The scratches aren't deep. He'll be fine.

Kaidoh lets go. "I think you'll live," he says dryly. "Just be more careful."

Then he looks down at the floor again. "And, uh, glad you like them." The puppet strings are tugging at his mouth again, pulling the corners up just slightly. "Or whatever," he finishes roughly.

Momoshiro can't tell if Kaidoh is being gleeful he stabbed his finger with a thorn, or if he's genuinely happy. Or perhaps a little bit of both. There's a rush of blood going to his hand that has nothing to do with being stabbed by thorns. It's still raised in the position Kaidoh pulled him in, and he's looking at Kaidoh, waiting for him to hand him over a napkin or something; that blood isn't going to wipe itself.

"Yeah, I do—can you give me something for the blood? Or how about I use your shirt?" Momoshiro grins as he looks at Kaidoh's stomach which is right in front of him.

"Asshole, no you can't use my shirt!" Kaidoh replies, his eyes narrowing. He looks around the room. There are some towels folded up near the door so Kaidoh grabs a small one and passes it to Momoshiro. "Use this."

"Thanks."

Momoshiro takes the towel with his injured hand, and the fibers of the towel immediately absorbs his blood as he touches it. He wipes himself clean and looks at his fingers as he pulls it away from the towel; it wasn't that bad. Just a slight little prick. They usually bleed more than other kinds of scratches, which is ridiculous.

Having taken care of his hand, Momoshiro returns to gushing over the roses again. Being careful this time to avoid any thorns, he lifts up the bundle in the air to admire it, covering Kaidoh's face so it's out of his vision.

"It's really pretty," says Momoshiro. He's almost giggling. He _feels_ like giggling. It's kind of weird to think that Kaidoh would have even made this for him (not to mention so well), but Kaidoh doesn't seem to have mind. Through the petals of the roses, Momoshiro looks at Kaidoh, and sees this strange expression on his face.

Maybe he really is happy he pricked his fingers? Nah, that would be a stupid thing to be happy about. So he really is smiling? With that crooked and lopsided curl of his lips? It's weird, but it makes Momoshiro smile wider himself, and he's feeling even more giddy.

"Oh, let's take these out in the sun, so we can see the colours better!" Momoshiro quickly gets up from the chair—the towel slipping from his lap and onto the ground—and he disappears out of the hut and into the hot sun.

It seems as soon as the roses were exposed to the sunlight, they seemed to sparkle and dance like a real rainbow. Momoshiro sits himself down on the highest step of the staircase as he admires the wonderful colours. His thumb brushes over some roses, pulling them apart a little bit to inspect it some more.

"Get out here, Mamushi," he calls out. He buries his face into them once more, giggling. Hopefully there aren't any bugs crawling inside of it. Though he's sure Kaidoh is girly enough to have fought those pests off. He scoots over a bit to make room for Kaidoh to sit down next to him.

Kaidoh picks the towel off the floor and refolds it, then drops it down on his pillow before heading outside and sitting down next to Momoshiro on the steps.

Momoshiro looks a bit crazed with his face stuffed into the bundle of roses. Crazed, but happy. The petals are even brighter in the sunlight, and kind of sparkly. Momoshiro's eyes are really sparkly too, like they're reflecting the colors. It makes Kaidoh feel weird and warm all over.

"They're going to fade if you keep them out here too long," he grumbles, as he tries to keep his leg from brushing against Momoshiro's. It's kind of hard; they're sitting really close.

Momoshiro has no such concerns; he's busy stuffing his face with rainbows. "Yeah, yeah, they're not going to fade right away, you know. A little bit of sunlight now can't hurt." He raises the roses above his head and admires them some more.

"They're so damn cool though!" Momoshiro jabs his elbow happily into Kaidoh's side as he brings his arms down. "You did well." More like, Kaidoh did great. The roses really turned out fabulous. Yes, fabulous.

Momoshiro brushes his hand along one stem and pulls it out. He looks at it; it's got all the colours, from pink, yellow, green, blue and purple, and they look perfect and lush in colour. Momoshiro smiles at it, then stretches out his hand to Kaidoh.

"Here, you can keep one." Not like he didn't make them in the first place at all.

Kaidoh's face is feeling warm again, which is stupid, since it's not even a real gift, and Momoshiro is a moron anyway. Maybe it's just the heat. It's a pretty warm day after all.

"Idiot," Kaidoh says, but takes the rose anyway. He twirls the stem between his fingers, the colors spinning like a kaleidoscope. It really is pretty. Kaidoh can see why it makes Momoshiro smile so much. Part of him is really smug that he did this, that he's the reason Momoshiro is so deliriously happy. The other part of him is still busy feeling nervous and zingy with electricity.

"You'd better take care of them and keep them in water, because I'm not going to make you more." The last part is probably a lie. If Momoshiro asked, Kaidoh probably wouldn't be able to refuse. Stupid idiot.

"Water …" Momoshiro tries to think of a way to keep them in water, and sure he's got a few pots, but they're not exactly long like a vase (not to mention he uses them for cooking). "How'd _you_ keep 'em in water?" he asks instead. How did Kaidoh even grow these behind his back in the first place? Momoshiro was pretty sure Kaidoh sucks at hiding things from him.

A little bit of blood appears from the pinhole wound on Momoshiro's finger again, but he's quick to notice this time. Having nothing to wipe himself with, he lifts his hand up, then brings it to his mouth. His lips wrap around the tip of his index finger and he sucks off the blood. It tastes like iron, it's pretty nasty, but at least it's not a lot. With a pop, the finger is away from his lips, and back onto the roses.

"That's disgusting," Kaidoh says, although the look on his face says otherwise. He quickly turns away. Momoshiro is an asshole, he probably did that on purpose.

Then he leans back through the hut's doorway and reaches around to grab several hollowed out stalks of bamboo that were resting against the wall. He'd tied them together to use as vases for the colored water. Now that the roses are finished, they're empty. He plunks them in Momoshiro's lap.

"You can use these, since I won't need them anymore."

Momoshiro moves the roses away so they don't get squished by the bamboo, and he looks at them with a certain admiration on his face. "Oh, bamboo. That's actually kind of clever." Maybe he can hang some up in his shack, and stick the roses inside of it. Yeah, he can do that. Have a rainbow wall, that would be cool.

Actually, he will.

"I'm going to hang them up on my wall," he says with a grin. "Give a few to other people. I think Sanada wanted one. Oh and Echizen gets one too, though he doesn't seem to be a fan of flowers … well, if he doesn't want one, that's fine too. It just means I'll have more to keep to myself! These are just the best! Kyaa!" Momoshiro lets out this girly squeal as he pushes his face into the roses again. He really likes doing that.

When the roses are out of his face, Momoshiro turns his face towards Kaidoh, who is not looking at him, and then he gets this devious smile on his face. He reaches out his arm and settles it on Kaidoh's shoulder, then shoves him up against his side, almost making him collide with the roses and bamboo. He knocks his own head against Kaidoh's.

"I owe you one!" he says happily.

Kaidoh's whole body feels rigid, pressed up against Momoshiro like this, like he's holding in a breath. He finally realizes that he actually _is_, and hisses it all out in a rush.

"You don't owe me anything, dumbass," he says, blushing furiously and pulling away, his arms flailing a bit in the process. "They're just roses!"

Momoshiro simply laughs at Kaidoh's fumbling around. "Pretty roses! And you made them for _me_, hah!" He softly punches Kaidoh's arm, just because he slithered away from his glomp.

"And you sure? Don't want anything in return?" Well, he did make the pillow, does that count? "How's the pillow by the way? Soft to sleep on, I'm sure."

"Yeah," Kaidoh replies softly, "it's been really ni—" He stops and punches Momoshiro's arm back. "It's okay," he corrects, voice gruff.

"What do you mean 'okay', it's the best, right? Better than sleeping on the floor at least." Momoshiro starts to twirls one rose in his hand and smiles at it again; he can't stop being happy.

"Hey, weren't you going to make some kind of hammock for your brother? I can help if you want, shouldn't be too hard. Just a piece of cloth strung between two poles or something, right? Anyone can do that. You shouldn't sleep on the floor, you know. That pillow deserves a bed. Not my bed, that's mine, you moved out voluntarily, even after I told you that you could sleep in it—idiot—so that's your fault. But still, sleep in a bed. Feels better. I hate sleeping on the floor, I don't know how you managed to do it for an entire month. Actually, I sort of feel bad for not building you something more comfortable ... so uhh ... sorry?"

"You didn't have to build me anything!" Kaidoh grumbles. "I didn't mind the floor. I don't now either. It's fine. If Hazue wants a hammock, though, I'll make him one. There's probably room inside my hut for it to fit."

Momoshiro is not convinced. "Right, you just _looooove_ sleeping on the floor. Don't be stupid. Sleep on something that's soft at least. And no, the pillow isn't big enough for that. Hmm. Maybe I should have given you a body pillow instead?" Did they even have those on the ship? He should be on the lookout for those next time he visits the ship.

Kaidoh growls, blushing a little at the idea of a body pillow with Momoshiro's name on it. "Idiot, I'll sleep on whatever I want to."

"Fine." Maybe he'll make a hammock for Kaidoh when he's not looking. His neck feels stiff, and his legs feel sore—all because he's been sleeping on the floor recently, since it's awkward sleeping with Echizen ever since he confessed.

"Maybe I should just make something comfortable for myself," says Momoshiro. "The floor makes my neck all stiff." He rubs at the back of his neck as he says this. "Don't know how you can deal with it." Maybe Kaidoh simply likes sleeping uncomfortably?

Kaidoh shrugs. "It's really not so bad..." Sure, the floor is hard, but it keeps him from sleeping in any longer than necessary. "It would probably be easy enough to make a futon though. Find something for padding, maybe palm leaves or whatever, and just sew a sheet around it. You could even fill the sheet with sand, there's so much of that." He turns to Momoshiro and gives him a flat, disinterested look. "That, or go ask someone for a neck massage and stop complaining."

Momoshiro puckers his lips at him. "Why don't _you_ give me one?" he asks in an obnoxiously high voice.

Kaidoh sputters at him and his face goes red like a tomato. "What?! No way."

Laughter erupts from Momoshiro; getting Kaidoh all that flustered is definitely worth making a fool of himself. "I was joking, relax." Then he turns to Kaidoh with a grin. "And you can stuff it with cotton, you know. We have loads of pillow. And I really do mean loads of them. Just cut them up, stuff them inside of the sheet or whatever. Better than leaves or sand. Speaking of leaves—I need to go collect some for our hula skirt!"

"Fine, you do that," Kaidoh huffs. "And go sleep on a pile of pillows if you're so uncomfortable. I don't care."

"That sounds really uncomfortable you know. But I'm sure I could work something out. Hey, you sew, right? Go sew some pillows for me together. Make me a bed."

"I'm not doing that," Kaidoh replies, glaring at Momoshiro. "If I'm going to make a bed, it'll be for me to sleep in."

Momoshiro grins. "Then what's the problem? I'll just sleep in yours then!"

"No you won't!"

"It'll be nice and big and fluffy, and, oh—throw some rainbow roses on top of it!"

Kaidoh hisses, exasperated. "What the hell, Momoshiro. That is not going to happen."

Momoshiro digs his face into the roses again, and through the rainbow coloured petals, he looks up at Kaidoh, eyebrows raised and smiling innocently. "I know … which is why you should make me one?" Sparkle eyes, come on—_sparkle._ Momoshiro tries to will them to sparkle on command. Maybe the light from the ocean can reflect into his eyes for added effect.

Kaidoh sighs. Stupid Momoshiro looking at him with those stupid sparkly eyes. "Dumbass," he says, defeatedly.

Momoshiro smiles at his victory, but then it falters as he remembers why he wants one in the first place. "This is stupid though. Maybe I should just … I don't know, leave Echizen alone for a while. Sleep somewhere else entirely."

He looks up hopefully at Kaidoh. "Your place?"

"What?" Kaidoh squeaks, then tries to regain his composure. "It would be kind of crowded in here with three people," he protests. It's already crowded with just Hazue there, especially since he likes to follow Kaidoh around like a shadow. "I only meant it to be for just me..."

"Oh." Momoshiro slumps down his shoulders and hugs the roses to his chest. "I can just go back to the caves, I guess. Haven't been there in a while. Though it's kind of damp in there. Uncomfortable too. And dark. And sandy. And there's way too many people."

"Don't be an idiot," Kaidoh says, scowling and knocking Momoshiro in the shoulder. "The caves are creepy. You don't have to go all the way back there. There's enough room for you. I mean, we can make room. Whatever."

Happy that Kaidoh had a change of heart, Momoshiro immediately sits back up straight, glowing with pride. "You just miss me, don't you?" he jokes.

"Asshole," Kaidoh growls. "No I don't! It just would be stupid to go sleep in some gross cave when we have two shacks right here on the beach."

"Three," he corrects Kaidoh. "I built one for Kirihara too. I don't think he's using it though … ungrateful asshole. Maybe I can sleep in it instead." But why sleep alone when he can go and sleep with Kaidoh and bug him at night? That's much more fun. Not to mention Momoshiro gets lonely real quick.

"So you don't mind? I don't want to sleep on the floor though. I don't think Hazue wants to either, poor kid."

"I... Yeah, whatever, I don't mind," Kaidoh says, trying to sound like it's some kind of hardship and he's really grumpy about it. He isn't though. Not at all. "And I guess I can make you a hammock or your dumb pillow bed or something."

"How about a fusion of those!?" says Momoshiro excitedly. "A hammock built out of pillows! That sounds really damn comfortable. How do you make one anyway? Like, so that it doesn't topple over or something."

"I have no idea..." Kaidoh says blankly. "I've never tried to make a hammock before."

"Can't be too hard, right? Just string some piece of cloth between two palm trees and bam; instant bed! I think. But then what if it rains … I don't really want to sleep outside. Can we make one inside? Or is there …" Momoshiro leans his back against the edge of the small staircase and he looks back inside the hut, "not enough space."

He sits back upright again. "You should have built this bigger. I don't care if it was only for you, you still could have given yourself some more space. Unless you like it cramped."

"It's not cramped when it's just me!" Kaidoh argues. "I don't spend all my time inside anyway." He glances back inside the hut as well. "But I'm not sure the walls would hold a hammock up... We could try? Though I don't think we could fit more than one, and we need three beds."

"Or just two, to save space," suggests Momoshiro.

Kaidoh narrows his eyes at Momoshiro. "No one is sleeping together..." he says slowly.

"Saves space though," he says with a shrug. "Why not expand your little hut? Shouldn't be too hard. Can be done within a day if I help you out." Momoshiro wonders for a bit why he's imposing so much on Kaidoh as if he's going to permanently move in with him. He's not going to do that—he won't _completely_ abandon Echizen. Just for a few days. When it doesn't feel so … awkward and the tension in the air resolves.

"Well whatever, I'll be fine sleeping on the floor for a while, I guess. I could try making my own hammock in my shack afterwards. Hang it from the ceiling or something. It's sturdier than your hut." He pats his hand against the wooden walls to emphasize his statement. "The entire thing is better than your hut, heh."

"There's nothing wrong with my hut!" Kaidoh replies with a scowl, his tone defensive. "It suits me just fine. If you think yours is _so_ much better then you can just go back to it."

"Narrggghh," mumbles Momoshiro. He falls to the side and leans his head against Kaidoh's shoulder. "You know why I can't. It's worse now that you're gone."

Kaidoh sighs, but doesn't try to shove Momoshiro away, or hit him, or yell at him to stop touching him and getting in his space. He just sits there and lets Momoshiro lean against him. He doesn't really know what to say.

He settles for telling him, "That sucks," because it does, and it sucks that Kaidoh can't fix it.

Momoshiro stares at the roses, then at the sea with blank eyes. "Yeah." And now he's feeling a little weird, so he tries to divert his attention back to the roses. "At least these are a bright note in my day. Literally as well, they're so pretty."

Taking one rose out of the bundle, Momoshiro lifts it out in front of him and Kaidoh, looking at it while still leaning his head against Kaidoh's shoulder.

"Too bad it'll wilt. Can you like, preserve it or something? Too much of a shame to leave it to rot and die."

"Oh," Kaidoh says, "yeah, you can, actually. You just need... resin or gloss or wax or something." He's not sure why he hadn't thought of it earlier.

Of course Kaidoh would know. Momoshiro chuckles at him. "Figures you'd know. Did you spend a lot of time with flowers in your childhood?" he asks him.

"Shut up," Kaidoh says bashfully. "I just helped my mother when she gardened. I learned a lot, some flowers are a lot more difficult to grow than you'd think." Why the hell is he talking to Momoshiro about this? Momoshiro probably thinks it's really stupid. And girly. Whatever, he's the one holding the bouquet of rainbow roses. "I guess I liked them from a young age though, yeah."

Momoshiro brushes the tip of the rose against Kaidoh's cheek. "Obviously you did. Flowers aren't bad though, they're pretty. I like roses the most." He pulls the rose back and pushes it up against his nose and breathes it in. It still smells mostly like the ocean and sand, but it's still got that rose scent to it. "They smell good. Though Lavender isn't bad either. Ever grown that in your garden with your mom?"

"Yeah, it's nice. My mother uses it to help her sleep sometimes. I guess it's good for that. She likes to mix it with oil. Makes it into a perfume kind of thing..." Kaidoh shrugs. "Weird, but she likes it."

"Makes her own perfume? That's kind of cool." He looks down at the roses. "Can you do it with these?" he asks. "It'd be cool if my bed would smell like roses, haha."

"No, that would be stupid," Kaidoh says, frowning. "How can you sleep in a bed that smells? That's kind of gross."

Momoshiro shoves the single rose in Kaidoh's face, right underneath his nose. "Smell it. It smells nice, doesn't it?"

Kaidoh slaps it away from his face. "Yeah yeah, it smells fine. Doesn't mean I want to smell it all night long. That's weird."

"But then you won't smell the disgusting ocean at least." Momoshiro wrinkles his nose; he's gotten pretty much sick of the ocean smell. It can really stink sometimes. It makes him want to move away from the beach. "Any scent is better than that at the moment. You should have built your hut in the jungle or something. I bet you can't smell the ocean from there."

"I don't want to go live in the jungle," Kaidoh says. "I don't know enough of it to know what's in there, or what parts are dangerous. Besides the beach already has everything I need."

"Meaning me, right?"

Kaidoh punches Momoshiro in the arm. "You are a moron."

Momoshiro rubs his arm. "Hehe. I know you can't live without me." He sighs, still resting his head against Kaidoh's shoulder, and he looks out at the sea. "You should have built it closer to my shack." It's too much effort walking to this place for three whole minutes.

Kaidoh feels his cheeks flush. "It's fine where it is," he says. He'd meant to move away from Momoshiro, enough that things wouldn't be awkward between him and Momoshiro and Echizen, but Momoshiro seems intent on bugging him anyway. Even if Kaidoh built his hut on the other side of the island he's pretty sure he wouldn't be able to escape that. Not like he even wants to. It just seems like what he _should_ do.

He's glad that, for the moment, things aren't awkward between them. Or dangerous and statically charged either, although Kaidoh _is_ hyper aware of Momoshiro against him every time he speaks.

He shrugs, his shoulder lifting Momoshiro's head as it rises and falls again. "And well, I didn't realize I'd have a bunch of guests all of a sudden," he says quietly.

Momoshiro laughs out loud, a good and honest laugh. He can feel his cheeks stretching painfully because of his wide smile. "You got that right. Man, so many new people showed up. It's insane. And it's your brother too. What are the odds of that?"

Finally lifting his head away from Kaidoh's shoulder, Momoshiro twists and turns his body away from the other man, until he leans his back against Kaidoh's entire arm, his legs dangling off the side of the stairs. He throws his head back against Kaidoh's.

"This place is fucking weird," says Momoshiro. He starts to play around with his bouquet of roses again, mindlessly twirling them around. "People are being weird too."

"I'm not being weird," Kaidoh points out. "I'm the same as I always am." And he can't tell if Momoshiro's being weird right now, or if he just finds his floor so uncomfortable that he's decided he needs to use Kaidoh as a pillow. Kaidoh doesn't mind. For once the proximity isn't making him feel all strangled and nervous, just really warm and nice. But he's afraid to move, because if he does things might shatter into awkwardness again, or he'll start blushing.

Momoshiro snorts at that. "Not _you_," he stresses. "You haven't changed a bit. How long has it been now? Five years? You still look and act the same—you even live with your parents still. Though I guess studying in America is different. That's it though."

Looking at the roses in his lap, Momoshiro contemplates how much he has changed. Maybe he hasn't, it doesn't feel like he has. Sometimes he still feels like he's thirteen years old. It's probably why so many people are college would sometimes chide him about being too childish. Then again, that's probably what they liked about him in the first place. People really are weird, especially on this island, where everything seemed to mess up, and people changed from the last time they saw each other.

It takes Momoshiro a second to shut his mouth after he opens it to say Kaidoh _had_ changed. He certainly didn't remember the snake liking him or anything back then. Kaidoh had always acted a bit strange sometimes, but he had no idea it was because he liked him.

And now he's sitting here, stranded on an island, having met the snake once more in what seemed like forever, sitting up against him like it's nothing. Oh, and his best friend, whom he hadn't seen in years either—was in love with him. Momoshiro wonders if it's really such a good idea to be showering him with roses.

"You're still the same too," Kaidoh says. "Still a dumbass." He flicks his finger against the back of Momoshiro's head. "Just without the stupid hair."

Momoshiro rubs the back of his head and huffs at Kaidoh. Then he yanks on one of the ends of Kaidoh's bandana for revenge. "Yeah, but you still wear those stupid bandanas. I guess I'm less stupid than you!"

"Moron," Kaidoh growls. "Even you admitted they're good for keeping your hair out of your face! You're the stupid one because you can't figure out how to tie one on your own."

"Of course I can tie one!" says Momoshiro. "It's just more fun when you do it."

"I'm not here just to do things for you!" Kaidoh sputters.

"Reeaallly?" he drawls out. "You've grown some nice roses for me otherwise though …"

"Yeah, well that was just a one time thing!"

Momoshiro kicks his legs back and forth, looking up at the sky, and leaning even more against Kaidoh. It feels nice, and kind of comfortable like this, he thinks. Some things never change, and that competitive and argumentative nature between him and Kaidoh is something he really missed. As long as nothing happens to ruin that between them, then it should be fine. Momoshiro doesn't want to mess up another friendship with awkwardness, and he really hopes staying with Kaidoh for a bit will mellow things out between him and Echizen.

"Thank you." Momoshiro's voice is soft, almost a whisper, but he said it. He's not thanking Kaidoh for the roses. He's thanking him for not changing.

Kaidoh shrugs. "No problem," he says dismissively. "It wasn't that hard."

Momoshiro grins. "How'd you do it? Come on, tell me, I'm really curious. It looks like you used magic or something—and I don't even believe in that kind of stuff!" He nabs Kaidoh in his side with his elbow. "Or maybe you used voodoo."

"Nothing like that," Kaidoh replies, giving Momoshiro a flat are-you-an-idiot look. "You just have to let the stems soak up the colored water and wait a while for colors to appear on the petals." It doesn't sound that exciting when he explains it like that. Maybe Momoshiro won't be as impressed anymore. Kaidoh adds, "I guess it does look a little like magic when it happens."

"Haha, that's pretty clever you know. I wonder who came up with that? If it were me, I'd probably paint each leaf myself … that would be a really annoying job though." Momoshiro certainly wouldn't want to put in that much effort to create some roses. Then again, just one wouldn't be bad. Or well, two. One for Echizen, as he promised, and one for Kaidoh—just because the snake actually does things for him every once in a while.

A grin appears on his face despite trying to hide it. Momoshiro can make Kaidoh do anything for him if he just pulls the right strings, and use the right facial expression—maybe even say 'please' a lot. That kind of thing still hasn't changed from back in the day when they were thirteen years old; Momoshiro could always find a way to drag Kaidoh into doing something he really didn't want to do. It was fun. Or perhaps Kaidoh wanted to do it after all, which Momoshiro suspects is half the truth. They were rivals (still are!), but they didn't hate each other, even when a lot of people think they do when they argue most of the time.

After all, Kaidoh happily talked back to him on the phone whenever he called him.

The grin disappears, replaced by a frown. Whenever _he_ called him, that is. Kaidoh never once called him back, or texted him. It was a bitter revelation; five years ago Momoshiro lost Kaidoh's cellphone number, and he was simply waiting for the snake to call him again so he could get it stored in his cellphone again. But he never did.

"Hey Kaidoh," he starts. He's never brought it up before; they were too busy being stranded on the island, and lots of other things happened. It simply didn't come up, Momoshiro figured perhaps it was a standard way of growing apart from each other since they went to different high schools.

Kaidoh hisses. "Yeah?"

Momoshiro focuses on Kaidoh's bandana ends brushing up against the back of his neck, it feels fuzzy.

"Why'd you never call back?"

"Huh?" Weren't they just talking about flowers? "What are you talking about?"

"Well … just wondering." Maybe Momoshiro had wondered one too many times if Kaidoh really hated him, that he really bugged him, that he was finally fed up with Momoshiro annoying him he cut all contact, just like that. "I was always the one to call," he says. His wounded finger suddenly starts to throb.

"Oh..." Kaidoh breathes. He wants to say that it would have been strange for him to call just to hear Momoshiro ramble at him, like it would have had to mean something in a way it never seemed to when Momoshiro did it. Momoshiro made it look easy. For Kaidoh, calling Momoshiro, or going to his house, or even something as simple as adding him as a friend on Facebook was terrifying, like some kind of insurmountable task.

Instead, Kaidoh just says, "Well you didn't call me either. Not after that day."

Momoshiro huffs, his shoulders rising up and down against Kaidoh's arm. "Right, like _I_ should be the one calling all the time. Don't deflect the question. And I lost your phonenumber, in case you didn't know." He rolls his eyes, even if Kaidoh can't see it.

It takes Kaidoh a moment to reply to that. "I didn't know that," he says quietly. "I thought it was because I yelled at you and told you not to call me." Which sounds idiotic now. Like Momoshiro would ever listen to him!

He sighs. "And, uh, I thought it would be weird to call you, not that I didn't want to..." he says finally, in a low, disgruntled voice like it's killing him to admit, because it kind of is.

Wow—that's kind of surprising to hear, coming out of Kaidoh's mouth. How many times has he said Momoshiro was annoying? To stop calling him? To stop annoying him? That he was a waste of space simply _breathing?_ Well, not that Momoshiro fully believed any of those things … except when he realized Kaidoh wasn't calling him back, so he thought perhaps he just didn't care enough. Though why would it be weird calling him? They always talked about whatever, there was nothing weird or strange.

"Oh … that's it? You were just too chicken to call? Wow, what a pathetic reason. You know why I stopped calling? My phone fell into the toilet with you still on the line! It fucked up the entire thing, the memorycard inside of it was wiped clean, and I lost everyone's numbers and text messages. So I was just … waiting for everyone to call me so I could get their numbers back. Hell if I could actually remember them."

Momoshiro knocks his head against Kaidoh, for being stupid. "You're an idiot, do you know that?" A big damn idiot, even if Momoshiro was suddenly smiling. "Like I'd listen to what you tell me to do."

Kaidoh snorts. "Well, yeah," he says, "because you're an idiot, too."

"You could have texted me at least," says Momoshiro. He only really half cares. He's already satisfied knowing Kaidoh was simply being Kaidoh, meaning the idiot was too chicken to call him back. At least it wasn't because he hated him or anything. "A simple 'idiot' would have sufficed."

"Yeah, I guess so," Kaidoh says, feeling his cheeks go pink. If only he hadn't been such a nervous moron back then...

Momoshiro still makes him feel like the same nervous moron a lot of the time, but it's harder for Kaidoh to retreat into his shell now that Momoshiro is right there. It's not like high school when Kaidoh could easily hide everything away, avoid calling or messaging or visiting or even acknowledging Momoshiro's existence to anyone but himself. Now there's no distance between them, and Kaidoh has no excuses. He's not hiding or running away. And that's probably a good thing.

He bumps his fist against Momoshiro's shoulder. "Well, I'm here calling you an idiot now," he says, and means it to be an apology.

"You can call me that anytime." Momoshiro smiles as he looks at Kaidoh's profile.

Momoshiro hits the back of Kaidoh's head with the bouquet of roses, as he jumps off the stairs and laughs at Kaidoh's face. He sticks out his tongue, drops the roses in Kaidoh's lap—save for two—then jogs away.

"Be back later!" he yells at Kaidoh.

Meanwhile, Hazue was wondering how many extra laps he'd have to run until he'd be free to go back to Kaidoh's hut again.


	15. Moving Out

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **time for Momo to move out of his own shack.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Gottis (Ryoma)

**Rating:** K+

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Set directly after the last log

**Date:** July 14, 2012

* * *

Momoshiro wondered how he was going to tell Echizen he was going to be sleeping at Kaidoh's hut for a while … without seeming really inconsiderate. It wasn't that he hated being in the same room as Echizen, it was just, well, Momoshiro figured a little bit of space would be good for them. And it would be good for his back too; it was getting so stiff sleeping on the floor.

He hoped it would go well. Looking back at Kaidoh's shrinking hut, Momoshiro trekked over the sand, two rainbow roses clenched in his hand. They were for Echizen and Sanada—he had promised after all.

Nervousness settled inside of his stomach when he approached his own shack. Echizen was in there, probably completely clueless about Momoshiro wanting to stay over at Kaidoh's place for a while. He hoped it wouldn't go bad …

"Ryoma, look what I got!" said Momoshiro when he entered the shack again. He proudly showed off the multi-coloured rose in his hand. "One for you."

Ryoma lay on his stomach in the bed, iPhone in front of him and he scrolled through it lazily. As Momoshiro entered he sat up halfway, opening his mouth to ask about Kaidoh, but was caught off guard as the flower was shoved into his hand. "... It _is_ pretty," he managed, baffled.

"Yeah, isn't it? I'm surprised it turned out so well. Guess Kaidoh can make something after all." Momoshiro walked over towards the bed and sat down.

He wondered how he was going to break it to Echizen; he really didn't mean to move out and leave him alone. But he also didn't want to stay there with tension constantly in the air. Momoshiro fiddled around with his fingers, pouting his lips as he did.

"Did you meet his brother yet?" Momoshiro asked instead. He gave Echizen a smile. "Cute kid, a bit jumpy and nervous, but he seems eager to help out. Turns out lots of people are actually looking for us out there—they just haven't found us yet."

Ryoma gave him a blank look. "Didn't even know he had a brother." He thought for a moment. "... Wait. That guy who posted on the journals? Oh. Okay. No, haven't met him." Something was bothering Momoshiro, the pout of his lip told him as much. He didn't want to ask, didn't want to hear if it was something that would make him annoyed or even angry again. Instead he looked at the flower, admiring it.

"Didn't know?" Well, it's not like Echizen was ever really interested in his teammates personal life. "Do you know _I've_ got a sister at least?" he prodded at him with a weak smile. Momoshiro tugged at Echizen's shirt so he could sit down next to him.

It probably wasn't a good idea to start talking about other things, but Momoshiro felt weird, and sort of nervous (and he never feels nervous!), and the last thing he wanted to do was make Echizen feel bad. But the nights alone with him were really starting to grate on his nerves; Momoshiro wasn't fit to feel awkward around his best friend, when previously they'd been sleeping in the same bed just fine. He wanted it to go back to being normal. Where hugging Echizen felt normal, like it didn't have to mean like he was returning his best friend's feelings.

"She's a real brat," Momoshiro said. "Miss her though."

Ryoma thought for a moment. "Don't you have a brother too? Or am I mixing things up?" He couldn't really see what the big deal was - siblings were often overrated anyway, he thought. He looked up from the flower, a frown on his face. "Okay... What's up?"

"Oh, no, just a sister," corrected Momoshiro. He then looked away from Echizen, down at his lap, unable to find any words to say what he came here for.

"Uhm, Kaidoh's got a nice hut," said Momoshiro. What a great conversation starter! Idiot.

"... Yeah, I guess." He wasn't sure where Momoshiro was going with this, but he was pretty sure he didn't want to discuss Kaidoh... Even if it was logical, given that Momoshiro just returned from visiting him.

Spill it. Spill it out all at once. Like ripping off a bandage. "I'm going to stay there for a few days." He's not looking at Echizen, far from it. He didn't want to see his face.

Ryoma's face, which Momoshiro didn't see, went through several stages in the span of a handful of seconds. Blank, confused, hurt, angry and back to confused. And maybe a thought disappointed. "Really. Have fun with that."

"I ... uhm … just think …" Momoshiro swallowed; it's hard to get the words out. "It would be better for my back," he joked. "Argh, no, I mean—just a few days. Maybe it'll help both of us cool off. I just don't like how it's … like this, I guess." Too much tension, too much awkwardness. He missed his best friend.

"We've got lots of food still stored here, water too, you should be fine on your own for a few days. And maybe …" He could mull around and start hating Momoshiro instead of liking him. Which wasn't what he wanted either. But he didn't want to stay and cause a big rift between their friendship either.

"Just … I don't want to hurt you," whispered Momoshiro.

"That's funny, since you're moving in with _him_," Ryoma snapped, jumping to his feet. He knew it was simply jealousy that talked right now and he should better hold his peace before he said something he might regret, but... "If you want to get away from me that badly, why don't I just move back to the caves or something? Won't that be better?"

Momoshiro looked down at the covers on the bed. "Look, it's not that I want to be away from you." Far from it. "But I'm going to be frank here; right now we don't act like friends. And I hate that. I just want it to go back to normal … and I don't want to see that look on your face anymore either." He sighed. "You think this is easy for me?"

"No. I don't think so. But what do I know, huh? You easily enough run away from me to be with Kaidoh and you're doing things for him and with him and..." Ryoma kicked the sand underneath his feet as hard as he could, small grains spraying up, getting caught in the slivers of sunlight that filtered through the walls of the shack. "Why is it easier for you to hang with him?"

Momoshiro finally looked at him, and gave him this serious complex frown. "Because he's fucking Kaidoh, and he's not my best friend who kissed me and loves me."

"But...!" Exasperated, Ryoma rubbed his head with his hands. "But didn't he like you too? Why is that okay? You know what, forget it. You don't have to reply. Don't say anything."

"That was over five years ago," said Momoshiro. "He doesn't anymore … but you do. But, I'm just … well. I'm still friends with you, okay? And I want to stay like that, I don't want this to become worse …"

_Maybe he doesn't. But I think he does. And you talk so much to him, don't think I don't see it. You're such a..._ Ryoma didn't say anything, however. He simply sat down on the bed, shoulders slumped. If Momoshiro felt that they needed some space... Well, then maybe they did, since Momoshiro usually was that sort of person who had no real sense of personal space to begin with.

Momoshiro leans his shoulder against Echizen's. "Just a few days, then maybe this won't feel so weird." He turned to him and gave him a lopsided smile. "Maybe we can even sleep together again."

Ryoma felt too depressed to fly off his handle again, and instead simply returned Momoshiro's smile with a weak, humorless one of his own. "We'll see."

"I'm still coming to bother you every day," said Momoshiro. "Just won't spend the night." He ran his hand through Echizen's freshly cut hair; the tips were healthy looking. "Had your hair cut already, huh."

Ryoma nodded. It was a little bit shorter, just enough so that it wasn't brushing against his shoulders and tickling him anymore. "Okay."

"And seriously, tell Sakuno I'm not going to cut your hair in your sleep! She still thinks I am. She probably thinks _I_ cut this." Momoshiro grabbed a long lock of green hair, and rubbed it in between his thumb and index finger.

"Yeah, yeah." He tried to pull his hair away from Momoshiro's fingers, but only half heartedly. He _wanted_ Momo to touch him, that was the worst part. He wanted it... But at the same time it was what he wanted least in the entire world. More or less. "Can you go now?"

And that was probably why Momoshiro felt like he couldn't stay with him anymore. Everything felt weird now, nothing was normal. He couldn't casually touch him like this without it meaning something for Echizen that it didn't mean to him. It sucked, it really did, and Momoshiro hated the fact that he didn't return his feelings. Then maybe things wouldn't be so weird, maybe Echizen would actually smile at him again.

"Yeah. Take care of the rose, it's yours now." Momoshiro stood up from the bed and walked over to his bag with his clothes in it. He swung it over his shoulder and stopped right at the door.

"Call me if you need anything." Which he probably wouldn't. Echizen never called for help. Which was probably why Momoshiro would check up on him several times a day when he wasn't watching. Yeah, he was still protective of his best friend, despite all the weirdness.

"See you tomorrow." Momoshiro finally opened the door again and left.


	16. Dumbnuts Cove

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **the day before Momo's birthday, which is also when he'll perform a fire dance with a couple of other people at a bonfire at night. He spends some time relaxing with Kaidoh the day before.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Momo, Kaidoh, Chitose and Tachibana practice their fire dance routine every other day  
- Momo gets into a bit of a fight with Ryoma sometime before this log (Ryoma gets jealous over Kaidoh), and Ryoma starts ignoring Momo  
- Momo gets Kaidoh to call him 'Momo-chan' for his birthday, he also asks for other presents  
- Before all of this, Momo has decided to sometimes call Kaidoh 'Kaoru-chan' to mess with him  
- Hazue has created a little shelter for himself (to prove he's not a burden) and moved out of Kaidoh's hut, leaving Momo and Kaidoh alone  
- Momo finds a nice cove on the beach, and thinks it's a great fishing spot. He asks Kaidoh to come with him

**Date:** July 22, 2012

* * *

Momoshiro drags his feet through the sand; they've been walking for a while now. The place they're going is pretty far, and the only reason why Momoshiro discovered it in the first place, is because he was going out on a very long walk (probably further than what Kaidoh runs on his route), and he discovered it. A cove with a really nice view of the ocean, and there's even a waterfall falling down from the cliff. It looks really pretty, and Momoshiro is feeling a bit down, so he decided to invite Kaidoh to come see it with him.

He still acts a bit normal, talks about random stuff to Kaidoh on their way there—but he's a lot more mellow. The sun was almost starting to set too, and it felt a bit chilly. Good thing he brought his jacket.

After half an hour of walking, they're there; Momoshiro stands on the cliff, fishing spear in hand like he's some kind of Tarzan, and looks down below. The cliffs form around a crescent moon filled with beautiful blue water, washing up on the beach. The waterfall plunders down onto the sand, and slips into the ocean. It's about 80 feet high. Momoshiro stands in some tall grass and blue flowers, and he turns to look to Kaidoh.

"What do you think?" he asks. "I'm calling it Dumbnuts Cove."

"It's really cool," Kaidoh admits. It's really surreal, actually. Kaidoh didn't expect to find something like this on the island. It feels so far removed from the beach he's gotten so used to seeing every day and the daily-increasing number of people who are crowding it, whom Kaidoh has to avoid encountering when he's out running, because smalltalk isn't really his strong suit, nor is it his hobby.

Here, it's quiet and calm except for the sound of the water, like a private little harbor, and Momoshiro chose _him_ to share it with, which makes Kaidoh feel warm and good and content.

He looks at Momoshiro, who looks like the protagonist from some weird action movie, standing like that with a spear on a cliff. Kaidoh tries to imagine Momoshiro as an action hero but it just makes him snort and he says, "I guess the name fits."

"We're not here for training though," warns Momoshiro. Just in case Kaidoh is thinking of doing some kind of training out here. Catching fish is okay, but Momoshiro is really just looking for a day to laze off somewhere secluded.

"Come on, let's go down there." Momoshiro starts to walk down the cliff with the spear in his hand. It's a bit steep, but he can manage, and he's sure Kaidoh doesn't need any help either. He looks back just to make sure Kaidoh isn't tripping over his own two left feet (something which he has discovered since they started practicing for their fire dance), but the snake seems to be doing fine, following right behind him. They trail all the way down until they reach the golden sand of the beach.

In front of him is the ocean, and the sun is slowly going down, everything is looking slightly tinted with orange. Perhaps now is not the best time to fish, Momoshiro wouldn't be able to see the damn fish anyway.

"I wish I knew about this place before I made my shack," says Momoshiro. He digs the spear into the sand, then goes to sit down where the sand isn't wet, and the water won't reach him. He looks out at the sea, his legs curled up against his chest, and his arms resting on his knees.

"Kinda pretty, huh?"

"Yeah," Kaidoh says. "Not bad." He toes his sneaker into the sand and looks up at the way the cliffs tug in around the water, hiding the cove from the rest of the island, and adds, "But if you build your shack way out here you'd be pretty far from everyone else." Which is something Kaidoh thinks he would be fine with, but Momoshiro likes people too much for that.

"I guess that wouldn't be too bad," replies Momoshiro. "Too many new people are coming onto the island, it's getting pretty crowded." Not to mention they're people Echizen seems to want to hang out with, but not with him.

Momoshiro throws some sand onto Kaidoh's shoes. "Sit."

"Idiot," Kaidoh says, with no force behind the insult. He stomps the sand off his shoes before dropping to the ground next to Momoshiro and stretching his legs out in front of him. He glances over at Momoshiro and then back ahead at the sun which is still dipping into the horizon and making everything appear kind of sparkly. Which Kaidoh thinks should be annoying, but is instead just really pretty.

He looks back at Momoshiro, and even he isn't immune to the weird sparkly sunset effect, which makes Kaidoh have to swallow like there's a lump in his throat. Instead he asks, "Why did you come all the way out here in the first place?"

"Ehh," says Momoshiro, not really knowing what to say. "I just kind of walked all the way over here and came across it by accident? I think I walked further than your stupid training route." Momoshiro is sure of that; he was pretty absent minded when he came across this small cove.

It's a little bit weird for Momoshiro. Usually he feels energetic, especially when he's surrounded by so many people. But lately, not so much. In fact, it's getting kind of tiring. He probably brought it upon himself; Momoshiro did move out of his own shack—and that had been what, a week ago already? Something like that, probably. He thought everything was going to be better, less awkward, when he decided to stay with Kaidoh for a while.

There was nothing wrong with Kaidoh's place, Momoshiro likes hanging out with him, especially here, right now, where it's quiet and no one is bothering him, or reminding him of things. It was something else … Momoshiro thought perhaps his friendship with Echizen wouldn't crumble to dust if he moved out and gave the both of them some space. He didn't count on being half ignored by the smaller man. Momoshiro did stress the fact that he wasn't going to stop talking to him; he was simply not sleeping with him in the same room at night.

Momoshiro sighs. It feels way too tiring. And he kind of feels bad for Kaidoh too, since he has no idea what's going on. Not that Momoshiro really knows all that well either.

"Talked to Echizen lately?" Momoshiro decides to ask. Since Echizen seems to talk to everybody but him lately.

"Uh," Kaidoh says. "We don't really talk, no."

Momoshiro laughs at that. They really don't. Even back when they were all on the same team, Momoshiro can hardly remember a time when Kaidoh and Echizen exchanged words. It seems years later, that sort of anonymity still persists between them. Maybe they really don't have anything to talk about—which is weird, since Momoshiro can get along just great with the both of them, he's always got something to talk about.

"Heh, I guess not. Sorry for making you stay with us, must have been pretty awkward for you if you don't even talk to Echizen." Momoshiro tries to imagine himself exiting the shack, and leaving the two behind, and hearing nothing but crickets chirp in the background. It's kind of funny, and it makes him chuckle a bit; at least it's improving his mood.

He lightly punches Kaidoh's upper arm. "Glad we're not like that. Can you imagine? Me. Not saying a word to you. Hah! Maybe when hell freezes over."

Kaidoh snorts. "Yeah, I can't imagine that either," he says, "because then it would actually be nice and quiet and I wouldn't have to listen to your annoying voice."

"You mean the annoying voice you fell asleep with?" teases Momoshiro. He's referring to what happened years ago; when they were talking to each other on the phone late at night and fell asleep. Not only that, Kaidoh had admitted he didn't mind—which is something Momoshiro doesn't hear quite often from the snake. He's usually too grumpy to admit anything is nice or fun.

Suddenly, Momoshiro is reminded by the harsh reality of exactly _why_ Kaidoh didn't mind: it's because Kaidoh back then had a crush on him.

Oh yeah.

Well, that makes things … a lot more awkward. Momoshiro hopes Kaidoh didn't do anything weird when he fell asleep on the phone. Like creepily listen to him breathe or something. It's kind of weird how he never noticed Kaidoh's affections. He knew that he could get Kaidoh to do just about anything with him, and he could call him anytime he wanted—but it just never got through to him that it was because _Kaidoh liked him_. Right.

Then why wasn't Echizen like that? It's confusing. Having his former rival like him, and his best friend in love with him, it was all very confusing.

Momoshiro was just too awesome, he guesses.

Kaidoh punches Momoshiro back in the shoulder. "Dumbass," he says, his cheeks going pink, or maybe just orange in the sunset light. It's weird for Momoshiro to bring that up, not because Kaidoh has forgotten about it, but because he hasn't. Can't, really. But he kind of thought Momoshiro would have by now. Something inside Kaidoh's chest seems to flutter. It's weird to think that Momoshiro might still remember conversations they had such a long time ago.

Momoshiro sort of wants to ask Kaidoh what exactly he likes about him, or what made him like him in the first place. But that's a weird question, and it can't be anything less than 'you're simply awesome', right? Well, it's a dumb question anyway. And Kaidoh doesn't like him anymore.

He hopes.

Because then everything would be really, _really_ weird. He already moved out of his shack because of Echizen, he didn't want to move again because of Kaidoh! Then again, Kaidoh isn't Echizen, maybe Momoshiro can just punch him in the face if he says anything. Maybe it'll give him amnesia and forget the whole thing. And then he can call him names. He can't call Echizen names or punch him in the face. Which sucks. It's easy to do those things. Kaidoh is simple, Echizen is way too complicated for him. Like why is he suddenly avoiding him? Momoshiro doesn't get it.

"Kaidoh …" starts Momoshiro, "what would you do if I started ignoring you right now?" And don't say ignore you back.

"What the hell kind of question is that?" Kaidoh's face scrunches up in thought and then flattens out again as he replies, "That would be stupid. I'd punch you."

Again, Momoshiro laughs. "Good. I'd punch you too if you ignored me. Or maybe talk your ears off, that's for sure." He leans his chin onto his arms, contemplative. "I can't punch Echizen though," he mumbles.

Kaidoh looks at Momoshiro and feels a little confused. "Do you, uh, want to or something?" he asks.

"What? No. Of course not. I don't hit anyone but you." And that's sort of meant to be affectionate as well, and Momoshiro hopes Kaidoh knows this too. "I mean, if someone just started ignoring me, I can't just punch 'em like I'd punch you. Which reminds me." Momoshiro lifts his chin from his arms, then faces Kaidoh. He smacks his knuckles against Kaidoh's cheek; it's not hard, it's mostly just a slight push.

"For ignoring me years ago." Momoshiro pulls away. He really doesn't like to be ignored.

Kaidoh's eyes narrow and then soften again and he blinks. Then he says, "Guess that was a long time coming." His face feels warm from Momoshiro's touch and he feels weirdly content for someone who's just been hit in the face. He almost wants to smile.

"Yeah, way overdue," says Momoshiro while grinning. "Ah, who cares if Echizen is ignoring me. I probably deserved it or something. At least I've got you to bug." Momoshiro shifts his weight and then lies his back against the sand, staring up at the orange sky. He pushes the spear down with his right hand and watches it fall into the sand with a soft plop.

"I don't like it though."

Kaidoh hisses, not really knowing what to say. He doesn't feel like it's really his place to weigh in on what Echizen is or isn't doing.

Momoshiro places his arms behind his head. "You know, when I went back to him that day? To tell him I was staying at your place. He was just so … hmm … let's just say he wasn't happy and acted as if I just told him the worst possible news. I told him just because we're not sleeping in the same room together anymore, doesn't mean I won't talk to him." He sighs heavily, he doesn't really want to tell Kaidoh about any of this, but Momoshiro doesn't like feeling like this. Like his best friend is hating on him.

"I was still gonna talk to him and stuff, and do things with him. But now … feels like he's ignoring me. I hate being ignored. Especially by my best friend. Makes me want to punch someone." Momoshiro looks at Kaidoh for a second, then shakes his head. "Never mind, I just want things to go back to normal."

"Yeah," Kaidoh says simply. He's bad at this kind of thing. He's not bad at listening to Momoshiro talk though. That's something he's actually pretty well-practiced at, thanks to Momoshiro never shutting up. He can manage that much.

"Do you think I made the wrong decision? Like moving in with you—oh, he was talking about you too. Like I don't know, called you _him_ and stuff. Didn't pay much attention to it, since he was being a brat. You two didn't like, get into a fight, right?" Momoshiro is pretty sure Kaidoh and Echizen hadn't talked for a while, but the way Echizen kept talking about Kaidoh as if he's been keeping tabs on him, made him think otherwise.

Kaidoh's brow creases. "I don't think so..." he says, voice uncertain. There was something weird about his conversation with Echizen last week, namely the fact that it had even happened in the first place—they really don't talk much, but Kaidoh didn't think it counted as a fight. They didn't punch each other or anything. They didn't really do much of anything at all.

"Yeah … thought so, you're way too clueless to get into a fight with Echizen." Momoshiro snorts. "I guess that's a good thing, not like you have anything to do with this. I don't know why he even brought you up. You haven't really been doing anything besides be typical Kaidoh. Except with more running."

Momoshiro pokes his elbow into Kaidoh's butt. "Way too much running."

"Shut up," Kaidoh replies, shooting a glare at Momoshiro. "It's not too much." To Kaidoh, there is no such thing.

"Seriously? And then you tried to make your brother run that much! Insane!"

"He could've handled it, you know," Kaidoh says, his voice low.

Momoshiro huffs. "Do you think _I_ could have handled it?"

"No," Kaidoh snorts. "But that's because you suck."

"Dude, I have a higher endurance than your wimpy looking brother. If I'd die doing that, he'd die twice all over, then come back from the dead as a zombie and still follow your orders. But then you'd be too scared and run off. Haha."

"The hell? Don't call my brother a zombie." Because it's creepy. "And that wouldn't happen. He's _my brother_. He can do whatever I do."

"Turn into a zombie?" asks Momoshiro. He chomps his teeth at Kaidoh. "Rawr?"

Kaidoh snarls at him. "I'm not a zombie, you asshole."

"With all that mindless training you do, you might as well be. I'm surprised you even decided to come with me to this place. Didn't you say you were going running?"

"Yeah, well, you were probably going to drag me either way," Kaidoh says flatly. At least, that's what he hopes Momoshiro would do.

Momoshiro shrugs. "Eh, true. I don't really care if you have plans. You better make room for Momo-chan." Then he suddenly remembers something. "Hey, weren't you going to call me that? Starting on my birthday? Don't take it back now! You said it yourself!"

Kaidoh grimaces. "I didn't mean that seriously..."

Momoshiro turns his face over, so that one cheek is buried into the sand, and he looks at Kaidoh with a trembling pouty lip, and big saucer-like eyes.

"You're an idiot," Kaidoh says. A really manipulative idiot.

"Hehehe." Momoshiro smiles at him, already forgetting about all his troubles, and now he's simply being stupid with Kaidoh. "Don't forget the chan. That part is very important!"

Kaidoh just groans.

Momoshiro wiggles his eyebrows at him, and scoots a bit closer to Kaidoh. "How about Mo-chan?"

"Don't push it," Kaidoh replies curtly.

"Fine, fine," Momoshiro smirks at Kaidoh, "Kaoru-chan."

Kaidoh's lips purse together. "I hate you," he says grumpily. "Don't call me that, it sounds weird."

"Aww, but it's only fair, right? Momo-chan for Kaoru-chan!" Momoshiro snickers when he puts it like that. "You sound like such a girl."

"And you sound like such an asshole!" Kaidoh growls back.

"And you're still such a girl!" fires Momoshiro back, but he's smiling and laughing. And he prods Kaidoh's butt again with his elbow.

"Dumbass, stop that!" Kaidoh squawks, slapping at Momoshiro's arm.

Momoshiro retreats his arm while laughing still. He's feeling better. A lot better. This is just so much easier to understand, Kaidoh that is. He can always count on Kaidoh to tell it to him like it is, to not hide anything, to not make passive aggressive jabs at him. He's simple and straightforward. And even though he lies left and right about certain things, Kaidoh is so bad at them, that Momoshiro sees right through it. He just sees Kaidoh trying to awkwardly have fun spending time with him, and knowing just that, makes Momoshiro feel a lot happier already.

He spends a minute lying in the sand, still laughing, until it mellows out, and he's looking at Kaidoh, his cheekbones still high from smiling, so his eyes are narrowed, but he's happy. He's a lot more content.

"Hey, uhm." Momoshiro scratches his nose. "Thanks. For being such a dumbass." Because Kaidoh the dumbass is probably the person he understands best, and most probably, the person who understands him best as well.

With Kaidoh, he at least doesn't have to worry about hurting his feelings. Or worry about how his actions might create some kind of weird unnecessary 'hint' to him that could be taken the wrong way. Or simply acting like a dumbass and saying stupid things doesn't matter, because Kaidoh simply calls him an idiot, and then he laughs, and Kaidoh hisses, and nothing of importance has been said. And he likes that. Saying useless stuff. Stuff that doesn't really mean much, especially when they're insulting each other, because Momoshiro knows neither of them mean it. Well, most of the time anyway. Though he doesn't hate Kaidoh's stupidity either. Or his grumpiness. Or just his way of saying as little as possible. It doesn't really matter with him.

Kaidoh just really isn't like anyone else. And Momoshiro is glad for that. Because he might have otherwise gotten a tiny little bit insane, having to deal with people who hide secrets, talk behind his back, or say things that mean something entirely different. With Kaidoh he doesn't have to worry about that. The guy is way too simple. And so is he.

He giggles this time. "You idiot," he says. And don't ever stop being one.

Kaidoh yanks on Momoshiro's collar, tugging him up out of the sand. "Who's the idiot, idiot?" he growls half-heartedly. It isn't really a threat, and Kaidoh doesn't really want to fight. In fact, he isn't feeling annoyed or irritated at all. He just feels comfortable. This is easy.

It shouldn't be what with everything that's happened and every confusing, stupid thing Kaidoh feels, but _this_ always is; the easy insults and taunts and shoving each other around. It's something Kaidoh can rely on, and it's something Kaidoh doesn't want to let go of or mess up, so if that means trying to keep all the jumpy static in his stomach in check, then he can do that.

He twists his fingers into Momoshiro's shirt and then shoves him back into the sand and lets go.

Momoshiro growls at Kaidoh, but it's a playful growl, one that says he's not really angry, he just wants to mess around. He twists his body around so that he's behind Kaidoh's back, then wraps his arms around Kaidoh's neck, put him under a headlock, and pulls Kaidoh's entire body against him, bringing the both of them down into the sand, with Kaidoh on top of him and locked in Momoshiro's hold. He yanks off Kaidoh's bandana while he's at it and messes up his dark brown hair.

Kaidoh's hair tickles his cheek once it springs loose. "Heh, do you think you could do that and get away with it," says Momoshiro while grinning at him.

Then Momoshiro wraps his legs around Kaidoh's waist, so he can't escape, and twists and turns the bandana into a small rope-like shape, and wraps it around Kaidoh's head. He puts it in front of his eyes and quickly ties a knot in it, blindfolding him. Momoshiro's arm is still wrapped around Kaidoh's neck, and they're still pressed together in the sand—simply being idiots.

Well, so much for keeping that damn static under control, Kaidoh thinks.

He can feel Momoshiro's body pressed against his back, and around his torso, and he can't _see_ a thing, which only sends his other senses into overdrive.

"Stupid idiot!" Kaidoh grumbles, twisting against Momoshiro so he can elbow him in the stomach. Then he reaches up and yanks the bandana off, flinging it back into Momoshiro's face. He tries to disentangle himself from Momoshiro's legs, as well as his arm, all of which still have him locked in place.

He finally just rolls them both over so that Momoshiro is above him on his back now and is able to gain some leverage to pull free and shove Momoshiro off. Then Kaidoh scowls petulantly and slings a clump of sand at him for good measure. He runs his other hand through his hair, which is a bit wild now. Where'd his bandana end up?

Luckily, whatever sand Kaidoh flings at Momoshiro, it hits his bandana (which is nicely covering his face), so he's not choking on some dirty beach sand at the moment. He slips it off, then glares at Kaidoh, but finds he's not really that angry—even if his stomach is throbbing in pain from getting hit—he's kind of happy instead. He leans back on his arms, his fingers digging into the sand, and he huffs, blowing away some black hair from his eyes. He looks at Kaidoh for a little bit, who is looking around for his bandana, and he's all orange and glowing, and Momoshiro thinks for once staring at his face doesn't give him this urge to punch it at all. He's kind of content.

"Idiot, I've got it," says Momoshiro. He throws the bandana at Kaidoh's feet. "Why don't you just glue it onto your head so you don't ever lose it?" Or so that Momoshiro won't feel compelled to rip it off his head and see his dark brown hair glistening in the orange sun?

"Or you could just stop touching my head!" Kaidoh retorts, as the blush on his cheeks flares and then dies down. He picks up the bandana and shakes it off. It's rumpled now. He smoothes it out, then flips it up onto his head and re-ties it, all in a single motion. It only takes him a second, and once he's finished he feels comfortable again, no longer exposed.

Momoshiro pouts. "I wasn't. I was touching your bandana." He's a tiny little bit impressed how fast Kaidoh can tie a bandana, but he's got years of practice after all.

"How do you tie it so fast anyway?" Maybe there's a trick to it. A trick that Kaidoh is keeping secret.

"It's not that hard..." Kaidoh replies, giving Momoshiro a flat stare. "I tie it all the time. My hands just know what to do."

Momoshiro ends up half snorting and half laughing at that. "Really now?" he asks, a goofy expression on his face.

Kaidoh, not seeing what's so funny, just blankly says, "Yeah."

That goofy expression just turns even wilder, and Momoshiro laughs at Kaidoh. "You idiot." Way too naive. "Let me try it. Sit down. I'm sure I can work some magic too if I practice a little bit."

"It's not magic," Kaidoh says in low monotone, but he complies anyway, giving Momoshiro and his hands a skeptical look.

"Magic trick?" Momoshiro shrugs. He positions himself directly behind Kaidoh's back, then pulls his legs up and folds them over each other. He grins at the back of Kaidoh's head, and then grabs the ends of his bandana to slip it off.

"Okay, so …" Momoshiro leans closer, and reaches over Kaidoh's head, the palm of his hand brushing over his hair, and he spreads the bandana between his hands to press it up against Kaidoh's forehead. "Oh, how's your hair?" he asks, forgetting about that, and drops the bandana for a second. "Well, you keep it sitting there anyway, so I guess that doesn't matter." He puts it back up against Kaidoh's forehead, and his knuckles dig into his hair when he pulls it tight and wraps it around his entire head.

Momoshiro is pretty sure he ends up ripping out a few hairs from their roots as he tries to tie a knot in the bandana while still keeping the smooth look of it all, but it's pretty tricky. Kaidoh's got a lot more hair, smooth and long, and it's sort of in the way. Momoshiro huffs when his first knot fails, and he tries again, this time blowing at Kaidoh's head to get rid of any stray hairs—sometimes using his thumb to brush it away as well, and he gets his first knot in. He blows again, and ties the second knot, and tightens it pretty hard so it won't slip from Kaidoh's head.

"There, how's that?" he asks. Then he adds, "You need a haircut."

"My hair's not the problem," Kaidoh replies flatly. The bandana definitely isn't going anywhere, but it also doesn't feel the same as when Kaidoh ties it. It feels new and weird and a little wrong, but maybe that's just because Momoshiro had his hands all over Kaidoh's head and his mouth blowing cool air against the back of his neck. That part is definitely new and weird and kind of gave Kaidoh a lump in his throat.

"You just suck at this," he points out, although at least the thing isn't falling off his head or stuck with half his hair tied into the knot.

Momoshiro sighs, then folds both his arms on top of Kaidoh's head, and leans his own chin on it. "Guess I do. I'm never wearing those things. Or at least, not putting them on myself. You can tie me one tomorrow, right?"

Kaidoh smiles a little, not that Momoshiro can see it. "Yeah, I can do that."

"Then I won't catch my hair on fire—though it's you who thinks that in the first place. I think I'll be awesome, I won't do anything wrong." He tilts his head to the side to look at Kaidoh and smirks at him. "You on the other hand …"

"Shut up," Kaidoh says weakly. Momoshiro may suck at bandana-tying, but Kaidoh sucks even more at dancing, and he's not looking forward to making an ass of himself in front of everyone. Maybe they'll just look at Momoshiro instead. It's what Kaidoh usually does, which might be why he can't remember any of the steps. That, and he thinks dancing is stupid.

"I'll be _fine_," he says. He hopes. Hey, he's trying at least! He could have easily just refused to do it at all. No, that's not true. Not easily, anyway. Not with Momoshiro.

"Hehehe, of cooourse you'll be," coes Momoshiro. He wiggles his arms back and forth on top of Kaidoh's head, then squishes his cheek against it. "It's okay, I mess up too. But it's all for fun you know. Not like we're performing on … I don't know, what's that famous place called in America? Boredway?"

Kaidoh snorts. "You mean _Broadway_, you moron." There's fondness creeping into his voice, so he adds in a growl, "And that feels weird," referring to the way Momoshiro is touching him. Well, weird would be one word for it.

"Broadway, whatever," says Momoshiro. "What feels weird?" he asks, and leans back away from Kaidoh. "The bandana? Argh, I know, I suck at it. Here, just take it off and re-do it yourself then." He starts tugging at the ends of Kaidoh's bandana.

Kaidoh reaches back behind his neck. "I can do that myself," he says, and his hands cover Momoshiro's. He feels a warm zing against his palms that only lasts a moment and then he pulls the bandana free and quickly re-ties it on his own.

"That's how you should do it," he says, throwing a glance back over his shoulder.

Not even getting a good enough look despite being so close, Momoshiro simply shrugs, then he leans back on top of Kaidoh's head. "Whatever. That's your thing. Don't forget to do mine tomorrow." Then he smiles and pinches Kaidoh's cheek. "I'll put your skirt on."

"What the hell, no you won't!" Kaidoh squeaks, turning red.

"I kinda have to, I'm the one who made it, so I'm putting it on you." It makes sense to Momoshiro. He knows how delicate the strings are, and how to tie them together. If Kaidoh ties his bandana, Momoshiro will tie his skirt. Fair trade, no?

Kaidoh's face scrunches up and he's still blushing. "Fine," he finally says, defeatedly.

"Hehe, that's the spirit!" Momoshiro pinches his cheek again, just because (and because Kaidoh isn't punching him away). "As long as you actually, you know, wear something underneath it … I don't want to, well. You know."

"Ew." Kaidoh pulls a face. "Obviously. That would be gross."

"Haha, I know! But I think, you know, those two were planning on it …" Momoshiro pouts his lips against Kaidoh's bandana. "And ugh, gross, I just remembered what Echizen said about that."

Kaidoh hisses, still feeling disgusted. "Huh," he says, which is basically all he can say since he doesn't want to ask what Echizen said about something weird like that.

Momoshiro shakes his head. "Yeeahh, I don't want to remember that again. That's gross. Change of subject. My birthday is also tomorrow, you know that, right?" Kaidoh kind of has to, doesn't he? He'd feel insulted if he didn't.

"Of course I know that, stupid," Kaidoh replies. He knows a lot of things.

"Hmmm, do you also know what I like for my birthday?" Momoshiro asks as he plays with the ends of Kaidoh's bandana, twirling it around his finger. He's still resting his chin on top of him, staring out at the ocean, at the sun setting in the distance and slowly disappearing. It's actually really kind of pretty, all orange and pink.

Kaidoh shrugs his shoulders. "Stupid stuff?" he guesses.

"Uhh." He's kind of got a point there. "It's not stupid!" Momoshiro immediately dejects. "Just because I don't like training stuff, doesn't mean the things I do like is stupid." He wrinkles his nose in disgust. "Don't you dare give me dumbnuts."

Kaidoh snorts at that. "I won't. You'd never use them. Lazy idiot."

"I totally would," says Momoshiro. "I'd use 'em to juggle."

"That's not what they're for!" Kaidoh protests. His lips purse into a scowl. "Take them seriously."

Momoshiro laughs. "What—how can I take those things seriously? They look ridiculous."

"They just look like dumbbells," Kaidoh replies grumpily. "You look ridiculous."

Momoshiro growls against his head. "They look like coconuts on a stick. Aka; dumbnuts. Like your stupid nuts on a stick." He drops one hand and points at Kaidoh's crotch.

"Asshole," Kaidoh growls right back, smacking Momoshiro's pointing arm. "Don't be stupid."

Momoshiro puts his arm back on top of Kaidoh's head. "Then don't make stupid things. Simple. Unless it's meant for me, then it's okay I guess. As long as it's not stupid."

"Whatever," Kaidoh replies. "Nothing I make is stupid."

Momoshiro hums softly. "We'll just have to see about that. You _are_ gonna make me something, right? Right? I made you a pillow! How's that working out for you by the way? Your head makes a great pillow for my arms." He snuggles closer.

"My head's not a pillow, dumbass," Kaidoh says, but doesn't push Momoshiro off of him. "Yeah, it's fine though. It's pretty soft."

"Hehe." Momoshiro is happy to know Kaidoh hasn't thrown his pillow out into the sea, and actually sleeps on it every night. It makes him feel warm. "Oh, you know what would be great? Like this big ... pillow ... swing! Kind of like a hammock I guess. Anything you can sit down on and just rock back and forth sounds good to me. Has to be soft of course. Or anything soft to relax in, that works too."

"Of _course_ you'd want something like that," Kaidoh says, and raises a fist to knock into Momoshiro's arm. "You're so lazy."

"Hah, leave me be. It's my birthday. I can be whatever I want on that day." Momoshiro nudges Kaidoh's fist away with his elbow. "I bet you would want a treadmill or something. Like you're some kind of stupid hamster running around in circles because you've got nothing else to do."

Which is true; Kaidoh really doesn't do much other than running a lot. Momoshiro is seriously starting to doubt he knows how to do anything for fun. Though maybe this counts—hanging out with Momoshiro is always fun. Or at least, he thinks so. No, it _is_ fun to hang out with him, always. Even Kaidoh thinks so, otherwise he wouldn't be here, sitting in front of him, and letting Momoshiro hang all over his head.

Actually … that's kind of strange. It's strange because it's, well, it's _not_ strange! It feels normal, as if Kaidoh really doesn't mind. Usually he'd punch him or throw him off, or something else that would physically hurt. Momoshiro sort of wants to ask why Kaidoh is being so lenient with him, but he doesn't want to spoil the mood either. Chances like these didn't come by very much (if at all!), so he'll just keep quiet and … rub his chin on top of Kaidoh's bandana and lower his arms to rest them right on top of Kaidoh's shoulders.

"Did you try fishing with that spear you made me?" asks Momoshiro.

"Yeah, I tried it out," Kaidoh says. "It's not bad, but there's a trick to using it." Which is Kaidoh's way of saying he didn't catch anything on the first try. "I'll show you."

The sun's dipping lower now into the horizon and Kaidoh stretches his legs out in front of him into the sand. He rolls his neck back, which is weird because moving his head also means moving Momoshiro, who's like a warm weight above him, behind him, and around him with his arms at the sides of Kaidoh's head. Momoshiro seems really relaxed and it's making Kaidoh let his guard down and relax too. Maybe the whole sparkly sunset light has something to do with it too. Kaidoh just feels content. It feels natural.

He grumbles, reminding himself not to get too comfortable, not to read meaning into this. Momoshiro's probably just tired.

"You're heavy," Kaidoh says, although he doesn't mind the weight against him at all; just feels like he should.

"Your point being?" asks Momoshiro with a snort. He doesn't move, nor makes any attempts to pull away from Kaidoh. Not that he even wants to, sitting like this is relaxing, and it sort of makes him tired as well.

"Show me later," he grumbles. He _really_ doesn't feel like moving. Not now. Not when everything is pink and orange, and his arms are brushing against the side of Kaidoh's warm and slender neck. It's a one-in-a-million kind of chance; Momoshiro knows Kaidoh would be the last person to allow him to be all friendly and touchy-feely. Which is why he feels like he should stretch this for as long as he can, because it's _nice_ for once, to not be fighting, to not be yelling, but to simply sit there, comfy and relaxed.

Not that he minds the fighting all that much.

An idea creeps into Momoshiro's mind. He finally retrieves his right arm, sliding it across Kaidoh's shoulders, slowly and at his own leisure. He slowly pulls it all the way back, until he drops it next to himself, and takes out his phone from his pocket. This time a little faster, Momoshiro leans forward, pressing his chest against Kaidoh's back, and giving him a sort of headlock with his left arm, as he stretches out his right in front of them both, his phone flipped open and turned to them.

"Smile!" says Momoshiro. He pops his head above Kaidoh and gives a big wide grin at his phone before he pushes the button, and snaps a picture of them both.

"What!?" Kaidoh is in the middle of shouting as the phone's camera clicks, his eyes wide and darting sidelong in surprise.

After it's taken, he twists around a little to glare at Momoshiro over his shoulder. "What the hell was that for?"

Ignoring Kaidoh's death glare, Momoshiro doesn't move from his position, but reels in his arm and looks at his cellphone. On the illuminated display, it shows a picture of Kaidoh's legs, his chest, and half of his surprised and embarrassed face, being choked by Momoshiro's arm. The rest is out of frame.

"Whaaaat—I cut off my face!" whines Momoshiro. "Well then, one more time." More determinedly this time, Momoshiro lowers his face and rests his chin right on top of Kaidoh's shoulder. He uses his grip on Kaidoh's shoulder to push the snake closer to him so they can both be in frame. He stretches out his arm again, readying the phone in his hand.

Kaidoh just lets out a sulky sounding huff, because Momoshiro is really close and it's making him blush and Kaidoh pulls his mouth into a scowl, wishing he could hide his face under a paper bag. But he doesn't pull away because, as disgruntled as he must look, inside his chest, his heart is pounding hopefully, happy at the feeling of Momoshiro there with him.

_Snap_.

Momoshiro turns the phone over and brings it closer to his face to look at the picture. This time they're both in frame, though it's more aimed at Kaidoh, and Momoshiro's left side is mostly cut off. But it's fine, because they're both in it, and Momoshiro is smiling like the dumbass he is, because he really sort of is. Then his eyes shift over to the left, and he sees Kaidoh.

He quickly snaps his phone shut and pulls himself away from Kaidoh, grinning at him innocently. Momoshiro sits next to Kaidoh this time, looking down at the sand and he fiddles around with his cellphone.

"That one was—" Embarrassing? Amateurishly done? Something which Momoshiro won't delete from his phone, ever? "—better." It felt like some dirty secret that Momoshiro wasn't really allowed to see, hence why he doesn't want to look at Kaidoh right now either. Hence why he's not touching him.

And he can't stop fiddling around with his phone.

Say something else, Momoshiro. Change the subject. Don't focus on the picture. Get it out his mind. Don't think about it.

"Nice weather," he says dumbly. He can hear a pin drop in the background; he's the lamest person on earth.

Momoshiro punches Kaidoh's arm. He shifts his eyes over the sand and tries to look at Kaidoh, but feels like looking at his face is forbidden territory, so he ends up looking at the back of his nicely tied bandana.

"Running weather," adds Momoshiro.

Kaidoh punches Momoshiro back in the arm too, for making him blush like that—like he probably still is, and for taking a picture of it. Now Momoshiro will have that stuck on his phone, to look at, and think about how much of a freak Kaidoh is. Maybe he'll get lucky and Momoshiro will be so disgusted by Kaidoh's weird face that he'll delete it. It's embarrassing … Kaidoh kind of wants a copy.

"Do you want to run or something?" he asks, tugging his legs up in the sand and resting his arms across his knees. "I don't think you could keep up."

Running. A word that comes out of Kaidoh's mouth more than Momoshiro would like to hear. It's a word that he hears more than 'hamburgers'. A word frequently used when Kaidoh feels awkward, nervous or embarrassed—or a combination of all three.

"I could," he protests. It actually doesn't sound all that bad right now. Yeah. Momoshiro can run. With Kaidoh. Maybe it'll cool them down. They can go run back home before it gets dark. His cheeks flare a little with heat when he thinks of 'home' and Kaidoh in the same sentence. That's stupid. It's just a lame hut.

"Let's run back?" suggests Momoshiro. He quickly stuffs his cellphone into his pocket. No one is seeing that picture. Ever.

"Yeah," Kaidoh agrees, and climbs to his feet, brushing sand off his shorts. He turns to look down at Momoshiro, and feels a little bit like they're back in middle school and about to run laps around the tennis courts. There's the same, familiar edge of challenge in his voice when he says, "We'll see how long you last."

Momoshiro bats at Kaidoh's ankles before getting up himself. "Longer than you!"

The sun is getting redder and bigger at the horizon, simply fading away. Momoshiro stares long and hard at the sunset, and then his gaze shifts towards to Kaidoh, who is looking right at him. The sound of the ocean waves quiets down, and his ears start buzzing and ringing from the silence. There's this unexplainable need to keep his eyes on Kaidoh, to not break eye contact. Maybe it's a challenge, maybe it's because they're rivals. That would make sense at least.

It's not because he doesn't want to look away.

Probably.

He picks up his spear from the ground. "Come on, let's go, stop staring at me," says Momoshiro. He smirks.

Kaidoh's cheeks flare up with heat and he drops Momoshiro's gaze immediately, and starts jogging across the beach back to where they'd first climbed down. Everything is tinted red now; maybe Momoshiro didn't notice. It's getting harder for Kaidoh to come up with excuses.

It's a little bit steeper going back up, and Kaidoh has to grab onto a boulder twice to steady himself, but soon he's reached the top again and waits for Momoshiro to join him. He's ready to focus on running because at least that won't ever shake or confuse him.

Momoshiro is right behind him, after all, he's the one that found this cove, and he knows how to get back up already, so it takes little effort to catch up to Kaidoh who is fleeing away.

Like a real gentleman, Momoshiro steps in front of Kaidoh, his back turned to him. "I'll lead." Because he knows the way, but he also just likes messing around with Kaidoh. Without even stretching properly, he simply starts to jog down the grassy and flowery trail along the cliffs so they could get back home.


	17. Birthday Cake

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **Momo's birthday! The fire dance will be later in the evening, and is not played out in a log.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Set a day after the last log

**Date:** July 23, 2012

* * *

It's Momoshiro's birthday today and Kaidoh is up at dawn, not because it's Momoshiro's birthday, at least not entirely, but because Kaidoh always wakes up that early to train.

He might have gotten up a bit earlier than usual today out of nervousness.

He sets out running down the beach while the sun is still rising. It's quiet out and he doesn't see any people. This is the time of day that Kaidoh likes best, when he can train on his own without distraction, or potential social interaction. This morning, instead of running continuously, he stops every few minutes to pick things up from the beach and pockets them in his shorts—cool-looking shells, round beach pebbles, smooth twigs of driftwood.

Kaidoh thinks it's a bit dumb, but Momoshiro is the biggest idiot he knows, so maybe he'll like it. He'd thought about making Momoshiro a real cake of course. After all, he's heard there's an oven on the island now... But Kaidoh isn't sure where it is, and he doesn't know how to bake anyway, really, and he sure as hell isn't going to go to someone he barely knows and ask for help baking something special for Momoshiro. That would just be … weird. People would … think things. Not that they'd be wrong.

His running course ends up taking him half an hour longer to complete, and his pockets are full of a bunch of small, random things off the beach by the time he's finished. When he returns to his hut, he empties his pockets of their contents. He's collected twenty-one shells, the coolest ones he could find, iridescent undersides, none of them cracked. One for each year.

He builds a large, primitive pile with the sand, using his hands to mold the corners and smooth over the top until it starts to resemble a cake. Or a tower. Or a hill. Then he dots the pebbles he collected around the edge, and puts the shells in the middle, trying to form them into a peach pattern. It ends up kind of looking more identifiably like a heart, which makes Kaidoh's own heart do a weird flip-flop and he pulls them off and replaces them in the shape of a star instead. Because hearts are stupid and Momoshiro will think he's lame. Or that the cake is supposed to be some weird mushy love thing and Kaidoh doesn't do weird mushy love things.

Finally, Kaidoh sticks the driftwood on the top of the cake for candles. At least, they're supposed to be candles. It looks more like twigs stuck in sand, but whatever.

He steps back, unsure if it actually resembles a cake at all, or just a really pathetic sandcastle. He pulls one of the twigs from the top and draws a few swirls and strawberries around the side of the cake and then places it back again. That looks a little better. He hasn't done anything like this in a really long time and it kind of makes him feel childish. He used to be so good at it though, making elaborate multi-level cakes. Then one day he decided it seemed kind of silly. People grow out of stuff.

Once he's satisfied with his strange sand cake creation, Kaidoh grabs a larger piece of driftwood and scrawls _Happy Birthday_ into the sand. It doesn't look complete, so Kaidoh adds _Momoshiro_ underneath it. There; it'll be the first thing Momoshiro sees when he wakes up and steps out of the hut.

Then Kaidoh remembers his stupid agreement to not call Momoshiro by his full name anymore. Why had he said he'd do that again? Oh, right, because Momoshiro has figured out that he can make Kaidoh do anything he wants and Kaidoh is helpless to resist. Stupid dumbass.

Kaidoh shuffles his foot over the end of Momoshiro's name in the sand to erase it, and uses the driftwood to write _-chan_ instead.

He steps away. It looks fucking weird and makes Kaidoh feel even weirder, like there's a pendulum swooping back and forth inside his stomach. He wants to switch the name back.

Instead he just walks off into the jungle, half to clear his head—maybe it'll be less weird when he gets back—and half to forage up some fruit for breakfast. He's still not the best fisherman, and Kaidoh has no idea how to even begin trying to make a fish burger... since he hasn't eaten burgers in a while anyway and doesn't know how it should taste, but he can find fruit so he'll give Momoshiro that instead. Momoshiro's never been a picky eater.

He comes back and sets his findings down on the steps of his hut—something that resembles a banana, a couple coconuts, and some berries he'd learned weren't poisonous.

He looks over his sandy birthday message again. It's still weird, but it's what Momoshiro wants so Kaidoh will indulge him, at least for today. He tries reading it out loud. "Happy Birthday, Momo—" He stops. What the hell is he doing? It doesn't sound right, and it makes Kaidoh feel weird. Maybe he can just point at the words and Momoshiro can read them himself.

_Whatever_, he thinks. He could just kick over the cake and erase the message and pretend it never existed. That would be easy enough. Just go inside and wait until Momoshiro wakes up and tell him, "Happy birthday, dumbass," and have that be it. But the truth is Kaidoh likes making Momoshiro things. It used to be _just_ that, making the things, but recently it's turned into actually giving them to him, and Kaidoh has discovered that that feels even better. He likes seeing the way Momoshiro looks when he's all surprised and happy. It makes Kaidoh feel happy too.

Maybe this time he'll be surprised by how completely idiotic Kaidoh is, and maybe he'll complain that it isn't a real cake, or maybe he won't even realize that's what it's supposed to be anyway, but even if he thinks it's dumb, maybe he'll get what Kaidoh was going for.

He hisses and leaves it, turning to go back into the hut. Momoshiro is still asleep, which isn't surprising. Kaidoh's learned pretty quickly when Momoshiro wakes up and falls asleep because Kaidoh is always still awake for it. Kaidoh runs early and runs late. Momoshiro's never awake when he gets back, which Kaidoh doesn't mind.

Now, he sits down on his side of the hut and watches Momoshiro, who is drooling into his pillow, and completely sprawled out. He looks like a moron, but a really peaceful one, and it makes Kaidoh's face feel warm as he watches him.

After a few minutes, Kaidoh starts to feel less warm, and more guilty. Momoshiro isn't wearing a shirt after all, and he's scratching lightly at his stomach. Kaidoh thinks maybe he's having a food dream, which makes his mouth curl up with a smile, but it's probably creepy to sit there and think about Momoshiro dreaming. Momoshiro would probably freak out and punch him hard in the face if he knew Kaidoh was doing this. Because he really shouldn't be.

Not that that's ever stopped him before.

Maybe he should wake Momoshiro up. The sun is fully up now, and Hazue might come and accidentally trip over Kaidoh's cake and ruin it if he waits too long. That and if Kaidoh wakes Momoshiro up, then Momoshiro won't wake up on his own and catch Kaidoh staring at him. Because that's not really the kind of birthday present Kaidoh had intended to give, and Momoshiro thinks Kaidoh is enough of a freak already.

"Hey," Kaidoh says cautiously, but his voice ends up sounding really loud in the quiet hut, and Kaidoh's cheeks go red like he's just blurted out a secret.

Momoshiro scratches his stomach, licks his cracked and chapped lips, and continues to drool onto his pillow like nothing happened.

Kaidoh grumbles aloud, then slides off his bed so that he's kneeling on the floor in the middle of the hut.

"Hey," he says again, and it doesn't come out so much like a shout this time. He isn't sure if he should move any closer. Part of him wants to, but the rest is saying, _Kaidoh, you dumbass, that's a terrible idea_.

Instead he grabs the pillow off his bed and stretches his arm out, poking the soft corner of it into Momoshiro's cheek. He must look idiotic, and sure hopes his brother doesn't choose right now to drop by for a visit.

Momoshiro crinkles up his face, and bats his hand at the annoying object poking his face. "Hnnmpf." Slightly his eyelids start to move open, and he blinks them lazily a bit, before turning over and glomping the pillow Kaidoh was poking him with. He buries his face into it and continues his sleep.

Kaidoh tries to tug the pillow back, but even while asleep, Momoshiro's grip is pretty tight and Kaidoh eventually just lets go of it with a hiss.

"Fine, then. Take it," he growls. He creeps a little closer and nudges Momoshiro in the side with his fist. _Wake up, idiot_.

Momoshiro flails his hand around to hit whatever was bothering him, and he makes contact with Kaidoh's face. "What—what," says Momoshiro, a bit bewildered. He opens his eyes and his vision is all blurry so he sits up and rubs at his eyes.

"Kaidoh?" he asks.

"Who else would it be?" Kaidoh replies in his usual grumpy voice.

"Shut up," whines Momoshiro. "Don't just do weird shit to me when I'm asleep." He stops rubbing and looks at Kaidoh, who has been sitting close to him. "Did I hit you in the face?" Momoshiro can't really remember, he's still half asleep, and he breaks out into a huge yawn.

"I wasn't doing anything weird!" Kaidoh argues. "I was just trying to wake you up. You sleep too late." He rubs at his face. "And you didn't hit very hard, just kind of swatted at my nose. Moron."

Momoshiro nudges the blue pillow. "Right, nothing weird. And I don't sleep in late at all." He stretches his arms outright, and then suddenly remembers; it's his birthday. He sticks out his hand in front of Kaidoh's face when he's done stretching.

"Give it," he says, and makes a beckoning motion with his fingers.

Kaidoh blushes, then scowls as though that'll help hide it. "Yeah, well," he says, "you have to go outside to see."

"Oh? Is it too big to give it to me inside?" That thought certainly makes Momoshiro more excited. "Okay, okay, I'm getting up." Momoshiro stands up from his newly made bed and looks around for his shirt.

"Have you seen my shirt?" He probably threw it somewhere when he took it off last night. Somewhere …

Kaidoh shrugs. "I don't keep track of your clothes..." he says, which isn't true, since Kaidoh is the one who washes and folds them. He glances around the hut and then spots Momoshiro's shirt flung haphazardly over on his side of the room, near the head of his bed, one sleeve pinned under his other pillow. Oh. That's a little awkward. He moves to retrieve it and hands it to Momoshiro.

"You're so messy," he says flatly, and wants to add, _I didn't steal your shirt_, just in case that's what Momoshiro might be thinking.

Momoshiro is still too sleepy to care where his shirt has been, and simply takes it from Kaidoh's hands and pulls it over his head, and flattens it out against his chest.

"I'm not messy," says Momoshiro. Well, maybe he is. Just a little bit. "You just don't clean up well enough." He then puts on his shoes, and he's ready to go outside.

"Okay, now what's the surprise you have in store for me …" Momoshiro is grinning with excitement as he walks out of the hut, and is immediately blinded by the morning sun in his eyes. He sees nothing but white, and suddenly he misses a step on the small stairs, and tumbles down, falling into the sand with his face first, and half his legs tangled inside the wooden stairs.

Ouch. That kind of hurt.

"What the hell?" Kaidoh mutters, as he hears Momoshiro faceplant into the sand outside the hut. He follows him outside and looks down to where Momoshiro is half trapped in the stairs and half flopped on the ground.

"Idiot. Are you okay?" he asks, descending the stairs to offer Momoshiro a hand up. "Is this how you start all your birthdays?"

Momoshiro lifts his face from the sand, a bunch of dirt stuck to his cheek, and he half glares at Kaidoh behind him. He yanks his legs away from the stairs.

"_No,_" he spits out, "that's not how I start my birthdays at all, jackass." He sits up straight and wipes away the sand from his face with his shirt. "On my last birthday, my sister decided it was a good idea to give me a surprise visit at my apartment, and woke me up with a fucking airhorn." Momoshiro sighs; his face hurts and is throbbing a little bit.

"I'd like to have a birthday where no one is annoying me to wake up." He glares at Kaidoh as he says this. Then he wipes away at his face some more, there's even sand on his lips and he's pretty sure he's swallowed some too.

"Hey, it's your fault for not getting up earlier," Kaidoh says blankly, as though this is obvious. He doesn't put nearly as much importance in sleep as Momoshiro does.

Momoshiro rubs at his eyes this time. "What, why should I get up so early? What time is it anyway …" Momoshiro sets his hand down onto the sand, and notices weird squiggly lines inside of it. Strange. They weren't there last night. He rubs at his blurry eyes some more to clear up his vision; and that's when he noticed he had fallen face-first into some kind of lettering.

_Slan_

What?

Momoshiro tilts up his head to look at the entire thing, and recognizes his name. _Momo-slan_. He whips his head back at Kaidoh. "Momo-slan?" he echoes. What is that, like short for slander or something?

Kaidoh huffs. His sand-writing isn't that illegible. Momoshiro's rather graceless fall from his hut steps had just smudged the word into something unrecognizable. "That's not what it said a few minutes ago."

"Then what did it say?" asks Momoshiro as he rolls his eyes. He turns away from Kaidoh to look back at the writing, and then sees _Happy Birthday_ written above it. And right above that, is some kind of weirdly misshapen pile of sand.

"What do you think it said, dumbass?" Kaidoh replies. "Your name, obviously."

"How do you get Momo-slan from Momoshiro?" He then crawls on his hands and knees towards the small pile—his knees erasing the word 'happy'—wanting to get a closer look. It's surrounded by pebbles and decorated with seashells.

"Oh, uh..." Kaidoh looks at his shoes. "Because it didn't say Momoshiro."

Momoshiro sits right in front of the pile, and it looks sort of … like a cake? It's got these weird sticks inside of the sand, as well as pretty little sea shells everywhere—and yeah, Momoshiro guesses it's supposed to be a cake. He starts to smile; it's better than nothing. Not when they're on an island and baking a real cake is simply not feasible right now.

"Hmm? Then what did it say, pray tell." Momoshiro pokes a hole inside of the sand, right at the top, and scribbles in 'happy birthday' himself. It's silly, it's kind of stupid, and it's pretty much the most pointless thing ever, but Momoshiro likes it. He likes it even more knowing Kaidoh had to get out, collect some stuff, and actually shape the sand cake. Just the image of Kaidoh doing something as silly as that makes him feel giddy, and he feels kind of important and satisfied. He's happy Kaidoh made him a stupid gift.

Turning his head to look back at Kaidoh, he shoots him a very wide smile, his eyes smiling too. "You're such an idiot," he says, but he says it like it's a compliment, like it's a desirable trait. He turns back towards the cake and pokes at the little sticks. They're supposed to be candles, he guesses.

"Couldn't you get any real candles?" asks Momoshiro. He's pretty sure there were loads of candles available on the island.

"I..." Kaidoh starts. Yeah, he probably could have found real candles, but he would have had to talk to people for that to happen... "I didn't think about that," he says instead. But Momoshiro doesn't look disappointed, just amused. More than amused, he looks really happy. It makes Kaidoh's mouth twitch with a smile too and he adds, "Whatever, it doesn't need them." _It was supposed to look this way. Right_. "You'll get to play with fire tonight anyway."

Momoshiro giggles like a little kid. "That's right! And you're dancing with me, you snake with two left feet." He waves his arm at Kaidoh to get him to come over and sit down with him.

"So I guess I should just pretend there are candles burning," says Momoshiro. He's hunched over the sand cake, and he's still smiling at it. The gesture alone was enough to get his mind off of other things and to make him feel happy again, like the usual Momoshiro.

He turns his head towards Kaidoh with a smirk. "I want a happy birthday song. From you. To Momo-chan. You know, that ridiculous English song."

Kaidoh crouches down next to the sand cake and gives Momoshiro a serious look. "I don't sing."

Momoshiro moves his hands around like he's a figure on an Egyptian vase. "Then mime it like this."

Kaidoh hisses. "I'm not doing that."

"Then at least congratulate me out loud!" says Momoshiro while laughing. He slaps Kaidoh's shoulder, since they're close enough now anyway. That's the least Kaidoh can do, right? Tell him 'happy birthday' instead of relying on some sand that says _Harpy Birthday Momo-slan_.

"Uh... Yeah... Happy birthday," Kaidoh says in a small voice. He looks at Momoshiro and his face starts to feel warm again so he looks at the cake instead. "Sorry you can't really eat this."

"Haha, what do you mean, of course I can." Momoshiro takes one of the small stick-candles out of the sand, then digs it in deeper, and drags it towards the edge, and creates a nice pie shape around a pretty cool shell. It's silly, and he's not going to eat it, but at least he could cut a slice in his birthday cake.

"There, that's your share," he says and points to the slice. "Everything else would be mine." Then he pokes the small stick right into Kaidoh's chest, and it snaps in half. "And where's that Momo-chan part you're forgetting here."

Kaidoh turns even redder. "I already wrote it out back there," he says, pointing at the sand, which doesn't really seem to say much at all anymore.

Momoshiro swoops his butt across the sand and wipes out all the wording, he throws an arm across Kaidoh's shoulder and pulls him close to mess it up even further. "What ever do you mean?" he asks innocently. "I don't see any Momo-chan written anywhere."

"Annoying idiot," Kaidoh growls weakly.

Momoshiro squishes his cheek up against Kaidoh, which actually feels really warm. "I'm _waiiiiting_," he says in a song-song voice. "Come on, it's my birthday and you promised!"

Kaidoh huffs defeatedly. "_Fine_," he grumbles, and starts rushing out his words, wanting to just get it over with. "Happy birthday, Momo..." Then he stalls out, the sounds refusing to form in his mouth. "... shiro." He hisses. "... chan." He punches Momoshiro in the stomach.

Momoshiro folds over in pain as he clutches his stomach and whines out loud. "What the hell … Kaidoh!" He sounds like he just got his breath knocked out by a damn bulldozer. Momoshiro looks at Kaidoh and wishes he could punch him back, but that really _hurt!_ Just give him a few seconds, he'll punch back, just wait.

"Asshole," he wheezes out. Momoshiro decides to grab a small seashell within his reach on the cake, and chuck it at Kaidoh's general direction, and then he holds his stomach again, trying to even out his breathing.

Kaidoh blinks back at him and then his eyes narrow. "You're the asshole for wanting me to say something so weird in the first place!" he snarls. He hadn't meant to hit Momoshiro quite so hard though. He'd gotten flustered and his fist had decided to do that all on its own.

"What's wrong with saying Momo—" he takes in a deep breath, "—chan?" Nothing. There was nothing wrong with it at all. It's an endearing nickname that Momoshiro likes everyone to use when they call him. Well, mostly friends that is. And he thought it would be nice, and thinks it's actually sort of, kind of, adorable if Kaidoh called him like that. Mostly because he knew the snake would splutter and turn red, and maybe even refuse to do it—and a fumbly Kaidoh is _fun_.

A punching Kaidoh is _not_. Fuck. It hurts still.

"Fucking asshole. I'm going to punch you back." Once he can get up from his fetal position. "Just give me a second."

"Moron," Kaidoh replies, and _that_ at least is easy for him to say. His face feels really hot, angry and embarrassed at the same time. He scowls.

Momoshiro growls at Kaidoh, then finally releases his precious hold on his stomach, and his hands shoot out to clutch Kaidoh's shoulders, and in a second, he's pushing Kaidoh into the sand, right where 'Momo' is written in it, and he crawls on top of the stupid moron.

He should be punching Kaidoh right now. But Momoshiro's fingers feel tense as they dig into Kaidoh's bare shoulders, and his stomach still hurts and it's making him feel a little bit nauseous as he looks straight at Kaidoh's face below him. That scowling face he's always making, but this time it's entirely red. It makes Momoshiro not want to hit him back, because this is fun too: an embarrassed Kaidoh. Or he's just really angry … well, maybe a little bit of both.

So instead of punching Kaidoh back, Momoshiro simply gives him a smug smile. "I'll let you go if you call me Momo-chan," he teases. He blows the black hair out of his eyes with a huff.

"_Momoshiro_," Kaidoh corrects irritably, and shoves at Momoshiro's chest until he's pushed him off and onto his back, throwing him into what was originally the 'Birthday' part of the message and tumbling forward on top of him.

Momoshiro twists a knot in Kaidoh's tank top with his fingers, and pulls him closer. He grins at him as he butts head with Kaidoh. "Momo-_chan_," he stresses. Then he throws Kaidoh off of him, and now they're rolling to a stop right at the birthday cake. He climbs on top of Kaidoh again with a triumphant smile. Fighting with Kaidoh has always been one of his favourite past-times. Especially since it make him feel so energized and exhilarated.

Kaidoh growls. "Momo_shiro_," he snarls back, and catches his knee behind Momoshiro's leg to roll them over again.

This simply ends up being some kind of game where they keep overthrowing each other, because Momoshiro sure as hell is not going to let Kaidoh top him at anything. Whether that be figuratively, or literally, Momoshiro will have none of that. But he's smiling though, he's even laughing a bit; he's having fun. He rolls over Kaidoh again, and pretty much every single body part of theirs have touched each other while trying to get on top.

"Chaaahaaan," drawls Momoshiro. He's pushing Kaidoh back in the sand, his knees wrapped around his waist, and his shirt sticking to Kaidoh's tank top.

There's this rush going through Momoshiro, something which is very familiar, a rush he always gets when he's messing around with Kaidoh. But this time it's stronger, like he's standing at the end of a tunnel and a train rushes by him, and he feels the wind hit him full force, and he can't do anything but stand there and have everything inside of him ruffled up. But it feels good, it's like this big sugar rush that's making him feel high on drugs. Good drugs that is. Not that this was ever a bad thing.

No, Kaidoh's red and half-smiling face below him is definitely not bad. Not ever. Momoshiro can't help but react to it, to have his fingers curl up in Kaidoh's tank top, to feel his blood throb through his veins, from his fingertips to his toes, and it just keeps spiraling down faster the longer they're like this. His quick small breaths match Kaidoh's; they're probably evenly out-matched. Like they always are. Never better nor worse than the other. Always the same.

Momoshiro's eyes sparkle as he laughs; it's making him feel so alive.

"Momoshiro..." Kaidoh grinds out, but it no longer sounds like a protest, doesn't sound like he's arguing anything. It's more a reaction to the proximity, to Momoshiro's hands at his collar and his legs at his sides, than anything else.

He pushes at Momoshiro again, shoving him off and quickly following after, like they're glued together, unable to separate. Kaidoh doesn't want to. He ends up on top again and he pushes back at Momoshiro, feeling his pulse leaping under where his hands are pressed against his chest. Kaidoh's own heartbeat is racing too, like it's just run a marathon, like it always is when Momoshiro looks at him like that; intense energy in his eyes whenever they fight.

It's enough to drive Kaidoh crazy, make him do stupid things. Like right now.

His mouth parts and for a minute there's only air between his lips, like his brain is trying to drum up the courage to form sounds. "Momo-chan," Kaidoh finally concedes, his voice thin and hesitant and out of breath and smaller than usual. His face feels impossibly warm and an electric current zips through him as he speaks, but in the moment he says it, it doesn't sound as weird as he thought it would. And the important thing is just that he said it. It was Momoshiro's challenge and Kaidoh didn't back down.

Momoshiro feels his entire face lift up like he's got a sugar brain rush when he hears Kaidoh say that ridiculous nickname. Eyes are on Kaidoh's lips as he forms the words, capturing the details of how it curves to produce the sound; he's entranced by it. He can feel his heart beat wildly against the palms of Kaidoh's hands.

Kaidoh lifts his hands off of Momoshiro and sits back up. "You're such an idiot," he says, his breath still shallow and his smile small.

Maybe he really is, a big damn idiot, but he's a smiley idiot who's feeling good, and pumped, and excited, like everything is going right today—and morning has only just begun. Momoshiro doesn't think he won by getting Kaidoh to say his name aloud, he doesn't really think that at all. Not with Kaidoh on top of him, breathing in sync with him, chest and shoulders rising up and down, and his eyes are not tearing themselves away from Momoshiro. He can't stop looking either—he doesn't even want to.

"I'm …" Momoshiro takes a second to heave in a deep breath. "I'm allowed to be, it's my birthday."

He cracks a lopsided smile at Kaidoh, and he's thinking, that he's happy Kaidoh is here to spend the day with him. That he's here and making stupid things for him. That he's rolling around in the sand with him. But most importantly, he's happy Kaidoh is just Kaidoh like he's always been, and he's simply _here_ with him, and that the snake is actually happy about that too. Seeing Kaidoh smile like that, with that intense gaze, and his narrowed eyes and open lips breathing for air—Momoshiro can't help but feel like he's being pulled in by this magnetic force, and not want to move away from him at all. He couldn't even if he tried.

It's impossible not to be attracted to this invisible force that keeps them coming back for more.

Momoshiro brings his hand up from his side, there's sand stuck underneath almost all of his fingernails, and he scrapes them up against Kaidoh's arm, leaving a faint trail of red and sand, until he stops when he reaches his shoulder. He welds his hand into a fist and bumps it against Kaidoh's chest, feeling like the tips of his fingers are being dipped in warm liquid, and he's oddly fixated on the small thumps he feels from Kaidoh's heartbeat.

"Didn't sound bad at all," says Momoshiro. No, it's not bad at all. Call him like that all the time, he thinks, he wants—keep looking at him like that. Keep messing around with him like that. Just keep that delightful expression that Momoshiro can't have enough of.

A strange current flows through Momoshiro's fingers, causing him to uncurl them from his closed fist, and stretches them across Kaidoh's chest. The fabric of his top itches slightly against his skin, and it's strangely alluring, and then his entire the palm is lightly pushing back at Kaidoh. He can feel the beat, that thumping heart beating against his hand, it's sending small shockwaves towards the pit of his stomach. He's sure his heart's going just as fast, just as excited, just as thrilling. It's accelerating, pulsing faster and pushing that rush all throughout him, and Momoshiro feels like he doesn't want it to stop either. _Thump._

Has he ever wanted to in the first place? _Thump. Thump._

Momoshiro looks up, with his eyelids feeling heavier, locking his gaze with Kaidoh's dark blue eyes. _Thump, thump—thump._

Kaidoh lets out a shaky breath and swallows hard, suddenly feeling nervous. It's like the temperature outside has just been cranked up by several degrees and his mouth feels very dry. He stares back at Momoshiro, who's just … watching him, watching him like he wants Kaidoh to do something, and that something isn't to get the hell off of him and leave him alone. Kaidoh's pretty sure they're not even fighting anymore by any stretch of the word. Instead, it feels more like the opposite of fighting. Momoshiro's hand at his chest feels like it's driving heat into him, warm and infinite, stretching through him to his fingertips and down to his toes.

Kaidoh swallows again—this time it's more of a gulp—and starts to lean forward, Momoshiro's arm not putting up much resistance, like he wants it just as much. Kaidoh isn't even sure what _it_ is yet, or where this is going. He just knows that he can't stop himself, not with Momoshiro.

Kaidoh might not be able to stop himself, but the massive wave that chooses that very second to crash up upon the shore sure can.

For a brief moment, there's saltwater everywhere and then it retreats, leaving the sandcastle reduced to a rather pathetic, unidentifiable mound of seashells and driftwood twigs, and Kaidoh sputtering on the ground, knocked off of Momoshiro by the force of the wave.

And there's an ugly, glassy-eyed fish flopping around on Kaidoh's cheek for no good reason whatsoever. When Kaidoh realizes what it is, a high, harsh sound bubbles out from his throat. It's not a shriek, but it's close.

Being hit and drenched by seawater makes Momoshiro snap out of his daze—especially when Kaidoh starts shrieking. He spits out some water that he almost swallowed during the whole ... fumbling around like fish. There's a fish on Kaidoh's face right now, and his reaction is priceless. Momoshiro just stays lying down in the sand, watching him freak out.

It makes him feel a little better, because suddenly he's realizing that things were about to happen. Something was. He doesn't exactly know what, and frankly, thinking about it even further scares the hell out of him, and Momoshiro's cheeks already feel like miniature volcanoes as it is. His heart is still thumping loudly, refusing to quiet down, and that sugar rush is still fizzling around inside of him. Thank god the water helped cool him down a bit, Momoshiro isn't sure what he'd do if it didn't. What would have happened.

"Stupid idiot," says Momoshiro. He's not referring to Kaidoh freaking out about the fish. He lifts himself up out of the sand, his damp t-shirt clenching close to his skin, and he saunters over to Kaidoh. He grabs the fish that has now been flung into the sand, and chucks it back into the ocean.

"There, it's gone." No, it's not. Momoshiro is still feeling those pulses. It's not going away, and when he looks at Kaidoh—despite the snake being completely drenched by water as well, and looking extremely grouchy and kind of scary—it makes his cheeks grow redder.

This is not good. This is _not_ good.

Momoshiro turns his head away from Kaidoh and opts to stare at the ruined birthday cake instead. This really isn't good … It's _because_ everything is feeling so good, that it's scaring him. He hopes Kaidoh is too busy being scared to notice that he's actually breaking out into cold sweat right now.

"Uhm, it was a nice cake," mumbles Momoshiro. He nudges the sandy cake (what's left of it) with his shoe.

Kaidoh sits up and sees that the pile of sand he'd spent so much effort sculpting and arranging is pretty much destroyed. He probably shouldn't have built it so close to the water's edge. The star that the seashells had formed seems to be melting down the side of the cake, and all but one of the twigs has washed away or been knocked over. Kaidoh feels a little bit knocked over himself, like a wave's swooped through his insides, drenching everything and leaving fish flopping around in his stomach. He really doesn't know what came over him moments ago, or what he'd been thinking. No, he _hadn't_ really been thinking, and that was the problem.

"It was just stupid," Kaidoh says aloud.

Momoshiro stops nudging the pile of sand and looks up at Kaidoh, temporarily ignoring those vibrations still going strong inside of him. "Huh?" he exclaims. "The cake?" Why'd he call it stupid if he's the one who made it?

"No, it's fine, just needs a little shaping up, and it'll be as good as new." Momoshiro sits down in the sand, and he starts patting the ruined cake to smoothen its edges, and picks out all the random crap that washed on top of it. He sticks back the little twigs, and manages to replace most of the seashells. Okay, so it's not as good as new, but it was a diversion from this weird feeling in his stomach, and now he didn't have to look at Kaidoh's face either.

"There." Momoshiro leans back onto his hands to look at the cake. Kaidoh is definitely better at making them …

Kaidoh moves closer to the cake to check out Momoshiro's effort. "Not bad," he says. It actually kind of resembles a cake again. Sort of. He shrugs. "I guess it can't last forever. At least you saw it before…" He trails off, his cheeks going pink again as he thinks about how things were just before that ill-timed—or perhaps well-timed—wave hit. "Well. You saw it anyway," he repeats and looks away.

"Yeah …" Momoshiro turns his head to face Kaidoh and smiles at him. "Thanks. It wasn't, ehh, bad, I guess. I'd prefer a real cake though!" Then he starts to think that maybe it wouldn't be too far off from the future, and thinking about this keeps his mind off of the thumping in his chest. "Make me one. When we get back. A chocolate cake, preferably. With real strawberries in them." Or burgers, burgers would work too. How would cake taste with hamburgers inside of them?

"I'll make you one too! You know, not just the stupid pillow." Though Momoshiro has never baked a real cake before, he just bought them at the store. It shouldn't be too hard, right?

"I don't eat much cake," Kaidoh replies with a snort. "I've never tried to make one before either..." He looks at the pile of sand. "Not a real one, I mean."

"Right, you did say that once …" Momoshiro suddenly remembers the night on Christmas eve, when he had a cake, and Kaidoh said he wasn't much fond of them. Remembering back on this memory suddenly makes him feel weird, so he stops.

"Fine, I'll make you a salad instead," says Momoshiro.

"You don't have to make me anything, idiot," Kaidoh says, but it isn't really a protest. He gives Momoshiro a light shove in the shoulder. "Salad's a lot easier to make than cake," he points out, as though it's a competition and Momoshiro is taking the easy way out.

Momoshiro glares at Kaidoh, pouting his lips at him. "Fine. No salad then." He toys around with a small pretty cream coloured seashell. "How about just an entire dinner, huh? That's not easier than cake!" But Momoshiro doesn't have any money … well, maybe he will once they get back and they start getting charity and donations and stuff. Maybe. But then where would he stay? He's pretty sure he's kicked out of his pathetic apartment already, so where is he going to stay?

Momoshiro glances at Kaidoh, then quickly looks back at the stupid cake. It's an option … sure. He could probably beg Kaidoh enough to let him stay, but it that really a good idea? Then again, it's not like they've been at each other's throats since they've been living together on the island. Surprisingly, they really haven't, and that's actually sort of weird. Living with Kaidoh isn't that hard, in fact, it's surprisingly easy. It's not what he expected, he expected a lot more fighting, and maybe even kicking him out. He almost did, in the beginning, but Kaidoh's been pretty tame lately. They've been peacefully living together. Well, not entirely peacefully, but they tolerated the other. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.

Which is just really _strange._

And it's starting to make Momoshiro think that he could stay at Kaidoh's house for a while (since his own parents could barely care for themselves and his sister) after they get off this forsaken island. It's starting to look like a _good_ idea. A really good idea. Momoshiro fumbles around with the seashell, suddenly feeling nervousness well up in the pit of his stomach, and the shell slips from his hold, landing on top of the cake.

"Or, ehh, no dinner," says Momoshiro awkwardly. Making dinner for Kaidoh could lead to things … things involving future plans. He shouldn't be thinking of having plans in the future with Kaidoh, but on the other hand, he actually really wants to make plans. He still wants to see Kaidoh when they get rescued. He doesn't want the both of them to ignore each other for another five years …

Momoshiro glances back at Kaidoh again. No … he'd rather not.

"Don't have the money for it," he mumbles.

Kaidoh snorts. "Don't worry about it," he says, because that's kind of how Momoshiro seems right now—worried. It's weird. Kaidoh wonders if he picked up on the whole … _whatever it was_ that Kaidoh had been about to do earlier and got freaked out by it, by Kaidoh, and his increasingly stupid inability to keep from blushing or smiling or doing dumb things when he's around Momoshiro. He's becoming a hopeless case.

"Besides," he continues, "today's _your_ birthday, dumbass. You're not supposed to spend it thinking about presents for other people." _Least of all me_, Kaidoh thinks. Because it makes his insides feel all syrupy.

Momoshiro scratches the back of his head as he slowly turns towards Kaidoh with a puzzled expression on your face. "Wait, are you telling me to be selfish today? Hah, you're weird, Kaidoh." Too weird.

A kind of weird he doesn't seem to hate.

"So—uhh, thanks," says Momoshiro. He already thanked Kaidoh before, didn't he? "I'll give you something better for your own birthday next year." He says this with a glint in his eye, something which he can't hide. Because thinking about the future, and with Kaidoh in it, makes him feel strangely at ease.

"Sure you will," Kaidoh replies, his tone skeptical, but just the fact that Momoshiro said 'next year' makes Kaidoh want to smile. He doesn't though, because Momoshiro probably didn't mean it seriously. Maybe that's just something he says to everyone. It's not like Kaidoh's ever given Momoshiro a birthday present before, so he wouldn't know.

He flicks a bit of sand in Momoshiro's direction. "And," he adds, "you're selfish everyday. At least today you have an excuse."

Momoshiro bites his lips, and tries his best to look offended at the insult, and at getting sand thrown on his shoes. But it's sort of hard, because he's really not angry at Kaidoh at all, in fact, he's really rather cheerful, and that strange rush won't leave him alone. He's still feeling high, and it's making him smile way too much.

"Am not," he tries to protest. He scoots closer to Kaidoh, then socks one on his arm. "I am always very considerate to other people. I'm as selfless as … as … I don't know, what do people call it? Mother The ... The …Yeah, whatever. I'm not." Momoshiro pouts. "You are!"

Kaidoh hits Momoshiro right back. "If I was, why did I make you a cake?" Well, maybe it was partly selfish. Kaidoh had wanted to see Momoshiro smile.

"It's not a real cake …" says Momoshiro, knowing he's just grasping at anything here. "Whatever. You're not scoring any brownie points with me for making me presents." Blatant lie.

Then Momoshiro lowers his head and purses his lips at Kaidoh. "I would definitely like a real cake though." He then winks at Kaidoh and quickly hops away from him before Kaidoh could think of punching him for being a weirdo.

"Now let's get back inside and undress!" says Momoshiro. He's already walking back to the hut; his shirt is drenched in ocean water, and so are his shorts. His shoes are also wet. He swears this happens at least once a day.

_Huh?_ Kaidoh's whole face flushes at Momoshiro's words. _Don't be a moron_, he tells himself. Momoshiro is just saying dumb things as usual. He doesn't realize how much they leave Kaidoh feeling weird and flustered. Or maybe he does. Maybe he does it all on purpose. Maybe making Kaidoh blush is fun for him. Dumbass.

"Don't throw your shirt over on my bed again," Kaidoh growls after him, and rises to his feet.

Momoshiro looks back over his shoulder. "I didn't do that." He certainly doesn't remember it. "You stole it."

Kaidoh scowls. "Why the hell would I steal your stupid shirt?! Idiot."

"I don't want to know what kind of weird stuff you do with my shirt at night …" Momoshiro crinkles up his face, and then he turns his head again to look straight, and he walks up the small wooden steps to get back inside of the hut.

When his back is turned to Kaidoh like this, he feels a lot less restless. Momoshiro swallows that lump he's had in his throat for a while now, and he doesn't look back anymore. He's still afraid something might happen. Afraid if he'll look at Kaidoh again, he'll feel that weird adrenaline pump through him, and it'll make him … feel mushy. Like he wants to feel like that all the time. And that's just weird and confusing.

It's his birthday. Nothing should be confusing today.

Momoshiro's got a party to think about.


	18. Brotherly Advice

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **Hazue gives Kaidoh some advice on Momo's birthday.

**Authors:** Celianna (Hazue) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** K+

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Set a couple of hours after the last log, before the fire dance  
- Hazue has been a bit of a blabber mouth to Momo and talked to him quite a bit, letting it slip that Kaidoh is always making a lot of presents for a certain someone

**Date:** July 23, 2012

* * *

Hazue sighs as he ties his shoelaces into a knot, sitting on the sand and watching the ocean in front of him. Kaidoh told him to go running , and he'll pick him up soon. Hazue doesn't know what the rush is all about, since he simply wants to celebrate Momoshiro's birthday. Doesn't his brother want to do that too? Hazue was sure his brother would want to celebrate Momoshiro's birthday, so he's a bit thrown off by the idea of running.

Maybe his brother just has a bigger surprise in store. Who knows.

A little bit later and Hazue sees Kaidoh appear at the horizon. He smiles and waves at him.

Kaidoh is relieved that Hazue listened to him and got off the computer, because had he stayed there talking to Momoshiro for a moment longer, Kaidoh's pretty sure he would have unwittingly spilled at least a dozen of Kaidoh's most mortifying secrets. The thought alone is nauseating.

But running will take his mind off of it. Running solves all problems.

He jogs over and nods his head in greeting. "You ready?" he asks.

Hazue taps at his shoes and nods his head. "Yup." He stands up from the sand and gives his brother a good long stare.

"Uhm, are you sure Momo-nii-chan is okay with you running today? It's his birthday after all, I think he wants to spend it with you."

"What?" Kaidoh looks at Hazue like he's grown a second head. Why would Momoshiro want to spend the day with him? Momoshiro just likes hanging around Kaidoh because he can easily insult him or make him do things, not because he actually _likes_ being with him. Kaidoh's pretty sure of that.

"No, he doesn't," he says flatly. Then he sticks his hands in his pockets and, despite himself, asks, "Why... Did he say he did?"

Hazue shakes his head innocently. "No … but he looks like he wants to. Or at least, I think he's expecting some kind of present from you. Have you given one to him already?"

Momoshiro seemed pretty happy at the prospect of receiving gifts from Kaidoh, and that makes Hazue smile a little. He knows of all the secret presents his brother has been making over the years—whether he had actually given them to Momoshiro or not, that was still a mystery. Hazue believed he had, maybe, he was sure Kaidoh had given him a scarf during that one Christmas at least. But whether he gave them or not didn't seem to make Kaidoh any less happy, he always seemed content making it, albeit a bit nervous. And Hazue likes it when his brother is expressing happiness, in his own grumpy little way.

"You should definitely give it to Momo-nii-chan if you haven't already," says Hazue sternly. As if he's the one lecturing his older brother. Maybe if Momoshiro receives his present, and he'll be happy, Kaidoh will probably be even happier. Hazue wants this to happen, for sure.

Kaidoh shrugs. "I gave him something this morning," he says, his voice gruff and dismissive. "Sort of … It's not important." He thinks back to why he called Hazue out to run in the first place and adds, "You don't have to talk to him about that kind of stuff, you know."

"About what kind of stuff?" asks Hazue, completely innocent and oblivious.

"Uh. About..." Kaidoh pulls his hand out of his pocket and opens and closes it a few times, like he's searching for a way to gesture his meaning. "Presents..." he says eventually, but that's not really what he means, not entirely. He stuffs his fist back into his pocket and hisses at the ground. "Me."

Hazue tilts his head to the side, and gives him this confusing look. "What do you mean …?" Does Kaidoh not want him to talk to Momo about him? "I won't say anything bad about you! Never!" he quickly says—maybe Kaidoh thought he was saying dirty stuff behind his back!

"I only tell him nice things," says Hazue. Which is true, Kaidoh only does nice things, and he's proud of his brother because of that.

That's exactly the problem. Maybe they seem like nice things to Hazue, but to Kaidoh they are each one of them shameful secrets he wishes would stay hidden forever. Momoshiro can never know those things! Kaidoh can't even imagine what he'd say. What he'd do. How much of a creepy stalker freak he'd suddenly think Kaidoh was. _Is_.

"But..." Kaidoh starts. He doesn't know how to explain to his brother without just … explaining everything, which is impossible since Kaidoh isn't even sure how to explain it to himself. "But," he says again, "Momoshiro doesn't care about that stuff. He thinks it's weird." Although Kaidoh gets the impression that it's quite the opposite and really, Momoshiro cares way _too_ much. He's always prying. He seems to think it's funny to find out embarrassing things about Kaidoh, or just make him embarrassed in the first place. It's like a big joke to him.

Hazue wonders why his brother can't really seem to find the words. He hasn't made it a secret how much he liked Momoshiro—he's always doing things for him, or looking up information about him. Well, back then at least, when they still had contact. Hazue thought Kaidoh really looked up to Momoshiro, and that they were friends. So why would Kaidoh think that Momoshiro would find it weird to hear about the nice things Kaidoh did for him?

Isn't that what friends do?

Then again, he knows his brother isn't all that great at expressing affection, nor is he that great with words either. Maybe he misunderstands, and thinks Momoshiro would find it bothersome. But it didn't seem like that when Momoshiro seemed eager to know what Kaidoh does in his free time. He seemed very interested, in fact. So Hazue doesn't really know why Kaidoh would think that.

"I don't think that that's what he thinks, Kaoru-nii-chan," says Hazue slowly, and carefully. As if it's fragile information and needed to be handled with care. "I think he likes knowing about you. I mean, you two are friends, right?"

Kaidoh frowns. "I don't know," he says honestly. He's never really thought of them as anything like that. He doesn't really know what people have to do to qualify as friends, but surely he and Momoshiro wouldn't fall into that category.

Rivalry is easier for Kaidoh to understand. He wants to fight with Momoshiro and be better than him. That's simple. So that's what they are: Rivals. And Kaidoh likes it that way, maybe in part because people can have many friends, but a person can only really have one rival.

"No, we're not friends," he corrects, but smiles a little as he says it.

This thoroughly confuses Hazue, and he has this dumbfounded expression on his face. They're not friends? But Hazue thought they were … was he wrong? But his brother likes Momoshiro! And Momoshiro didn't seem to be bothered by Kaidoh at all. He might have been staying there for only a week, but Momoshiro was there too, and they acted pretty friendly with each other. Not to mention Kaidoh gave Momoshiro rainbow roses (as always he's doing something nice for him!), and apparently Momoshiro had made Kaidoh that blue pillow he sleeps on.

If that's not friends, then what is it?

"Well, he definitely likes you, and so do you! So that makes you friends, right?" says Hazue. "Or have you never told him you like him?" Is that why he said they weren't 'friends'? Because they never actually said it out loud? Well, that's silly then, and they should correct that as soon as possible.

"You should ask him to be your friend then!" Hazue smiles widely at his brother. "I'm sure he'd say yes!"

Kaidoh's mouth scrunches up. There's no way he could ever say that out loud to Momoshiro. He'd laugh in Kaidoh's face! Kaidoh can't ask to be his friend and he _definitely_ can't tell Momoshiro that he … No. Kaidoh isn't going to do that. They don't like each other. His brother his crazy.

But there's also a hopeful flutter in Kaidoh's chest, because Hazue sounds so _sure_, and he finds himself asking, "You think so?" in a very quiet, low voice.

Hazue raises his eyebrows and nods his head. "Of course! I mean, I don't think he'd say no—who'd say something like that?" Momoshiro seemed too nice to flat out say no to someone's request to be friends. Especially if they actually kind of already are. So Hazue is sure nothing bad will happen.

He shakes his head this time. "No, I'm definitely sure he'd say yes, and I'm sure he already thinks of you as a friend. But if you don't know, you should definitely ask him!" Because Kaidoh having friends would make Hazue one happy little brother. It was always extremely hard to get him to socialize, and he only ever seemed to be interested in Momoshiro anyway.

"Besides, you want to be, right?" Hazue smiles at Kaidoh. "You want to be friends." Obviously, otherwise he wouldn't keep catching his brother late at night on his laptop, hovering the mouse over the 'add friend' button on Momoshiro's Facebook profile.

Kaidoh doesn't know what he wants. But friends is at least easier and less embarrassing to think about than the many other things he and Momoshiro could be together. Mostly though, Kaidoh just thinks about being with Momoshiro just the way they are, whether that means friendship or not. But he can't tell that to his brother. It sounds too weird, and his brother already knows too much.

"I guess," he says flatly. Maybe he does. Maybe it's a start, anyway. It's still not something he'd say to Momoshiro's face.

"That's good. You should tell him before his birthday is over—it'll be extra special." Maybe he can convince Kaidoh to go ahead and tell him now. "Or you could do it now if you want." And forget about running. Hazue is rather hopeful.

"I'll be supporting you!" From the back! Waaaay back!

Kaidoh's eyes go wide. "... Now?" he asks, startled. "I … No, I can't do that now." Or probably ever.

Hazue simply nods his head enthusiastically up and down, and he slips around Kaidoh, standing right behind him. He starts giving him little pushes in his back so he can go back to the hut. "Yes you can! Just go over there and ask him if he wants to be your friend."

It almost feels like Hazue is teaching a four year old little kid to make friends, but this is his big brother, who is twenty one years old instead. A lot older, and older than him, no less. But that's fine, if he needs to give him a push to make friends, then that's what he'll do. Maybe he'll have a talk with Momoshiro later. When he's not busy escaping his running punishment.

Kaidoh digs his heels into the sand and then turns around. "I've never..." he starts, his voice low and conspiratorial. "I can't just _say_ that to him."

Hazue stops pushing once Kaidoh turns around. "Well …" he says, not quite sure what to say. Say it for him? Go over to Momoshiro real fast and say 'hey my brother really likes you and wants to be your friend'? That doesn't sound like such a good idea, it's something his brother needs to do alone.

"How about you … I don't know, maybe you can practice saying it out loud. Or write it down and hand it over to him if you're too nervous." Hazue grabs Kaidoh's tank top and looks up at him hopefully. "But you don't have to be nervous! There's nothing to be nervous about at all, I'm sure you two are already friends." And not just some stalker fan. "So it should come out naturally. Or you could simply ask him if you are already his friend. That works too."

It's hard for Kaidoh to imagine _anything_ coming out naturally if that's the topic. It would be easier to punch Momoshiro in the face than ask him if they're friends. Actually, punching Momoshiro is always easier than talking, but punching Momoshiro wouldn't get his point across super effectively, and Kaidoh already punched Momoshiro once today and it's his birthday after all, so maybe he should stop doing that.

He hisses. "I don't know if it's such a good idea," he says, by which he means, it sounds a little terrifying, and weird, and he thinks Momoshiro will just laugh and call him an idiot for saying something so stupid. The thought alone makes Kaidoh want to run.

Oh. Weren't they going running?

Hazue lets go of Kaidoh's shirt and he pouts at him. "But he likes you, you know." Or at least, the comments he's had with Momoshiro indicated that he found Kaidoh very amusing, and at least seemed pretty friendly with him.

He hadn't seen anyone else be friendly with Kaidoh, so if Momoshiro did it, he's just scoring bonus points. There's just no way it would be a bad idea.

"And you like him too, right?"

Kaidoh looks away. "I don't hate him," he dodges.

"So … you like him?" asks Hazue again.

Kaidoh grumbles, then shoves his hands in his pockets, then hisses.

No matter how many years Hazue has lived with his brother, hissing has never meant either a yes or a no. It wasn't really any kind of word, so Hazue doesn't really know what Kaidoh is trying to tell him.

"Can't you just … write it down? If you're too nervous to say it aloud." Like a cute little note.

Writing it down feels worse somehow, more permanent. Like he can't ever take it back.

"I'm not nervous," he says. He is. "It doesn't matter," he adds. It does.

"Well I guess I could ask him for you ...?" Hazue was grasping at straws here.

"No!" Kaidoh practically shouts. "I mean … No. I can do it." He can, can't he? It's just Momoshiro. It's just a stupid question.

This makes Hazue smile once more. "Okay! Then go ask him when you see him again." Preferably now, then Hazue doesn't have to go running. "I don't mind if we skip out training so you can go ask him."

"Training is important," Kaidoh replies simply. "We shouldn't skip it." And running will help him clear his head, which is currently buzzing with a mental image of him and Momoshiro … being friends, an idea so vague that in Kaidoh's mind it's simply the two of them sitting there smiling. He shakes his head. That's stupid. It's idiotic. It won't go away.

He needs to run, and so he does, breaking off into a jog and assuming Hazue will follow after.

Not having it in him to disappoint his brother, Hazue starts to trail behind Kaidoh after all.


	19. Important Discoveries

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **Kaidoh still has a surprise left for Momo before his birthday is over. A pretty important log for Momo! The fact that cellphones still work on an abandoned island is handwaved (I think we have a generator running somewhere ...)

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Set after the fire dance (this is not logged)  
- While they were still on the ship (set months ago), Ryoma thought it'd be funny to organize a prank on Momo, and to make him think he can 'catch the gay', and got a bunch of people to join in. He cancelled the prank after he felt guilty, so it never came into fruition, but the post is still there

**Date:** July 23, 2012

* * *

It's late, and it's sort of cold, and Momoshiro's birthday is almost over. To be honest, his birthday already felt over; the party was done and he had his fun and danced around with Kaidoh. There might have been someone else there as well, but it's not like Momoshiro was paying attention when he was having so much fun. Echizen even came as well, and that made Momoshiro feel a lot better, since they were sort of … fighting. And he didn't want that on his birthday.

Surprisingly he did _not_ set himself on fire a couple of hours ago. Many people thought he would, but Momoshiro thinks he did pretty awesome. He messed up a few times, but hey, it was fun, and that's all that counts. At least he made a good memory out of it. The memory is burned into his mind forever, and a lot of it is because Momoshiro seriously can't forget the image of Kaidoh in a hula skirt, twirling around a staff of fire.

He almost looked sort of cool like that. Almost.

Momoshiro was always cool, of course.

After the party ended, Momoshiro sauntered back to his hut. Or well, Kaidoh's hut. Not his. He was too lazy to even get rid of the leafy skirt, so he kept it on. Bandana included, the one with weird flying meatballs on it. Or perhaps they were comets. Either way, Hazue ended up giving him some flimsy paper that he picked up somewhere for his birthday (he was smiling really weirdly, as if he wanted to tell him something, but didn't), and Momoshiro had an idea.

That idea was formed two hours ago, and he still couldn't make it work. Momoshiro figured the paper could make a good lantern, those that would float into the sky. It would be the perfect way to end his birthday for real, but with the speed he's going at, he's probably going to finish after it's already midnight. This simply makes him more agitated and impatient. He's been fiddling around with the paper, and some metal hoop thingies, but he's already failed three times, and he's running out of paper.

Maybe he should give up on the idea, a floating lantern. Yeah, it's a stupid idea anyway.

But Momoshiro _likes_ stupid things. It's probably why he can hang out with Kaidoh so much and not get sick of it.

Where is Kaidoh anyway? Momoshiro didn't see him anymore after the party. Maybe he went running again. This makes Momoshiro scoff out loud and he throws some sand at the hut behind him, as if this would somehow magically transfer onto Kaidoh, so he'd know Momoshiro doesn't approve of him running on his birthday. Stupid running freak. How could he even still have the energy to run after all that dancing? Momoshiro's own muscles were aching like hell from that dance; he's going to have such sore muscles tomorrow morning, it's going to be a dreadful day. Maybe he can stay in bed all day long and no one will notice.

Though he's sure Kaidoh will kick him out, or douse him with water if he sleeps in for too long. Asshole.

After another five more minutes of trying to shape the paper around the metal hoops, Momoshiro huffs out loud and he leans against one of the wooden poles from the hot, sticking out from the sand. Great, he's never going to finish this in time. He might not even finish it tomorrow! Why is it so hard? It's just a paper lantern, sounds easy enough. Stupid lantern. Stupid Kaidoh, he should be here and helping Momoshiro. Or Echizen should, but he's probably already sleeping. Kaidoh never sleeps early. In fact, Momoshiro hasn't even seen Kaidoh go to bed, because he's the one who falls asleep first.

"This sucks!" yells Momoshiro. He throws the white paper into the air, then lies back down into the sand to watch the starry sky.

Kaidoh has been busy too.

He's found a palm tree some ways down the beach that hangs out over the ocean, bent at a lazy swooping angle. He'd first noticed it when they were running back from the cove the day before and it, coupled with something Momoshiro had said then, gave Kaidoh an idea.

So now Kaidoh is building a swing. Or a hammock. Or something. Kaidoh isn't really sure what, but he's been working on it on and off through the afternoon, in the time he can sneak away, pretend he's going out to lift weights or gather food or run. Running has always worked as a good excuse for anything, and usually it's not even a lie. Kaidoh runs a lot.

Now, it's almost finished. He's sewn pillows onto the fabric to make it more comfortable, rather than just the nylon netting it was originally, and it's hanging looped over the tree branch, stretched out with poles of bamboo at the ends.

Kaidoh has tied a string of jars between the two ropes, each one holding a small flickering candle for light, because Momoshiro had said this morning how he'd wanted birthday candles. These aren't quite birthday candles exactly, nor are there a full twenty-one of them, but they cast a nice glow over the hammock, like little fireflies in the air. Actual fireflies would have been harder to catch, and Kaidoh would have felt silly trying. He's probably done enough silly things for one day.

He tugs at the hammock, pressing down firmly on it to test the strength. It seems secure enough, and hopefully comfortable enough for Momoshiro's liking.

It's also pretty big, the reason for which Kaidoh will probably lie about and say is because Momoshiro's a fatass, but really it's just because Kaidoh has this stupid idea that maybe they could sit out here together and maybe that would be nice. Lately he's realizing more and more that it usually is. Nice, that is. Just to be there with Momoshiro. Kaidoh likes it. He likes it a lot.

After adjusting the ropes a final time, Kaidoh heads back towards his hut, hoping that Momoshiro hasn't tired himself out from the party and gone to bed already. He wants to show this to him before it turns to midnight and his birthday is over. Momoshiro doesn't know that Kaidoh still has presents for him. It's not that Kaidoh had wanted to wait this late to give them, but he hadn't found a good opportunity earlier. Giving Momoshiro things makes him nervous, and in the past it had always been much, much easier to just chicken out and run away. It's harder now that Momoshiro is here living with him, but maybe better too. It's forcing Kaidoh to be a little braver.

As luck would have it, Momoshiro is still awake and outside even, doing … well, Kaidoh isn't sure really. Right now, he's just lying in the sand. Kaidoh wonders if he's planning on sleeping outside.

"Hey, dumbass," Kaidoh calls out as he gets closer, and gives Momoshiro a nudge in the side with his shoe.

Momoshiro jolts upright, feeling his heart almost jump out of his throat. He whips his head around to look at Kaidoh, and he can feel his pulse slow down again, but not by much.

"Damnit Kaidoh, don't just sneak up on me like that," he says. And don't give him any heart attacks while he's at it. He tries to calm his beating heart down, which is still racing a thousand miles per hour, and he glares at Kaidoh, since it's all his fault of course.

"You done running?" asks Momoshiro. Maybe Kaidoh always runs this late. Momoshiro isn't really sure, since he usually falls asleep before this time anyway. Today was special though, since it's his birthday, and he had a party not too long ago, and he's been fiddling around with paper for the past two hours—so yeah, he's up later than normal. He wonders just how long Kaidoh usually runs. He's always gone when he wakes up, and Momoshiro goes to bed alone as well.

It's actually kind of lonely like that.

Not that he'll ever tell Kaidoh this.

It's not like he _wants_ Kaidoh to be there when he wakes up, or goes to bed. Because that sounds weird, and needy, and kind of nice—and that's weirder! But it was sort of nice when he woke Momoshiro up this morning to give him his birthday present. He wishes all his mornings were like this.

"Yeah," Kaidoh replies, as though he's been running up and down the beach this whole time, instead of thinking about Momoshiro, and presents, and how much of a weird person he probably is for constantly connecting the two. He smoothes his hand up over his bandana, feeling a little nervous. He's felt nervous all day, but in a good way, like a constant, exciting crackle of energy.

"What are you doing?" he asks, and crouches down in the sand next to Momoshiro. He picks up one of the metal hoops and examines it skeptically.

"I'm trying to make this Chinese lantern thing—you know, the floating ones," explains Momoshiro. He gathers all the white paper that he's thrown around to toy around with it again. "I did it once. Elementary school, I think. It was some stupid project, but it worked! But that was so loooong ago, I don't really remember how to make it. I can't get the metal hoop to stick with the paper and not tear it apart. I've got the burner part done at least." He points to a small cardboard piece in the sand.

Hopefully, Momoshiro looks at Kaidoh. "Hey … you're crafty, right?" After all, Hazue told him so. "Got any ideas?"

"It shouldn't be too hard if you treat it gently and don't force it," Kaidoh replies, and gingerly picks up one of the sheets of paper. It flutters in the air; it's really thin. Kaidoh hasn't tried to make a lantern in a while, but he can do it. He knows how. It just takes patience and a delicate touch, two things Momoshiro lacks.

"Let me try," he says, and sits down in the sand, spreading the paper out in front of him. His eyes narrow in concentration as he stretches the corners out carefully, movements deliberate and careful to make sure it doesn't tear. He lifts a second sheet of the same white paper, then a third, and fourth, and lays them flat on top of the first. The layers will meet to create seams, four sides that will allow the lantern to open up.

Kaidoh looks up at Momoshiro and asks, "Do you have glue?"

"Oh yeah, somewhere," says Momoshiro. He quickly scans around the sand; he brought in a bunch of stuff to make the lantern, so he grabbed just about anything. Glue, tape, rope, scissors, more paper, markers … and why is there a bottle of golden glitter in the sand? Momoshiro knocks that one away as he reaches for the bottle of glue, and hands it over to Kaidoh. It's not superglue or anything, but it should work, maybe.

While Kaidoh can go ahead and do his thing with the paper, Momoshiro returns to the burner that was half finished. A small piece of cardboard that was waxes—that's basically all he remembers from making a Chinese lantern. That, and he has to tie a string to it. A really flimsy wire made out of metal should do the trick. Luckily, Momoshiro has found enough supplies on his multiple trips to the ship (plus he liked bringing back random crap that might have been useful later on).

Lacking any delicacy, unlike Kaidoh, Momoshiro takes the wire, and spins it around the cardboard piece in a hurry, so that it's in the middle and secure enough to not topple over. He lifts his hand up in the air, holding the end of the wire with his index finger and thumb.

"Got the burner ready, I think," he says slowly. He's not really all that confident in it. "You know how to do the rest?"

While Momoshiro is finishing the burner, Kaidoh sets to work gluing the sheets together, taking his time so that the paste doesn't seep through and tear the paper any.

He nods in response to Momoshiro's question, but doesn't look up, just continues gluing a careful, meticulous line along the paper's edge.

Before he finishes, he says, "If you want to write something on it, you should do it before I open the lantern up. It'll be easier that way." His voice is grumbly like he thinks writing on it is a stupid idea, but he remembers when he made lanterns before and his mother told him it was nice to write messages and wishes on them for good luck. Maybe Momoshiro thinks that kind of thing is nice too.

Momoshiro's eyes start to sparkle. "Oh, that's a good idea! I even have some markers here …somewhere … where are they." Momoshiro crawls across the sand to look for them, and it takes him a minute to spot them, half buried underneath the sand, and half covered by a seashell. How it ended up in that position, Momoshiro doesn't know. But he wouldn't put it past himself that he might have done it on purpose himself.

"Okay, got one. Move over." Momoshiro scuffles back and sits right next to Kaidoh, pushing him out of the way a bit so he can reach the paper sheets. He puts the end of the marker in his mouth, and tears off the top so he can start writing. He bends over it and happily writes _Momo-chan_ on it in capital roman letters, the lines thick and sort of sketchy, and it becomes all wobbly when he doesn't really have a flat surface to write against, except for some sand.

"That does say Momo-chan, right?" he asks, just for confirmation. He wasn't all that great in writing anything but Japanese, but he remembers that Kaidoh was pretty good in English back during middle school.

Kaidoh hisses. "Yeah," he grunts in agreement. "Don't press so hard or you'll rip the paper."

"I won't, I won't!" Momoshiro pulls away with the marker, and he starts to tap it against his bandana, something which he's still wearing. "Should I write S.O.S. on it too?"

"Write whatever you want," Kaidoh replies flatly. It doesn't seem particularly likely that anyone will find the lantern, let alone know who 'Momo-chan' is and why he needs saving, but the idiot can go ahead and knock himself out trying to turn it into a distress signal.

"Eh, they wouldn't find it anyway," says Momoshiro. Though he sort of wants to write something else on it anyway.

"Oh, I know." Momoshiro leans forward again, taking the marker and pressing it down against the paper, right underneath the big M, and starts to write _Kaoru-chan_. It's always a good idea to use Kaidoh's embarrassing nickname whenever he can. The letters are not straight, and the N of 'chan' could barely fit on it anymore, but it's there. Momo-chan and Kaoru-chan.

It's really fucking stupid, but it makes Momoshiro smile and laugh anyway.

"What the hell," Kaidoh says, scowling. "I told you not to call me that." He looks and sounds a lot grouchier than he feels. In fact, he kind of likes seeing their names together like that, even if the letters are all terribly misshapen. He likes knowing that Momoshiro was the one to write them.

He sighs, trying to sound impatient, like this is all a waste of time, because he doesn't want to let on that, to him, it's anything but. "Are you finished?" he asks.

"Hhmmm." Momoshiro writes one last thing, in the top left corner, he writes _21_, since there's not much space left. It's how old he turned today, so that makes sense at least. And hey, Kaidoh's the same age. He pulls the marker away and puts the cap back on, and he sits back and looks at the writing.

"There, all done!" Then he pokes his elbow into Kaidoh's side. "And I'm not _calling_ you like that, I was writing it!"

"That's just as bad!" Kaidoh retorts, no immediate challenge behind the words. He picks up the lantern and starts to open it up into a bell shape, careful not to tear the paper or pull it unglued as he does. The marker bled through a little and now their names, backwards and faded, are visible on the other sides of the lantern as well, like some weird pattern. Kaidoh's mouth twitches as he looks at it, not with a frown but with a small smile. Momoshiro is an idiot, he thinks.

He takes the metal hoop and slides it under the lantern. It doesn't quite fit perfectly—the paper sheets are too wide, but Kaidoh can fold them around the metal and glue them in a way that should hold together.

Once he's done pressing each edge firmly to the hoop, he says to Momoshiro, "Now you have to tie that burner between the hoop's edges." It's something Momoshiro should be able to do. Metal isn't delicate.

"Uhh," stutters Momoshiro. "Uhm … do I like, poke a hole through the paper? I can't exactly wrap the wire around the hoop now that the paper is stuck to it." He's holding the burner in one hand, and with the other he's scratching the back of his neck, feeling really slow and stupid. And it's even worse that Kaidoh has to witness this as well.

"Here," Kaidoh says, and holds the hoop up. He takes the burner out of Momoshiro's hand and starts to weave one end of metal around the hoop, under the paper and over again, like he's sewing it into the still sticky glue. Then he presses it tight against the hoop and paper folded over it. He repeats this on the other side as well, so that the metal is now secured under the glued paper and wrapped around the hoop.

He lifts the lantern above him, the bell of paper catching the wind and billowing lightly, making air flutter against his name on the paper.

"I think it's done," Kaidoh says. "It should float like that."

Seeing it finished, and it's still standing up in that bowl-sized shape without deflating, or looking like cotton candy that's been left out in the sun for too long—Momoshiro is actually quite happy Kaidoh helped him out. He's been trying to do this for two hours! And he just swoops in here and makes it in less than fifteen minutes.

Actually, that should really piss him off, since Kaidoh isn't better than him in any way, shape or form.

But he's not pissed, he's not even insulted or disappointed in himself, Momoshiro is simply happy. After all, it's his birthday, people are allowed to make things for him, and he can be happy about it. Especially if Kaidoh is the one doing it, who seems to be arguing and struggling against any commands Momoshiro gives him less and less each time. He wonders why this is, why Kaidoh is so lenient with him, but then pushes it to the back of his mind; he doesn't really need to think about it. If Kaidoh feels like doing things for him, then he sure as hell isn't going to stop him!

"That looks awesome!" Momoshiro finally says. He gives Kaidoh a few hard pats on his back, laughing at him, and showing all his teeth as he smiles. "I knew you had it in you." Not really, but the next time he's making something like this, he'll be sure to ask Kaidoh first.

Though that's kind of weird, Momoshiro asking things of Kaidoh. But he realizes he's been doing it a lot lately. Again, he doesn't quite know why this is, but it's not like it's a bad thing, not when Kaidoh agrees, and especially not when it makes him smile like this. That's all what really matters; if he's happy, then why does he care—no need to stress over it.

"Come on, let's go find a nice spot to launch it at!" Momoshiro stands up and quickly picks the lantern out of Kaidoh's hands. He's got a lighter in his pocket, so really the only thing he has to do is find a cliff or something. At least away from trees. He wouldn't want to catch the island on fire. He tugs on Kaidoh's arm so he can get up too and find a good location with him. That's also when he notices that he's still wearing that silly hula skirt, and not much else—and it _is_ sort of chilly in the night without a shirt on.

"Uh, here, wait a minute, I'm going to change in my regular clothes real fast." Momoshiro pushes the lantern back into Kaidoh's hands, then quickly hops back inside of the hut.

He strips himself of the leafy skirt, then grabs some black shorts and his old yellow t-shirt. As he wrings his head through the collar of his shirt, he remembers the bandana he's wearing. Momoshiro smoothes his hand over his head, trailing his fingers across the fabric. He can't help but smile a little, he doesn't really feel like taking it off because it feels nice and sort of warm. But it's Kaidoh's bandana, not his, so eventually he takes the ends and slips it off his head, his black hair falling back into his eyes, and he unties the knot and sloppily folds it into a square.

Through the small opening between the bamboo blinds and the doorway, Momoshiro sees Kaidoh's head sticking out above the wood. He's not doing much, just sitting there, waiting for him to be done. It's quiet, kind of eerily so, and it's making Momoshiro a little bit more aware of himself, and of Kaidoh. The slit is small enough to not let Kaidoh know he's being watched, and Momoshiro feels sort of weird looking at him like that, as if he's some sort of stalker. He shakes his head and started walking towards the entrance.

"Hey, Kaidoh," says Momoshiro as he finally exits the hut again. "Here's your bandana." He descends the small stairs and stands next to Kaidoh to offer him the small red sheet of fabric. When Kaidoh turns to look at Momoshiro, his fingertips start feeling very warm holding the bandana, as if there's a warm breeze being blown from across the sea despite the chilly night.

There's this lingering feeling inside of Momoshiro, and he feels the need to say thanks, but thinks that if he does, that it's not really about giving the bandana, but more for the entire day. Kaidoh's pretty much been with him for the entire day, save for the times he went running, but he stuck with him, and even did things for him—it's been really fun. Should he really says thanks? He says nothing instead, deciding to keep quiet, and digs his fingers into the soft fabric, as if he doesn't really want to give it back.

It'd be nice if it was his birthday every day.

Kaidoh lifts his arm and pushes his palm back against Momoshiro's outstretched hand. "You keep it," he says, voice low and gruff. He wants Momoshiro to have it. He likes it when Momoshiro wears it. It makes Kaidoh feel good knowing Momoshiro has something of his, like it connects them somehow.

He looks up and meets Momoshiro's eyes, and his gaze softens. "Keep it," he repeats quietly.

Momoshiro looks at him thoughtfully, and then back down at the bandana in his hand. He shifts his gaze back to Kaidoh. "Only if you promise to tie it each time," he says while grinning. The prospect of being able to bug Kaidoh daily to do something for him was very appealing to him.

Kaidoh huffs. "Yeah, I guess I'll have to, since you're so hopeless at it," he grumbles, but he doesn't look all that annoyed.

"Shut up!" Momoshiro stuffs the bandana into his pocket, then quickly leans forward and stretches out his hand towards Kaidoh's head, until he's got a hold of his scalp and he ruffles up the bandana on his own head, and makes a hasty retreat. He takes the lantern out of Kaidoh's arm and starts to skip away from any repercussions.

"Let's go find a spot!" he calls out. Momoshiro quickens his pace in case Kaidoh feels like tackling him.

Kaidoh hisses, reaching up to try and smooth his bandana back into place, but it's all wrinkled up and hopeless now, so he just pulls it off and stuffs it into his pocket before getting to his feet and jogging to catch up with Momoshiro.

Momoshiro starts to think about Dumbnuts Cove; it had a really pretty view of the ocean, and the cliffs surrounding the place was pretty high. He thinks that would be a great spot to launch it at. Though he's starting to regret it a little walking out in the dark of the night, and only the moonlight is giving them a little bit of light. Well, it's not that bad, it's not like Momoshiro is afraid of the dark, or he'll run into something he can't see. His eyes shift over towards Kaidoh, who is now walking besides him, quiet.

Afraid of the dark, hm. Momoshiro knows how much of a chicken Kaidoh is, but being afraid of the dark is probably not one of his fears. After all, he goes running late at night each day. Obviously he has build some sort of tolerance against it. It sort of saddens Momoshiro though, it would have been fun to tease Kaidoh about it. Maybe even scare him a little bit, and once Kaidoh would punch him, he'd simply laugh and say he'll stop, and protect him from the evils of the night!

Hah. Why is he being so stupid. Momoshiro chuckles lightly at himself and shakes his head. This day is making him think about strange things.

"You sure this will float?" asks Momoshiro. It feels too quiet if neither of them are talking, and Momoshiro likes it when people talk, he also likes the sound of Kaidoh's voice sometimes. A bit gruff, a bit deep, a bit scary, but it's nice to know he's there. It's almost reassuring.

Momoshiro lowers his arms down and takes the lantern in his right hand, clutching it at the top, and keeping it next to his side, away from Kaidoh so it doesn't bump into him. He looks at Kaidoh, waiting for him to reply, and he's sort of strangely aware of how close they are. In fact, he's close enough to Kaidoh to feel the heat of his hand against his own, but far enough to not accidentally brush their knuckles against each other. It's a rare sight to see Kaidoh get so close to him on his own accord.

It's starting to make this chilly night feel a little bit warmer.

"It should float," Kaidoh replies flatly, "if you made the burner right." His expression is a little distracted as he stares ahead of him, like he's busy searching for something in the distance. He's aware of the direction they're going in, since he'd been down here just a short while earlier, and as they've been walking along, he's been trying to steer them closer to the shoreline without it seeming like he's doing anything deliberate. Assuming the candles haven't all burnt out yet, they should be able to see the tree with the hammock soon.

"Of course I made it right," says Momoshiro defensively. It's the only thing he remembered how to make from back in elementary school. "Stuff I make never fails," he boasts proudly. "After all, your hula skirt stayed on tight." He jabs an elbow into Kaidoh's side for good measure. "And you wore it too!"

Kaidoh glares at him. "Moron," he says simply, because he can't really do much to argue the point. He does however jab Momoshiro right back.

Not even hesitating, Momoshiro steps on Kaidoh's foot in return while he laughs out loud. He quickly turns his walking into a sprint and runs away from Kaidoh, the lantern swaying back and forth at his side, and his bare feet sink deep into the sand, getting in between his toes. It's annoying, but he's not really paying attention to it while he's running away from Kaidoh.

"Can't catch me!" Momoshiro hollers back at Kaidoh. It's not even true though; Kaidoh is _the_ master at running, he'd have no problem catching up to him and simply punch his face in if he really wanted to. If. He knows Kaidoh won't.

"Asshole!" Kaidoh yells as he tears after him. Momoshiro may have started with a lead, but Kaidoh closes in on him easily, and when he catches up, he lunges at Momoshiro from behind and pulls him to a stop. His arm wraps around Momoshiro's neck in a headlock and his other hand forms a fist and knocks into Momoshiro's shoulder.

"Caught you, loser," Kaidoh pants against Momoshiro's ear, his voice hitching as he catches his breath. His heart is racing, invigorated by the chase. He feels kind of smug … Maybe if Momoshiro bothered to run more this wouldn't have been quite so easy.

"H-hey," says Momoshiro as he's stopped dead in his tracks—and he doesn't know if it's because Kaidoh is restraining him, or simply because all his muscles stopped functioning due to his brain being turned to mush. Maybe a little bit of both.

It's suffocating, it's getting harder to breathe like this, what with Kaidoh's arm around his neck. But it's not that he's strangling Momoshiro, it's the close proximity of their bodies, and then there's Kaidoh's breath hitting against his ear, and that's sending all his senses into overdrive. Like his skin is being pricked by a thousand needles, and he's getting goose bumps at the same time. Why is his ear so sensitive, and why does Kaidoh's warmth make him feel all tingly like this? It's insane, it's _Kaidoh_ for god's sake, and he's not supposed to stand there like a mouse trapped in a stupid cage, unable to do anything but feel Kaidoh against him, to feel his breath at his ear, to feel the hairs on his arm brush up against his neck.

"Let go," says Momoshiro, and he tries to squirm out of Kaidoh's hold.

In front of them, the lantern swings precariously in Momoshiro's hand, and Kaidoh knows the glue isn't dry yet, and it's delicate enough that Kaidoh doesn't want to chance ruining it with a fight, so he abruptly lets go and pulls away. He made his point, anyway. The point being that Momoshiro isn't going to win against him.

He still ends up punching Momoshiro lightly in the jaw a second later, just in case he missed the point the first time. And because Kaidoh feels like doing it.

Momoshiro rubs his jaw and growls at Kaidoh. "Jerk." But Kaidoh is mostly just a jerk for glomping him from behind and triggering all these weird feelings. It's confusing.

To distract himself from these stupid tingly feelings that are still crawling on top of his skin, Momoshiro's hands ball up into fists, and he's about to punch Kaidoh's face in, when he notices something. Two flickering lights in the distance, they look like candles.

Immediately the warm tingly feelings drain from his body, and Momoshiro tenses up, on the alert and ready to run away if anything happens. "Stay back Kaidoh, there's someone there," he says in a very low voice, and stretches out his arm so Kaidoh can't continue to walk. Who was it? Who was on the beach this late and this far? No one else but them came this way … maybe it was Kite again. Kite was back for more.

The prospect of seeing Kite again out on the beach heightened Momoshiro's paranoia, and he quickly snatches Kaidoh's hand and pulls him aside, behind a huge rock near the edge of the beach and the start of the jungle. He crouches down, and forces Kaidoh to do so as well.

"Shh, it might be Kite!"

Kaidoh is more startled by Momoshiro's hand than anything he's saying. He knows it's not Kite. He knows it's not anyone. Momoshiro has simply spotted the place down the beach where Kaidoh had set up the hammock. But Kaidoh can't seem to form the words to say that. His palm is flaring up with heat from Momoshiro's touch and Kaidoh's scared to speak because that would only call attention to it. Or make Momoshiro pull away.

Finally he finds his voice and says, "It's not Kite. It's … Uh … C'mon, I'll show you." He attempts a reassuring kind of facial expression, since Momoshiro seems visibly wary, and then he stands and pulls Momoshiro up to his feet with their still linked hands.

Momoshiro's eyes are still locked onto the flickering lights, but he does stand up begrudgingly. "What? How do you know?" he asks. He steps closer to Kaidoh so that it's not as obvious that there's two people standing in the distance, that whoever is out there won't notice them as much. Maybe he can just whack them with his lantern and run away.

Slowly he turns his face towards Kaidoh. "Show me what?" A dead Kite buried in the ground and lit with candles? That would be a nice surprise. He subconsciously squeezes Kaidoh's hand in concern. "Nothing dangerous, right?"

Kaidoh's face flushes. "You'll see in a minute," he says evasively, and starts dragging Momoshiro along the beach. "Don't worry though. It's something good," he adds, and without thinking about it, squeezes Momoshiro's hand back. He immediately feels stupid for doing so, but Momoshiro isn't letting go, so he doesn't either. He doesn't even flinch. He just keeps pulling Momoshiro along.

The lights grow brighter and bigger until the tree and hammock become clearly visible. Kaidoh stops and looks at Momoshiro expectantly. Then he drops Momoshiro's hand because it suddenly feels weird to be standing here on the beach at night with candles around them and their hands tightly clinging.

He looks down at the ground and lets out a low hiss. "See?" he says gruffly. "Something good."

The lantern slips out of Momoshiro's grasp, and it plops into the sand silently. He doesn't know what to say. There's a hammock in front of him, with a bunch of pillow on top of it—they might be sown together, but he's not sure. On both ends of the hammock are two bottles hanging low from the palm tree, and they've got candles burning inside. It's the only source of light, and it's enough to light up the hammock, but dim enough to not be bothersome.

"Is this … for me?" asks Momoshiro very slowly. He's a bit confused. He does know asking Kaidoh about some ridiculous pillow swing only yesterday, but he didn't think the snake could pull it off on such short notice. Not to mention he already gave him that fake birthday cake this morning. So he'd been planning on this as well?

Momoshiro turns to look at Kaidoh, who's just staring at the ground, and acting like a weird cactus. Yeah. This is definitely done for him.

Kaidoh huffs. "No, it's for fucking Atobe," he replies flatly. "Who the hell do you think it's for, moron?" He stuffs his hands into his pockets. The one that had been holding onto Momoshiro's has gone all tingly and sweaty.

"Shut up!" replies Momoshiro immediately. But he's not angry at all, he's smiling like there's no tomorrow and he feels a tons of butterflies swarm around in his stomach. He gives one pathetic punch directed at Kaidoh's upper arm, then he dashes off towards the hammock.

Momoshiro clutches the net and pulls it down a bit, then he pushes one knee up and leans it down on the pillow-net thing. It's wobbly, and he almost loses balance and flips over, but Momoshiro manages to climb inside of it, and now he's hanging off the ground and staring at Kaidoh. The pillows are irregular and crudely sewn together, but it's soft, and it's really big, and the candlelight looks really nice. Kaidoh looks really nice all of the sudden.

He really can't stop smiling.

Momoshiro stretches out his hand towards Kaidoh. "Well, you gonna join me or what?"

Kaidoh looks up at Momoshiro who is lying there in the hammock, looking happy and content, arm outstretched like he wants Kaidoh there too. It makes Kaidoh's heart beat really loudly in his chest. _Don't be stupid_, he thinks, and turns his head to the side and shrugs.

"I don't have to, you know," he says gruffly, because he doesn't want to sound eager. He doesn't want Momoshiro to think he's weird. "It's for you, not me."

Momoshiro promptly pulls his hand back. "Fine then," he says with a huff. He twists his body around on the hammock, being a bit wobbly, so that his legs are hanging off the other side, and he's not facing Kaidoh.

"I'll just have this allll for myself," says Momoshiro arrogantly while he stretches out his arms to indicate that it's all his.

"Dumbass," Kaidoh grunts, and feels awkward just standing there so he moves forward and shoves at the side of the hammock, making it swing back and forth in a precarious movement.

"Hehe, do it again," says Momoshiro while he snickers at Kaidoh. "That's fun." He turns to look at Kaidoh. "Don't be a dick, get on, you dumbass."

Kaidoh hisses and swings the hammock again, before turning and sitting down on the edge of it. At least, that's what he intends to do, but the whole thing dips and sinks under his weight and he ends up flopping backwards and landing in a rather undignified position against Momoshiro's side. He hisses again.

"Fucking idiot," says Momoshiro as he laughs at Kaidoh's clumsy stumbling. He's such an idiot. But the idiot is pressing up against him now, his face near his hips and hand, and Momoshiro's face near his. Well, this works too, he guesses. He still can't believe Kaidoh made this for him, with lit candles included!

It's actually really cool, and it's something Momoshiro had requested only a day before. Kaidoh would have had to sneak out and fix this up while he wasn't watching. But there wasn't that much time left that they didn't spend together today. There was his birthday cake thing, and then the fire dance, and now this … it was a pretty eventful day. An unforgettable one.

Momoshiro stares up at the sky, through the leaves of the palm tree, and he sees the milky way spread out above them. It looks as pretty as the first time he saw it. Well, maybe even prettier this time, because there's something about that twinkle in the sky, and Kaidoh's cheek touching the back of his hand, and the soft sensation of the pillows. It all feels really nice, relaxing—comforting, he's simply content. And while the night is rather chilly, Momoshiro feels anything but. He feels warm, like there's a glow surrounding the hammock, a bubble that only they can exist in and bask in its glorious warmth.

Since when did he have mushy thoughts like that?

Kaidoh's hair is touching his fingers, and it's sort of ticklish, but nice. Momoshiro ends up reaching for it with his pinky, moving it ever so slightly to wrap it around a lock of Kaidoh's hair. It's subtle, and he doesn't even realize he's doing it himself.

"Can't believe you did this," says Momoshiro. He sounds awed and happy, but mostly just content. "How'd you even find time to do this?"

Kaidoh blushes a little. "Well, I wasn't running _all_ the time," he admits, feeling a little bit like he's confessing a secret, like it's weird to tell Momoshiro just how much effort he's been putting into his birthday. It probably is.

Momoshiro chuckles lightly. "You dick. Lying to me. I guess whenever you say you're going running, you're really just saying you want to spend time alone, don't you?"

"I'm usually running!" Kaidoh protests, shoving into Momoshiro's side.

The hammock swings back and forth, and Momoshiro hastily grabs the net with his free hand to stabilize themselves, the other hand sort of ended up squishing Kaidoh's face. As if Kaidoh's face is a stove that's too hot and he's been burned, Momoshiro quickly pulls away and rests his hand on top of his stomach.

"Sorry," he says quietly. "Dumbass," a bit louder. Then he nabs his elbow into Kaidoh's side this time, being careful not to make too many unnecessary movements.

"You run way too much." How many times has Momoshiro said this from the day he had met Kaidoh? Probably a lot … He realizes something at that moment, and this makes him feel smug and arrogant, so he presses himself up against Kaidoh even more. "You're not running now," he points out. As if this is some kind of abnormal feat. And it actually sort of is, because it means Kaidoh stopped training simply so he could hang out with Momoshiro.

Or he could also have finished his training, like he said about ten minutes ago, but Momoshiro pushes that thought to the side.

"Hehe, this turned out to be a very good birthday after all," muses Momoshiro.

Kaidoh brings one hand up and rests it behind his head, looking up at the leaves of the palm tree and the sky beyond it.

"Good," he says simply. He can feel Momoshiro's whole side smoothed up against him, their shared weight sinking their bodies towards each other. But it's not suffocating. It's not even weird. Kaidoh usually hates an invasion of personal space but from Momoshiro, it doesn't feel bad at all. And it never really has, no matter how much he'll protest. No, good is the right word for it.

Momoshiro, like Kaidoh, stares up at the palm tree, and his eyes land on the glass bottles with the candle inside of them. The flame flickers nicely, and it gives off this nice warm atmosphere.

"You even added candles for light, I'm impressed," says Momoshiro. "Though it sort of looks …" Candlelight under the stars while lying in a pillow hammock? It _is_ actually a pretty romantic setting, especially since it's a birthday gift for him, and now Momoshiro starts to feel all prickly, and more aware of the fact Kaidoh's side is touching him. That they're lying in this hammock together, and there's candlelight and stars all around them.

"Nevermind," says Momoshiro quickly. Besides, this wasn't new to him. He did this with Echizen too, and he was fine then. There were even fireflies back then! And now Momoshiro sort of wants to catch a firefly.

"You know what would have been cool? If you caught a bunch of fireflies instead, and stuffed them in a jar. I'm sure they'd give off enough light as the candles do!" Momoshiro starts to imagine Kaidoh running after a bunch of fireflies, and that's pretty amusing to him so he cracks into a wide smile.

Kaidoh snorts. "That would be dumb," he says, but there's no bite to it, because he kind of likes the idea too. It sounds like it would be … pretty, something he'd probably never admit out loud.

"It'd be awesome," protests Momoshiro. He shifts his body from left to right, marking his spot in the pillows so that the shape molds to his body and he gets more comfortable. He slightly leans his temple against Kaidoh's thigh; it feels warm and very muscular. "This is comfy," he murmurs. His eyelids feel heavy and droopy; has he really been up for that long? Or is it just so comfortable he could fall asleep? Probably a little bit of both; it had been a long day, and it is pretty damn comfy.

"Ahh, my muscles are going to be so sore tomorrow," complains Momoshiro as he swings his legs back and forth a bit. All that dancing was surely going to give him aching pains in the morning.

"Well, I guess when you're not used to regular exercise..." Kaidoh chides, and knocks one fist into Momoshiro's knee. But Momoshiro isn't just being whiny; the dance _was_ pretty draining. And invigorating. It wasn't nearly as bad as Kaidoh had imagined it was going to be. He was actually almost glad he'd done it.

"We can stretch together tomorrow," he suggests, the words just tumbling out of his mouth on their own. He blushes. "I mean, you should stretch tomorrow." He swings his own legs out and back again. "Idiot," he adds.

"Streeeeetch," moans Momoshiro as he stretches out his arms above his head, as well as his legs. He causes them to rock back and forth on the hammock, so he stops and relaxes his muscles again. He lays his right arm on top of Kaidoh's knees, just because it's more comfortable that way.

"Yeah sure, we can stretch tomorrow," he says. Momoshiro is suddenly reminded of that day Kaidoh helped him stretch for tennis practice in the morning. That day Kaidoh told him was the day he started liking him.

What if he does it again tomorrow? What if Kaidoh is going to start liking him again?

Well.

Momoshiro thinks back; what had really changed after that day then? Once Kaidoh started liking him, did he do something to make Momoshiro feel weird? Not that he can think of … in fact, Momoshiro can say that the only thing that changed between them, was that they sort of became closer. That's mostly because they had to run the tennis club together, so of course they spent a lot of time together. Times in which Kaidoh liked him, and he had no idea.

But he didn't _hate_ those times. He liked them. In fact, he liked hanging out with Kaidoh so much, he even continued to bother him despite going to separate high schools. Especially once summer vacation started, he bugged Kaidoh every day. And every day was fun, and Momoshiro just couldn't leave him alone. He guesses Kaidoh tolerated his excessive bothering because, well—he liked Momoshiro, didn't he? Too bad it had to stop so abruptly, and it was just a stupid mistake too.

Momoshiro's eyes flicker over towards Kaidoh, who is looking up with a slightly pink face.

If that's how Kaidoh acted because he liked him … then … Momoshiro guesses it wouldn't be so bad if he liked him again.

It's not the same with Echizen. Definitely not. It's different, different in the way that Echizen was a constant reminder he liked him and was attracted to him. It felt weird acting normal around him as a friend—and it was definitely weird hearing Echizen say he was 'hot'. That's something that would never leave Kaidoh's mouth, and he's sort of glad it doesn't. It'd be extremely weird and awkward if he did say that.

Sure, the day he found out Kaidoh had liked him during middle school, it was a bit awkward around Kaidoh, but they got over that pretty fast. And then everything went back to normal.

With Echizen it didn't. It still hasn't. It's still even weird talking to him; something that's completely normal between him and Kaidoh. Not that Kaidoh likes him right now.

Not that he'd mind that much.

Wait—why the hell does he think it's okay for Kaidoh to like him!? That makes no sense! Of course he doesn't want Kaidoh to like him. That'd be weird.

But then he remembers the nice phone conversations they had, and Momoshiro feels warm and content, and once more he flip flops on the issue. As long as Kaidoh wouldn't do anything, and just keep being Kaidoh—then it wouldn't matter, right? Besides, Kaidoh isn't the kind of guy to want to act upon those feelings anyway. It's not like he did something during those years he liked Momoshiro.

Oh, he guesses the Valentine chocolates count. But that's just one present.

The hammock doesn't count. Neither does the fake cake. Those are presents _after_ Kaidoh stopped liking him, yeah. They don't count.

But they sure made Momoshiro feel happy …

He thinks back on their last summer vacation spent together. What if they continued to talk to each other after that? What would have happened? Would Kaidoh have kept it a secret forever? Or would he have eventually confessed to him? The image of Kaidoh confessing to Momoshiro makes the hairs on his skin rise, and he turns his head to the side so he's not staring at Kaidoh's thigh anymore.

It's probably best if they don't do stretching, so nothing can remind them both of that day, and so nothing else can happen. "Hey Kaidoh," Momoshiro softly calls out. "A massage sounds better than just stretching." Then again, maybe he's thinking about this way too much, probably overthinking it.

There's no way Kaidoh will like him again, and it's not like Momoshiro wants him to in the first place! But like this, it's fine. Hanging out. Literally. It's nice. As long as they can continue to do this, then nothing else really matters.

The stars are pretty tonight.

Kaidoh snorts. "Do I look like a masseuse?" He kicks his legs to knock Momoshiro's arm off them, even though he doesn't mind the weight. He tries to turn towards Momoshiro but the angle is kind of awkward and Kaidoh doesn't want to look like he's staring at Momoshiro's crotch. Not that he would be doing that anyway; Kaidoh isn't a pervert.

Instead, he just continues to look ahead at the sky above him and his face crumples into a scowl. "You're on your own if it's a massage you want, dumbass."

The wind rustles through the palm tree leaves above them and breezes against the fragile paper of the lantern that's lying on its side on the ground by the tree. It rolls a little in the sand, the metal ring catching the light of the candles and glinting in the darkness. It takes Kaidoh's mind off the awkward thought of giving Momoshiro a massage for the moment and he nudges at Momoshiro's side.

"Didn't you want to, uh …" He points vaguely in the direction of the lantern. "… launch that into the sky or something?"

Pulled out of his thoughts, Momoshiro looks into the direction Kaidoh is pointing in. "Oh yeah. I did." But right now that seems like too much effort, and Momoshiro was enjoying sitting in the hammock like this.

"How about we launch it just before midnight?" asks Momoshiro. Midnight still meant a few more minutes of lazying about, so that's good in Momoshiro's book. "What time is it anyway." He looks at Kaidoh (more or less, his nose), waiting for an answer.

Kaidoh reaches to pull his phone out of his pocket, a movement which is kind of weird when his whole leg is pressed up against Momoshiro, and he ends up jostling both of them as he fumbles to retrieve it. He looks at the display, which reads 11:23 and, wordlessly, turns the screen so Momoshiro can see too.

Not really seeing the small lettering on the display, Momoshiro lifts up his body from his previous position. He uses Kaidoh's leg for support, pressing down on his thigh to push himself up straight, until he's face-to-face with the cellphone.

"Oh, that's still pretty early," he says a bit surprised. "But I was sure we were working on that thing for a long time … hmm, I guess you're just really good at making them." Momoshiro has to admit; Kaidoh did help him out a lot. He's been trying to work on that lantern for at least two hours, and then he came in and simply took over.

Momoshiro scratches the back of his head, turning his head away from Kaidoh. "Thanks, for that," he says bashfully. Like thanking Kaidoh for anything means admitting that Momoshiro couldn't do it himself. He could! He could even do it better than Kaidoh. If he wanted to. But Kaidoh did help him out, and that was sort of neat. Even if that was a little embarrassing.

Momoshiro settles his gaze upon the wiring of the hammock, and wonders if it's really all that strong—what if they were too heavy together and it would snap? With one hand, he presses down on the pillows, making the hammock sink down more, but it feels stable and secure, and Momoshiro is once more coloured impressed. It's making him feel all happy and excited again. Actually, he wants to try lying down in it, but with Kaidoh sitting there, he can't exactly do that. He can however, pull his legs up and fold them over each other. That's exactly what he does; he swings his legs right over Kaidoh's legs, and pulls them towards himself, folding them and scooching closer to Kaidoh's waist. He leans his hands down onto his ankles and grins at Kaidoh, whose face is now much closer to him.

"This is pretty stable," says Momoshiro. He rocks his body back and forth a bit to wiggle the hammock and illustrate his point. With his fingers, he picks at Kaidoh's tank top, stretching the fabric a bit. He's always wearing those stupid things. He must really hate sleeves. Momoshiro should buy him a real shirt in the future.

"Why do you always wear these?" he can't help himself but ask.

Kaidoh glares back at him. "I _like_ them," he says plainly. Then he adds uselessly, "Quit touching me." It's useless because they can't really help but touch right now, unless Kaidoh were to get up from the hammock and walk away, but he stays put.

"I'm not touching you!" says Momoshiro indignantly. Touching his tank top is not touching _him_. And just because, he prods one finger into Kaidoh's side. _Now_ he's touching him. And he had it coming. Jerk. He pokes again.

Kaidoh squirms away with a horrified look on his face. There isn't very far to squirm though. The whole hammock wobbles with movement. "What the hell!" he growls and punches Momoshiro in the leg, since it's the closest thing he can reach.

"Ow!" Momoshiro growls, a scowl appearing on his face. He quickly pokes Kaidoh's side again, jamming it in there much harder than before. Kaidoh's reaction is immediate, and he jerks away from Momoshiro's touch, causing the whole hammock to lose balance once more.

Momoshiro flails his arms up in the air to stabilize themselves, and he end up flopping forwards, sprawled across Kaidoh's body.

Well, uhm. This is not really what he wanted.

"Your fault," he mumbles. Momoshiro doesn't make an effort to get off at all. Maybe it's because he feels like he doesn't have any energy left today, or maybe because using his muscles right now hurts, or maybe because Kaidoh's body feels squishy (well, not really, that man's got abs of steel) and oddly warm. Or maybe things have just been building up for the entire day, and Momoshiro is letting it all wind out, by not moving an inch. Kaidoh will have to push him off himself.

"Moron," Kaidoh grunts. Despite the hammock's still violent swaying, he manages to heave Momoshiro off of him and shove him away. "You stupid idiot," he adds, once the hammock has stopped swinging so much. He feels prickly and warm all over, especially his face.

"You're the moron," Momoshiro snorts back. Then he jabs his elbow into Kaidoh's side. "Now move, so we can lie down how we're supposed to lie down in this stupid thing." Generously being very patient, Momoshiro waits and sits back so that Kaidoh can pull his legs up and lie down; because lying down sounds a lot better than being elbowed in the face.

Kaidoh grumbles as he tries to reconfigure himself on the hammock, which is big, but not so big that he doesn't end up knocking into Momoshiro several times while pulling himself up. He glares at Momoshiro each time, like it's somehow his fault, but eventually they're properly side by side and Kaidoh lies back.

"There. Fine. Happy?" he asks grumpily. And Kaidoh kind of is, in spite of himself.

Momoshiro grins despite wanting to hit Kaidoh for being grumpy. "Of course." He lies down next to Kaidoh, it's pretty snug and their arms are pressed up against each other—but so is everything else, really.

It's actually kind of really close, and a bit uncomfortable now that Momoshiro's arm is being squished in between, so he takes it out from between them, and raises it up behind his head, letting his head rest on the palm of his hand. The other hand rests on his stomach. He looks up at the palmtree, at the flickering candlelight, and at the twinkling stars above them. The milky way which is half visible through the leaves still looks as pretty as ever.

"You know," starts Momoshiro, "this beats being cooped up in my small uncomfortable apartment. I mean, all I had over there was a futon, and it was a cheap one with holes in it, and it gave me plenty of backpain. But this, this is actually so much better." Momoshiro tilts his head he slightest bit towards Kaidoh's face, and he lowers his elbow so that he can rub it on Kaidoh's head (and it's more fun seeing as he's not wearing a bandana, so he can mess up his hair). He does it as a sort of playful thank you, but he's sure Kaidoh thinks otherwise.

Momoshiro stops messing up Kaidoh's hair and sighs. "It really isn't that bad out here. Not at all." Not when he's got a roof over his head, plenty of food, and he just enjoyed a fire dance spectacle, and now he's lying down in a hammock with a guy whom he'd never thought he'd see again.

Actually, he's starting to almost be grateful for crashing onto this island. What if he didn't? He'd just return home to his crappy apartment, and not talk to anyone of his past anymore. Certainly not even Kaidoh. They hung out so much five years ago, Momoshiro was bugging him every day despite going to different high schools, and after it abruptly ended, he admits that he actually sort of missed that stupid snake.

And he admitted it out loud too! Something which Kaidoh hasn't done yet still.

So Momoshiro wiggles his body to get Kaidoh's attention. "Hey, dude, you missed me, right? I mean five years is a long time to not be speaking to each other. You gotta have missed me."

"Don't say weird stuff like that," Kaidoh replies gruffly and folds his arms across his chest. He glances at Momoshiro out of the corner of his eye. Momoshiro's stupid face is right there next to him, and he's a warm and solid weight against his side and yeah, Kaidoh missed him. Of course he did. Momoshiro should know that without needing to ask.

Kaidoh socks his arm against Momoshiro's chest, a lazy, floppy sort of punch since that's all he can manage when they're lying side by side on their backs like this.

"It would be stupid to miss an idiot like you," he says. But Kaidoh is pretty stupid when it comes to Momoshiro. He always has been.

"Good thing you're stupid then, right?" says Momoshiro with a light chuckle. He rubs the spot on his chest that Kaidoh hit, it feels tingly.

Kaidoh scowls. "Shut up."

"Okay, as another birthday present, you have to tell me you missed me." He turns his entire head towards Kaidoh this time. "_I missed you, Momo-chan._" Momoshiro closes his eyes and purses out his lips in an over dramatic way as he says this. He knows there's a fat chance Kaidoh will do this, but it is fun nonetheless to tease him like this. It always is.

Kaidoh's eyes turn into annoyed little pinpoints and he hisses. "Don't be so disgusting." His voice is grumbly in protest. He jabs his shoulder against Momoshiro's cheek to push his face away, but it kind of ends up missing his cheek and grazing his lips instead which makes Kaidoh flinch back. "Don't you think you've already had enough birthday presents? Selfish idiot."

Momoshiro rubs at his burning lips. "I didn't ask for this," he says, and gestures towards the hammock. Except he totally did. "I didn't ask you for anything." Another blatant lie. "You just feel like giving me things on your own." Which actually, isn't a lie. "You're not hiding another present from me, right?"

Kaidoh's fist thumps against Momoshiro's chest again. "Dumbass," he says flatly. "How about I punch you in the face?"

"I'm pretty sure you've done that already today," says Momoshiro with a sigh. He can't really remember, but he does remember being punched in his stomach. His face couldn't be that far off.

"Ahh, strawberries with chocolate as a present sounds nice though. How are they growing? Fast, I hope."

"They're growing," Kaidoh replies vaguely. He's done gardening before at home, but the island seems to accelerate everything in a weird way, like the soil is extra fertile. It makes it hard to gauge. He doesn't know when the strawberries will be grown but it'll be soon, he thinks. He crosses his arms back over his chest and huffs. "I don't have any chocolate though."

Momoshiro whines out loud, then bumps his head against Kaidoh's. Kaidoh's hair almost stabs him in the eye. "God, what do I have to do to get chocolate around here?" he asks, obviously irritated. "Or burgers. I guess I just really want to eat real food again. Some pork and beef sounds good to me." Momoshiro starts to day dream about all the delicious Japanese food they left behind.

"I guess we'll have to make do with fish for now," he says with a sigh. "You better make me some hamburgers when we get off this island though. I'll stalk your house every day until you do."

"I don't know how to make hamburgers," Kaidoh says bluntly. His mouth pulls into a snarl as he adds, "Don't stalk my house!"

"You said you still live in the same house, right?" Momoshiro wonders why he never gathered all his courage to drop by Kaidoh's place and demand an explanation as to why he hadn't contacted him yet. "Whatever. Burgers aren't hard. You buy them at the store and then you grill them. Even you should be able to do something like that."

Momoshiro starts to grin. "And if you don't know how to do that either, then you're a hopeless case, and I think Tachibana should give you lessons."

"I don't need cooking lessons," Kaidoh grumbles. "I can make stuff just fine." It's sort of true. Kaidoh can make things that are … edible, anyway. Just because he doesn't have Tachibana's culinary flourish doesn't mean anything. Kaidoh's never been that fussed about food.

But now he suddenly wonders if Momoshiro would like to eat his food, if he'd enjoy it as much as all the other things he eats. Maybe Kaidoh _should_ practice cooking more. The thought of carefully preparing dinner for Momoshiro makes Kaidoh's cheeks go pink. Which is stupid.

"Can't you cook them yourself?" he asks.

"Oh, I can," says Momoshiro in a lazy tone. "But food tastes a lot better when it's made by someone else." Which is completely true. Every time he prepared his own dinner, his food didn't taste that good. If loneliness had a taste, that's probably what it was. Momoshiro bets that the food would taste even better, if he cooked it together with someone else. Heh, cooking food with Kaidoh.

That didn't sound so bad.

"Or you could just let me mooch off of your mom's cooking, if you're not confident enough to not burn your own," says Momoshiro while he smirks. He removes the hand from behind his head, then slowly lowers his elbow on top of Kaidoh's head, and leaves it there to annoy him. "Your mom does still cook for you, right?"

"So?" Kaidoh says, half protesting. "That doesn't mean she has to cook for you, too."

"Hey, last time I was there, she seemed happy to feed another mouth, you know. It was delicious." Momoshiro hums out loud and rubs his stomach, remembering the fine taste of Kaidoh-san's cooking. "But feel free to cook for me instead, if you don't want to burden your mother."

"No one is going to be cooking for you, dumbass!" Kaidoh shoots back with a scowl. It's probably a lie. No, definitely a lie. His mother would happily feed anyone who walked into their house and now that Momoshiro brought it up, Kaidoh is thinking about cooking food for him too—something simple he wouldn't mess up too badly. But he's not about to tell Momoshiro that, because that would mean admitting he … wants to. And _that_ would be like admitting, well, Kaidoh isn't sure exactly. But he knows it would be embarrassing.

"What, why not?" asks Momoshiro.

Momoshiro tries to sound a little bit disappointed and sad, and his eyes enlarge completely against his own will—but it's not like Kaidoh can see it from this angle. So instead, he lowers his fingers down (in a pretty awkward position) Kaidoh's head, and plays around with his long hair. Longer than Momoshiro's, he doesn't know how he can stand it. But at least it feels soft, and not greasy.

"Would you do it if I asked nicely?" Momoshiro grins; he knows Kaidoh's weakness. As long as he asks nicely, Kaidoh will do anything for him, as he has come to notice over time. But it was especially prevalent today. He even got Kaidoh to call him Momo-chan (though the second attempt failed not too long ago), and remembering this, Momoshiro starts to squirm next to Kaidoh and stops brushing his fingers against his hair.

This morning was a bit … Momoshiro doesn't quite know how to put it. It's been a rather exciting day overall, but there was something different about the excitement he felt this morning when he was rolling around in the sand with Kaidoh.

Momoshiro closes his eyes. It was definitely different. This comfortableness felt different too. It was lulling him to sleep almost. It is pretty late …

"Hmm, how about I cook instead then? Using your food of course," says Momoshiro. He's still got his eyes closed, and is focused on the slight vibrations transferring to him from the hammock slightly swaying. Focused on the sounds of the leaves rustling in the wind. Kaidoh's breath heaving in and out.

Relaxing just didn't quite describe it.

Kaidoh huffs, ignoring the way Momoshiro touching his head made goosebumps raise down the back of his neck. It's just cool outside because it's getting so late; that's all.

"You can do whatever you want," he replies dismissively.

"Ok, I'll sleep in your house then."

"What?!" Kaidoh sputters, twisting away from Momoshiro and making the whole hammock swing. "No, that's not what I meant! Asshole!"

Momoshiro tries to keep the both of them in balance, and he accidentally scratches Kaidoh's scalp as he reaches for the pillows behind his head. "Watch it," he growls at him. He definitely doesn't want to topple over and land in the sand. That would hurt.

"If it's not what you meant, then don't say things like that," Momoshiro says with a disappointed sigh. He was however, sort of serious about it. By now he's been kicked out of his apartment for sure, and he knows his parents have it rough and wouldn't be able to support him (they already took care of his sister), so that didn't leave anyone but … that stupid snake over there.

"Dumbass. I'll do what I want anyway." With Kaidoh's permission. Momoshiro settles down inside of the hammock once more, finding a comfortable spot, and this time his entire arm is slung over Kaidoh's head, his fingers touching his shoulder. Well, that's Kaidoh's fault, he shouldn't have moved so much. Not that Momoshiro is making any kind of effort to pull away. His limbs feel heavy, even his eyelids feel heavy, and he doesn't feel like moving at all.

"I wonder if they'd set up a shelter for us when we come back. I guess I could hang out there for a while. Until I found a job or something. Then it's apartment hunting all over again … I am _not_ looking forward to it."

"Don't be stupid," Kaidoh says, and lightly shoves against Momoshiro's side. "You don't have to stay at some shelter."

Momoshiro snorts and playfully shoves back. "Well, I can't stay at my parents' place. Remember the day we stopped talking? Like a day afterwards, my dad lost his job. We were having a lot of money problems by then. He managed to find a new and crappier job in two months, but all of us were so stressed. Eventually I decided to not continue with college since he obviously couldn't pay for it. They're still not doing that well, so I don't want to burden them either." It was actually really rather depressing. "Maybe a cardboard box will do …"

But then he grins. "So really, staying on this island isn't that bad at all. I've got food, I've got a place to sleep. And the best part, I can bug you all day long."

Kaidoh grumbles, "Just because you _can_ doesn't mean you _should_, stupid moron." But he doesn't sound all that angry when he says it, because Momoshiro bugging him doesn't annoy him all that much. And he's sort of glad Momoshiro is here, too … and not living in a cardboard box somewhere. Because that would be stupid.

"And why the hell not. I'll bug you if you want me to or not. Remember what happened last time I stopped bugging you? Five years of silence, that's what. And that's …" Something which Momoshiro doesn't want to happen ever again. It's really stupid, he was such a moron back then. He could have done something, anything.

Call me, he wants to say—but that sounds stupid.

Text me more often, but what should he text about?

Come over to my apartment. If he still has one that is.

Cook me food.

Let's go eat burgers.

Make presents for me.

Bake me a cake.

Hang out with me.

_Was it all really that hard to ask?_

"Dumbass," says Momoshiro. He shuts his eyes and listens to his own heart beat for several thumps, until he slowly curls up against Kaidoh, closing the distance between them, turned onto his side, safe and warm. Fingers are intertwined with locks of Kaidoh's hair, and the others claw at the man's shoulder. He doesn't want to leave. Not again. No more stupid games this time.

It's too good to give up.

Time seems to slow down for Momoshiro, as his eyes glaze over, his vision gets blurred, simply because he's being this close to Kaidoh. All the senses in his body are heightened, magnified really. The rough skin of Kaidoh's shoulder against the tip of his fingers, it grazes against him in a way that doesn't feel annoying at all. The mane of hair that his fingers are lost in feels like his hand is wrapped in cotton candy. Fluffy, airy, bouncy—it even smells good.

The rustling of the leaves stop, the ocean waves are quiet in the distance, the crackle of the fire simmers down. Momoshiro can only hear the movements of their chests rising up and down, and the air escaping in long and drawn out breaths. Mixed feelings cross over Momoshiro once more, those prickly little whispers in his ears are back from this morning.

That glow illuminating from Kaidoh, the thumps in his chest—it's exactly like this morning. Exactly when they danced together. Wading their way through fire and trial, the excitement in their steps, in their eyes, in their voices. The sand that got stuck in his hair when they wrestled each other over and over again. Kaidoh's breath is as jittery as it was then, when Momoshiro's hand was pressed up against his chest, and he lowered his entire upper body. The thrill that came, the hitching of his breath, the widening of his eyes, but most importantly, the swirling desire of not wanting to budge an inch. Urges to get closer.

And closer.

Momoshiro's ears are ringing from the silence. The cruel and deadly silence, that's making him focus on nothing but Kaidoh.

Just like this morning he wanted to …

Just like this afternoon he felt …

And right now …

It's itching inside of him. What is it? What is this? Why is it getting so hard to pull away?

Momoshiro parts his dry lips, they stick to each other slightly before he's managed to pry them open. He wants to call Kaidoh a dumbass once more, but then he doesn't. He wants to tell Kaidoh he's actually got a slight unibrow growing, but then he doesn't. He wants to ask Kaidoh what would have happened between them if Momoshiro called him again after that certain day. He wants to ask so many things, he wants to know so much about Kaidoh. He wants to do so many things with him.

Things _to_ him.

It's kind of a little crazy.

Momoshiro blinks his eyes, but doesn't stop looking at Kaidoh.

Yeah, just that right kind of crazy.

Kaidoh lets out a shaky breath, half a hiss but more of a nervous rattle. He's too aware of how close Momoshiro is, and it's making his neck feel prickly and his skin feel warm, which doesn't actually feel so bad, but it's the fact that it doesn't feel bad or weird or wrong that scares Kaidoh.

That and the fact that Momoshiro is making no effort to pull away. In fact, if anything it's almost like he's pushing himself closer. Is he taunting him? Testing him? What the hell is he trying to do?

Kaidoh momentarily entertains the possibility that maybe Momoshiro simply likes being this close to him, but it's a fleeting thought and one he dismisses as impossible. No, Momoshiro probably just likes the pillows. He just likes the hammock. He's just sleepy, and lazy, and stupid. He probably thinks of Kaidoh as furniture.

Maybe Kaidoh is himself asleep. He's had dreams that went kind of like this. Yeah, he's dreamt about Momoshiro before, something he'd never willingly admit. But it's happened. But Dream Momoshiro didn't ever feel this present or heavy against his side. It was always painfully clear that the dream was just a dream because Kaidoh had no precedent for how it would feel to just be close to Momoshiro; no fighting or shoving. Just close. Just there.

"Momoshiro?" he says, his voice seeming to tear through the air, breaking the delicate and deafening silence that was hanging between them. He sounds uncertain. He feels uncertain. He's still staring straight ahead, like he doesn't dare look Momoshiro in the face. But that doesn't stop him from feeling Momoshiro's eyes on him. He's always been able to feel the heat of that stare, and right now it's so close it feels like fire against his cheek, making his whole face heat up.

"What are you looking at?" he asks, his voice low and quiet. And then he scowls, more from embarrassment than anything, and quickly adds, "Stop it, it's weird." This whole thing is.

A sudden small gust of wind dashes over Momoshiro's cheeks, and suddenly he realizes that it feels really good, because they're warm. Too warm. Everything feels warm.

"Stupid," huffs Momoshiro. He'll look at Kaidoh all he wants, but instead he says, "That's Momo-chan for you."

Momoshiro can feel himself grow warmer at the anticipation of hearing Kaidoh say his nickname again. The feelings from this morning are twisting around in his gut, it's getting harder and harder to ignore. And Momoshiro is finding less and less reasons to even give a damn. When Kaidoh said it out loud, and _looked_ at him, gazed at him—everything felt so unreal. This doesn't feel that real either, but that's Kaidoh's real body, against him, so close, close enough that he's practically hogging his entire side.

That itchiness to get closer to him, it's still nagging at Momoshiro's mind. He doesn't quite get it, and he doesn't quite understand it, but he feels like he'll never quite fully understand even if he tries, so he just goes along with it. Subconsciously his body keeps sliding closer to Kaidoh's, they were already touching before, but now it's on purpose, and closer, and warmer. The pillows feel bumpy underneath his side.

"Say it," Momoshiro says softly. There's something brewing up inside of him, and he's latching onto whatever Kaidoh will say next. If he says his name … if he says his name like that. Then he will … he will …

Don't forget to breathe, Momoshiro. Breathe. In and out.

Shit, why is he shaking?

Kaidoh opens his mouth, then shuts it again, feeling a bit like a fish. He doesn't know what to do. Momoshiro's voice has an edge to it and it's kind of freaking Kaidoh out because it's new and weird and makes Kaidoh feel really tingly in his stomach. It reminds him of the feeling he used to get before a big match, like something important is about to happen but the outcome is still up in the air. Like it's up to him to decide. Like he's waiting for it all to begin. There's nervous energy buzzing against his ears, but that might just be Momoshiro's breath.

After all, they're so close now that if Kaidoh were to turn, even slightly …

His breath hitches up in his chest and suddenly his heart is pounding, annoyingly demanding his attention, refusing to be ignored. It's too much, and it's too weird, so Kaidoh twists away from Momoshiro with a hiss. But he finds there's nowhere left to move, and he lets out a yelp of surprise as he tumbles off the side of the hammock and lands with a thud on the ground. The whole thing jostles and shakes with sudden unbalance.

Kaidoh is about to growl out an annoyed curse when the hammock tips like a bucket above him, spilling Momoshiro out too, so now they're in an awkward heap on the sandy ground. But only for a moment, because Kaidoh groans and shoves at Momoshiro to push him off and away. The feeling of anticipation starts to fizzle and dissipate, replaced by one of annoyance, but there's still a weird tickle in the pit of Kaidoh's stomach. His head is spinning.

It takes Momoshiro a few seconds to adjust to the sudden interruption.

They had just fallen out of the hammock.

Right before …

"Ahaha," Momoshiro nervously laughs. He gathers himself and stands up right, dusting off his shorts. "Idiot." He turns his glowing red face away from Kaidoh. "Moron," he says this time. "Told you to watch it," he finishes childishly. As if it'll help divert the attention away from what was about to transpire.

Which was what exactly?

Momoshiro's cheeks burn and sting, and he shakes his head to get rid of those thoughts. All of them. All weird thoughts about Kaidoh.

His eyes land upon the lone lantern that was forgotten, tucked away underneath the hammock. It's a miracle they hadn't squished it to a pancake when they both fell down. He carefully nudges the paper with his foot, and the lantern wobbles back and forth. Now's a good time to launch it. Even if it does say 'Momo-chan and Kaoru-chan' in huge black letters, and it's making Momoshiro feel nervous all over again. Why did he think that was such a great idea to write just moments ago?

Well, he couldn't have known things would end up like … well, like what exactly? Momoshiro throws his head back to glance over at Kaidoh, who is looking just as frazzled as he is.

This is just getting a bit weird now. And why do they keep being interrupted?

"Let's uhm," starts Momoshiro. He scratches the back of his head; he sort of wishes he was still wearing the bandana so he could hide his face in it. "Launch this. Now. So uhm, yeah." Words have never felt so forced before.

Momoshiro picks the lantern up from the top, and then he moonwalks backwards—as to avoid facing Kaidoh—and he stops until he feels his feet drenched in muddy sand. The ocean is right behind him. And now Kaidoh is right in front of him. Kaidoh whose face is hanging down low, and staring at the sand as if they're made out of diamonds, and it's the most interesting sight on earth. Momoshiro feels prickles of heat rushing through his fingers, and in his startled state, he drops the lantern.

"Uhm, ehh," stutters Momoshiro. He clumsily reaches for the lantern again, his fingers shaking, and his heart beating in his throat. "Lighter, lighter …" He drops the lantern _again_, looking stupider by the second, and he stuffs his hand inside of his pocket, taking out the cold metal zippo lighter that he'd found on the ship. He flips the lid open, his finger fumbling around and feeling awkward, and the metal casing is soon drowned in his sweat, and it almost slips out of his grip.

Fuck.

"F-fire, fire, fire," he mumbles, and he puts his thumb on the little wheel to create a spark, and then a flame. And then he needs to pick up the lantern again, and those two things don't go well together, so he extinguishes the flame, picks up the lantern again—and now he stands frozen still, completely uncoordinated, frazzled, and looking like a lost puppy at sea.

_Uhm. Uhm._ Just don't look at Kaidoh. Don't look.

The zippo lighter slips out of his sweaty hand, and lands with a muted 'thud' in the sand.

Someone, please just shoot him with lightning right there on the spot.

Kaidoh looks up then, but he's kind of horrified by what he sees. Momoshiro looks all tense and weird and nervous. He's sweating. He won't look at Kaidoh. What the hell is wrong with him?

"Dumbass," Kaidoh says. "Let me help." He picks the lighter up out of the sand and dusts it off against the hem of his tank top. Then he stands up. There's enough distance between them that Kaidoh doesn't feel Momoshiro's emanating warmth anymore, which is both a relief and a disappointment. Now the lantern is in between them too, like a delicate paper barricade.

Kaidoh flicks the lighter a couple times, the flame shooting up and illuminating their faces. Momoshiro looks like he's blushing, too, but Kaidoh's sure he must just be seeing things. Or else Momoshiro's really that embarrassed over the lantern situation. Could be. After all, what kind of idiot can't hold onto a lighter? Although the thing is starting to feel slippery in Kaidoh's hand now too. Why's he so sweaty? It's just Momoshiro. It always has been.

"Okay, hold it up so I can light it," he says, looking at the burner on the lantern rather than Momoshiro's face. He sparks the lighter again and holds it steady.

Wordlessly, Momoshiro lifts the lantern from the sand—don't look at him, don't look at him, don't look in his eyes—he holds it right in between them, so he's definitely _not_ looking at Kaidoh, but instead at the lantern. The lantern with the stupid big 'Momo-chan Kaoru-chan' on it. He sort of wants to take his marker out and cross it out, because now it's just an embarrassing memory, right in his face. Kaidoh himself is also an embarrassing memory, doing nothing but remind Momoshiro that the palms of his hands are sweaty, and the temperature of his skin keeps on rising.

Stupid Kaidoh.

Turning his head to the side, Momoshiro lifts the lantern even higher, so that Kaidoh can reach the burner and light it. Within a few seconds, the burner is ablaze, and it's illuminating the entire lantern, casting a soft yellow glow on both of them. He cranes his neck back around, and dares to look at the lantern.

And now their stupid names are even _more_ prominent than before! Ugh. Instead of it being something to embarrass Kaidoh with, this ended up biting him in the ass.

"Uhm—let's see if this thing floats," says Momoshiro in a hasty tone. He whirls around immediately, pulling away from Kaidoh and showing his back, facing the ocean. He stretches out his hands above and in front of him, the burner dangerously close to his hair. Well, at least it isn't spiked anymore, and thus not going up into flames.

"... Here goes," he mumbles quietly. Momoshiro lets his fingers slips away from the metal hoop, completely prepared to catch it again if it would come crashing down. But to his immense relief, the lantern glides out of his grip, and soon it's up in the air, simply floating—floating away up above them, towards the milky way.

Momoshiro takes a step back to take in the sight, it has slightly calmed him down somewhat. And then he bumps into Kaidoh, jostling them both, apparently he was right behind him.

Okay, he _was_ slightly calm. He definitely isn't anymore.

Momoshiro hastily takes a few steps forward, away from Kaidoh, and he rubs at his arms and can't help but make stupid noises that he can't control. He can't seem to control anything right now, especially the fiesta that's going on in the pit of his stomach.

Kaidoh hisses, his breath rushing out of him. His pulse seems to jerk inside of him and then his heart beats faster.

"It looks cool," he says, voice low and level despite his racing thoughts. And it does look cool, like a glowing beacon gliding up through the night sky, growing smaller, further away, until Kaidoh can't really see the writing on it anymore, just a warm, yellow-orange shape.

This was something Momoshiro had been looking forward to ever since he conceived the idea in his head a few hours ago. When Kaidoh's little brother had handed him the paper, he immediately thought of a Chinese lantern. So that's what he spent several hours working on, but now that it's flying in the sky, looking all cool and pretty, and exactly what he imagined, Momoshiro feels sort of distracted.

Because he's not looking at the lantern flying away right now.

His violet eyes seek out the man behind him, and he watches him carefully, slowly, recording every movement he makes. Kaidoh actually looks sort of happy, maybe he really likes the lantern. Or maybe he really likes …

"Yeah, uhm, looks cool," says Momoshiro after swallowing a lump in his throat. Once more he's shaking his head to get rid of his stupid confusing thoughts. This time he forces himself to look at the glowing ball of light floating away in the distance, against the backdrop of the night sky. It _is_ pretty, but damnit—he's not enjoying this as much as he should, because stupid _Kaidoh_ over there is being … well … stupid. And confusing. And he looks kind of happy. And nervous too. And fidgety. Pretty much how Momoshiro is feeling. And that's a bad, bad thing.

Look at the pretty floating lantern, Momoshiro, don't look at Kaidoh.

Right, the lantern.

Momoshiro looks back at Kaidoh again.

_Damnit!_

Momoshiro shoves his hands inside of his pocket and kicks at the sand. He's got to distract himself somehow, but lingering around like that with the snake next to him isn't helping much at all. Not at all.

"Oh, we should like … take a picture of it," says Momoshiro. Suddenly he remembers the picture he took of them together yesterday, the one stored on his phone, and heat rushes to his face. Stupid, stupid, _stupid._

Kaidoh shrugs and looks at Momoshiro. "Yeah, whatever you want," he says, his voice a low grumble. Even though it's dark, there's no mistaking Momoshiro's expression, and it makes Kaidoh feel like he's intruded on a secret. He feels guilty and jittery and some small, treacherous part of him is a little excited by it too.

He mostly feels confused though. He doesn't understand. What does Momoshiro have to feel embarrassed about? Lately he's been a little weird, a little different, and it doesn't make any sense to Kaidoh. Did Kaidoh do something? Is he … doing something now? He looks down at the sand, which doesn't offer any answers, but doesn't make his heart want to beat out of his chest either, so that's something.

"Oh … huh?" Momoshiro's hand wildly searches around in his pocket, but he feels nothing but a marker in the right pocket. He searches for the other one, nothing but paper. His backpockets are empty. "Shit, I don't have my phone with me," he says a bit panicked this time.

But he had his phone! He remembered having it back ... back at the fire dance, yeah. He still had it then. Where'd he put it? He doesn't remember putting it safe somewhere in their hut, and Momoshiro has made it a point to always carry it with him, in case something happened and he needed help (not that he'd admit this out loud).

The lantern is slowly becoming a small orange dot in the distance. "Ah, it's getting smaller! Quick, give me yours," says Momoshiro. He flails his arm in front of Kaidoh to get him to hurry up, his previous nervousness temporarily pushed to the back of his mind.

"Dumbass," Kaidoh mutters, but quickly digs his hand into his pocket and retrieves his own phone. He hands it over.

"Maybe it's..." He trails off and glances over at the hammock, but it's empty, no phone-shaped shadows stuffed against the pillows. He looks around his feet but doesn't see anything in the sand either. "Where'd you have it last?"

Momoshiro is half paying attention, since he flips Kaidoh's phone open and quickly opens up the camera application. "Uhh, I still had it at the fire dance, yeah, I was taking pictures back at the buffet thing." He straightens his arms in front of him, and targets the lantern in the distance with the phone; the screen shows nothing but black. It's a bit underexposed, but after waiting a few seconds, the screen turns brighter, and he can see the stars and the lantern on it. He clicks the button and snaps the picture.

Then he takes another one, just in case the first one was bad.

"Uhh, check the hammock, do you see it? We did fall out of it …" And then once more, Momoshiro's nervous and confusing thoughts are back, and the hairs on his arm stands up straight, feeling prickly annoyed, but sort of good. He takes another picture from the lantern to take his mind off of it.

Kaidoh shakes the side of the hammock, making the whole thing bounce, but there's no phone to be found. He lets go of the netting and it drops, still swinging lightly.

He looks at Momoshiro and shrugs, and then his voice stumbles out of his throat. "I'll go look back at the bonfire," he says, and not just because he wants to help. Maybe if they have a little space from each other, things will stop being so weird and tense and exciting. Maybe Momoshiro will stop touching him and staring at him and saying things and doing things that are driving Kaidoh nuts because none of it makes any sense.

Maybe Kaidoh is imagining all of it. He studies Momoshiro's face for a moment and then looks away again. His heart pounds with a loud thump. Maybe he isn't.

"Oh … sure, yeah go ahead." Momoshiro also looks away from Kaidoh, and he especially doesn't look after him as he runs off.

It's quiet on the beach now. The lantern is nothing but a speck in the sky, and Momoshiro doesn't see Kaidoh anymore either. He sighs, feeling tension easing out of his shoulders and he cracks his neck and back. He's still got Kaidoh's phone in his hand, the idiot ran off before he could give it back to him.

He stares at it for a little while, like it's some kind of private diary he's found, and it contains all of Kaidoh's secrets. Actually, Momoshiro's morbid curiosity keeps growing, simply because he _wants_ to know more about Kaidoh. It really is getting crazy.

"That stupid snake," Momoshiro mumbles underneath his breath.

He saunters back over to the pillow hammock, crawling on the netting again and plopping down, face snuggled between two comfortable pillows, and Kaidoh's phone right in his face. His thumb grazes over the old fashioned numberpad (it's like they were the only two guys on the island who didn't have a fancy modern cellphone), and he can hear his heart beat ringing loudly in his ears. This feels dirty, wrong, like he really is looking through Kaidoh's diary. Not that he has one, but a person's phone is pretty private, isn't it?

All the more reason to open up Kaidoh's photo album and look through it. As he had already expected, Momoshiro comes across a bunch of cat pictures. Cats being fed, cats playing on the street, cats sleeping ... lots of cats. The dates on these pictures went way back, and Momoshiro really did mean way back, like from 2005—hey, he knew Kaidoh back then! Maybe Kaidoh would have some pictures of Seigaku in his phone … maybe he'd have pictures of Momoshiro himself. And thinking about Kaidoh keeping pictures of him on his phone, makes his ears turn red.

Well … Kaidoh did like him back then … and if his phone is that old.

2006, more cats. Fucking cat freak.

Nervously he browses through the pictures one by one, feeling anxious at each passing image, as if he's just waiting for his own face to pop up. He passes the 2007 mark, still cats. His fingers start to slide across the little arrow button, since his hands are so sweaty right now. Why is he so nervous to find out if Kaidoh has any pictures of him stored on his phone? Why does he even care …

Then he freezes up. He shuts his mouth shut and stares with an incredibly red face at Kaidoh's cellphone.

Because there, on the screen, is Momoshiro himself, sitting on his bed with his shirt off, showing a box of cereal, with a lopsided grin. He looks young, he looks carefree, he looks confident—he remembers exactly when he sent this picture to Kaidoh.

And now he's starting to curse his former self for sending questionable pictures to a guy who actually liked him back then.

Wait … so if Kaidoh had a crush on him at that time … and Momoshiro sent this picture to him …

_He really shouldn't continue this train of thought._

"Fucking Kaidoh," Momoshiro mumbles angrily at the cellphone. Like it's some sort of damnation device, set out to embarrass the hell out of him. Because god, this really is embarrassing.

And why the hell does Kaidoh still have this picture? Does he never delete anything? Momoshiro quickly browses to the next picture. It's some kind of wooden tablet thing … oh. Oh! It's his wish! From back then, when Kaidoh came to pick him up at the shrine because Momoshiro got lost, and he wrote this stupid phrase on a wishing sign 'Momo was here, and Mamushi too.'. Well, it seems Kaidoh took a picture of it when he wasn't looking. This guy … Momoshiro looks at the next picture, and over the course of the 2007 collection, Momoshiro sees nothing but pictures of himself he sent to Kaidoh, as well as pictures Kaidoh took while he was with Momoshiro.

Pictures from the shrine, pictures from the yakiniku restaurant, pictures of food (really delicious food …) they ate, pictures from their zoo trip … and a picture of Momoshiro's back, sitting on Kaidoh's bed. It's taken from behind a door, as if Kaidoh was hiding.

And suddenly, it really gets through Momoshiro's head right now. It truly does. Kaidoh had a crush on him, a painfully obvious love pining crush on Momoshiro.

Oh.

Well that sucks for Kaidoh …

Stop grinning, Momoshiro.

He rushes through some more pictures, and sees a few more of him that he doesn't even remember sending. Until he's nearing the end (he sees a picture of him asleep with Karupin's body on his face), and then he sees the picture he took of the lantern. Quickly he exists out of the stupid pictures—refusing to see even more evidence of Kaidoh's obvious stalker crush on him—and instead he opens up Kaidoh's journal. He has to take his mind off of this … this … revelation? No, that's not really the word for it … Well, whatever it was, it was annoying Momoshiro, and he'd really like to get his regular colour in his cheeks back.

He uses Kaidoh's journal to type up a post, feeling incredibly fake as he does it, because it looks like he's being peachy (haha, nice pun), but he really isn't. He's going a little bit crazy right now, as this rush in his body won't quiet down, and for some reason he's _shaking_ and that's really not good. This stupid journal post isn't taking his mind off of anything, because he can't help but write it all about Kaidoh. Momoshiro wonders if it's obvious.

Momoshiro clicks on the button to submit the post, then he leans the phone against his chest, staring up at the candles. He can feel his own heartbeat like this, going strong and steady against his chest. Kaidoh is still gone, and Momoshiro wonders why he was so eager to run off and find his cellphone for him. It's not like he asked for it. Or maybe the stupid idiot noticed how weird Momoshiro was behaving, and was simply looking for an exit.

Asshole, if he's not coming back then … he'll punch him real good.

He pulls the phone away from his chest and looks at the screen once more. The time reads 0:03. Well, there goes his birthday, he is now officially twenty-one years old. Momoshiro looks over to his right, into the direction Kaidoh ran off in, and he stays like that for a few seconds. It's boring, so he returns his attention back onto the phone, and he starts to browse everyone else's posts, maybe somebody said something interesting.

There's nothing really interesting going on, no one posted anything today, so Momoshiro goes back to read over old entries. And back some more, until he comes across a post made by Echizen.

_Screened from Momo._

Momoshiro raises his eyebrows, and brings the phone closer to his face; apparently it's a journal entry that was never visible, but only to him. He reads the entry.

Wait what—he's an immature brat!? What the hell does that mean? He reads the comments too, and sees Kaidoh has replied to it as well, calling him an ass (predictable), and Momoshiro looks at the date it was posted. Oh, that's the day Kaidoh told him he had a crush on Momoshiro, and then Momoshiro kind of, sort of, told everyone else. Fine, whatever, why the hell is Echizen complaining about it though? Couldn't he just say it straight to his face?

It's annoying him now, and his once raised eyebrows, are now lowered in a frown. He clicks on Echizen's profile, and he sorts through the old entries to see if he's ever said anything else like that before as well. He can't, right? Echizen is his best friend. And yeah … he's like, in love with Momoshiro, or something, right now, so he can't possibly harbor ill will against him.

Already he's on the entries Echizen posted while they were on the ship, and Momoshiro smiles fondly at some of them. he's pretty much replied to any of Echizen's posts, stupid brat.

But then his heart drops, when he sees _two_ entries screened away from him. In one, Echizen says he won't prank Momoshiro anymore. Prank? What prank? He was planning on pranking him? The little devil, Momoshiro is grinning though, feeling a little bit proud Echizen had it in him to attempt to prank him.

Then he reads the next screened entry, and that grin gets wiped off of his face.

… _Make him think he can catch the gay bug._

_Too homophobic to be straight._

Oishi's plan …

Lots of people saying they're in on it.

What. The. Hell.

"What the fuck," says Momoshiro out loud now. He's fuming, he's seething, he's holding the phone so hard he thinks he might snap it in half.

Echizen and Oishi were planning a prank to make him think he was _gay?_ Because what? He had a concussion and thought the water was turning everyone gay? They think that's _funny?_ He even apologized to both Echizen and Oishi! What the hell.

What the hell!

This is ridiculous. He can't believe Echizen would plan something like this behind his back. Best friends? Best friends don't do stupid shit like that. A prank to scare him would have been funny, to make him trip and let him fall flat on his face—that would have been fine. But to rile everyone up against him and make him think he was gay? Who the hell thought this was a great idea?

Momoshiro fumes some more as he's left alone still in the hammock.

The route back to the bonfire is not long, and is made shorter by the fact that Kaidoh does it at a run, his sneakers pounding into the sand. The running helps. It always does. The cool night air whipping against his body and face helps to clear his head. He doesn't feel so painfully warm anymore, and he's not thinking about Momoshiro, not directly anyway. He's just thinking about his feet on the beach, and the phone that the dumbass must have dropped somewhere at the firedance party. Yeah, the phone. A small piece of plastic and electronics that won't give Kaidoh any weird fluttery feelings.

When he reaches the scorch on the beach where the bonfire had been, he stops and swipes his hair out of his eyes. With only the starry night sky for light, Kaidoh begins to scan the ground for any sign of Momoshiro's phone.

It isn't long before he sees the moonlight reflecting off of something shiny on the ground near where the buffet table had been set up. _Of course_, Kaidoh thinks. The idiot was probably too distracted with eating everything in sight to remember to pick up his damn phone. The thought makes Kaidoh smile, and he retrieves the phone from the sand, noting how it feels different from his own, and slides it into his pocket. He feels a bit weird having something of Momoshiro's there… in his shorts… but he tries not to think about it like that too much because he's on a simple mission and he's not going to let himself get all weird and flustered again. He's going to be different now. He's going to be normal again.

He jogs back towards the hammock, and against his will, feelings start stirring in his stomach as he nears the tree where he knows Momoshiro will be waiting. It's almost like Kaidoh _wants_ to get back to him.

He clears his throat to get Momoshiro's attention. Again he brushes his hair back out of his eyes—it really is getting long and a bit annoying when he isn't wearing his bandana. He pulls the phone out of his pocket and holds it up, flipping it open so the screen lights up.

"Found it," Kaidoh says, his voice a bit breathy from running.

Momoshiro angrily thrashes around in the hammock, trying to turn and face Kaidoh. He stands somewhat upright, on his knees, and almost topples forwards because of the balance, but since Kaidoh is right there, he uses the palm of his hand to push against Kaidoh's chest and steady himself. With the other hand, he ignores his own cellphone, and he pushes Kaidoh's cellphone in his face.

"Kaidoh, did you know about this?!" Momoshiro asks, his voice sounding really agitated.

Kaidoh's eyes narrow as he tries to read the bright screen suddenly shoved in front of him. Something from Echizen. Something about a prank on Momoshiro. Kaidoh reads quickly and looks back up, meeting Momoshiro's gaze.

"I've never seen that before," he says gruffly. Momoshiro seems pissed, and Kaidoh can't really blame him. The prank sounds dumb. But then, Kaidoh thinks all pranks are stupid.

"That … that … _brat_ was going to prank me into thinking I was gay—because I somehow deserved it because I was making homophobic comments or whatever." Momoshiro turns the screen back to him, scrolls down a bit to the comments, then flashes it back to Kaidoh. "And look how many people were in on it! It was Oishi's plan too! Can you imagine it? Oishi? And then basically everyone else who was on the damn ship with me. Fuckers. All of them. I can't believe they would stoop so low."

Momoshiro flips Kaidoh's cellphone closed, and leans his hand on Kaidoh's shoulder, gripping the cellphone in it tightly. "Everyone was in on it. They were going to do it. Apparently Echizen had second thoughts when I apologized—yes I apologized for my fucking behaviour back then!—but what the hell, that doesn't excuse the fact they were all planning this behind my back. He's supposed to be my best friend, best friends don't do this kind of shit. I can't believe he would, and he never told me about it either! He was just going to take something like that to the grave, never telling me, making me think everything was peachy."

God this was really pissing him off, and now Momoshiro simply needed a place to vent. That place was Kaidoh.

"I wonder what else he's hiding from me … I wonder what other lies he's fabricating. I wonder if he was speaking the truth when he said he was in love with me! Maybe that kiss was just a stupid prank too." Momoshiro balls his hand up in a fist, and thumps it against Kaidoh's chest. "I have no idea what's going on anymore …"

Kaidoh's eyes are wide and confused as he looks at Momoshiro, unable to do anything but stare at him and blink. What is this dumbass talking about? What happened between him and Echizen before Kaidoh got here? What did Momoshiro do? What did Echizen do? What the hell does Momoshiro mean by 'that kiss'? What the fuck...?

"Stop," Kaidoh says, voice low and irritable. He shakes his head which suddenly feels like it's spinning. "I don't know what the hell you're even talking about."

Momoshiro thought he was pretty clear. "I'm talking about Echizen, you moron. That little brat that's like pretending to be in love with me or something."

"Oh," Kaidoh says dumbly. "So he..." He isn't sure what to say, how to finish the sentence. Echizen is in love with Momoshiro? The idea makes something in Kaidoh's stomach coil and twist. _So he kissed you?_ part of him wants to confirm, but the moment the question forms in Kaidoh's mind, his eyes are drawn to Momoshiro's mouth like they can't look anywhere else. What the hell. This is all so _stupid_. He wants to punch Momoshiro just for telling him.

"So he did all that," Kaidoh says instead, more a statement than a question.

"Yes!" Momoshiro's high pitched voice was a little bit too energetic, and he shuffles on the hammock one too many times, causing him to really fall forward. He crashes against Kaidoh's chest, the cellphone falls from his hand, and the hammock finally throws him out, and he's on top of Kaidoh, an awkward mess together in the sand.

But it seems Momoshiro is only half paying attention to that. Instead, he just crawls on top of Kaidoh, and he reaches for his tank top, wanting to shake him. Wanting to get rid of his frustration.

"Remember the day I got my memories back? I went to go see Echizen after I saw you, right?" He sits on top of Kaidoh and looks out at the ocean. The lantern is long gone by now. He looks back again at him. "He was … well I don't know, I was telling him I remembered stuff again, and before I know it, he's kissing me. I was just too stunned to do anything. And then he said he was in love with me!"

And Momoshiro really did believe that—why else would Echizen, his best friend, say and do something like that, if it weren't true? But now he's doubting everything. Echizen did stuff behind his back, he was planning on doing stupid pranks, so what if this was just one big stupid prank as well?

Haha, let's all prank big goofy Momo by letting him think gay people actually like him.

Fuck.

"That's why I moved out, it's why I wanted to put some space between us. But god damnit—it's probably just some stupid joke!" Momoshiro's face scrunches up, torn between wanting to yell out a string of profanity, and wanting to wail and break down into tears.

Momoshiro looks down at Kaidoh's stunned face. "Why would you _do_ something like that … ?"

"I don't know!" Kaidoh says honestly. He huffs. He doesn't know why this is making him feel kind of riled up too. It's not his problem, so why does he even care? His eyes narrow as he looks up at Momoshiro. "What … what are you going to do about it?" he asks.

"I don't fucking know. I just feel like punching something." But for once, Kaidoh doesn't seem like the appropriate punching bag anymore. He didn't do anything, obviously. It was all Echizen … pranking him, doing things to him, getting him all mixed up. It sucks.

"... How can I even be friends with someone who does something like that?" Momoshiro asks. He knows Kaidoh doesn't have any answers, and he's probably the worst person to ask advice from, but he's all Momoshiro's got.

"Pranking me … kissing me …ignoring me ..." Momoshiro sighs. "I think I should just stay away from him for now. Fucking asshole." And everything seemed fine at the party just hours ago. Echizen gave him his present, and they sort of made up. And now …

"I guess," Kaidoh replies, because he doesn't have any other suggestions to offer—Kaidoh stays away from most people anyway—and because the whole thing is pretty bewildering. Is this the kind of thing people deal with all the time when they have friends? It's weird. It makes Kaidoh feel weird, and overly conscious of everything he's done with Momoshiro up until this point. Does Momoshiro think about all of those things too? Do any of them make him angry like this? No, if Momoshiro were angry with Kaidoh, he'd just punch him in the face. Right?

"I wonder if he's involving you too," says Momoshiro thoughtfully. "Remember what I said yesterday? About him, I don't know, he was just weirdly talking about you that day I told him I was moving in with you. But now that I think about it, it just seems so strange. As if he's got some kind of hostility towards you. It's probably all just a big joke. Everything. I wonder if I was ever really friends with him." The more he talks, the more his face looks so crestfallen. This is really wearing him down; he feels like he's not living in reality anymore. Or perhaps he was living in a dream before? Where he thought everything was fine, he had a cool best friend, and some guy he could piss off every once in awhile. And now it's all changed.

Now he's got this friend who is planning really weird pranks behind his back, lying to him, doing things like kissing him. And his rival is starting to look more like a best friend now, what with always being with him and putting up with him.

Momoshiro really hopes Kaidoh wasn't in on all this too. No, he wasn't there on the ship anyway, and he's too anti-social to talk to anyone and come up with this elaborate scheme to mess with Momoshiro. Obviously Kaidoh would just walk up to him and punch him, if he felt like messing with Momoshiro. He's simpleminded like that.

Echizen definitely isn't. That scheming sneaky brat …

"So you really didn't know, right?" Momoshiro asks. He just wants to hear Kaidoh confirm it, that he took no part in this, that he didn't know, that he was just as clueless as Momoshiro was.

"No, dumbass," Kaidoh says, as if it isn't obvious enough from his still puzzled expression.

"Good." He softly pounds his fist against Kaidoh's chest once more. "Good," he repeats. "I'd seriously kick your ass if you were ... in on this … this … stupid weird thing."

Kaidoh scowls. "You mean you would _try_." He can always rely on Momoshiro for that.

"Well." Momoshiro takes a second to put on an arrogant smug look on his face. "Who's the one sitting on top of you right now, huh? That's right."

"Not for long," Kaidoh hisses, and twists his fingers against Momoshiro's shirt until he has him by the shoulders, giving him enough leverage to push Momoshiro to the side and roll him onto his back. Then Kaidoh claws his way on top of him and presses his fists into Momoshiro's chest.

"Idiot," he says in challenge.

This, Momoshiro can deal with. This, is always simple to understand. No pretenses, no lies, no pranks, no nothing. It's just him and Kaidoh, trying to best the other.

It never fails to take his mind off of things, and Momoshiro desperately needs to stop thinking about things that are so depressing it makes him want to cry.

But he doesn't get that chance, to stop and think about things, not when Kaidoh is on top of him, looking at him like _that_, as if he's better, and he's won. Kaidoh never wins. And so Momoshiro throws him off, and he's back on top, and their arms are struggling against each other, sand getting stuck everywhere on their skin. Momoshiro grabs Kaidoh's wrists, attempting to pin him down, but it all happens in a blur, and Kaidoh's back on top. Breathing, harsh, heavily—smells like fish—and he's looming right over Momoshiro. Sweat is glistening all over his skin, getting reflected because of the dim candlelight. Momoshiro takes a second or two to stare back at Kaidoh, looking equally as tired.

_Echizen who?_

Momoshiro doesn't know how long he does this with Kaidoh, wrestling him down into the sand, getting thrown over again, and it just repeats over and over, it's the perfect distraction because he's not thinking of anything else. He feels Kaidoh's nails scratching his arms, and he knows he digs his elbow into Kaidoh's stomach, they're giving and receiving blows every other second. Every second longer they spend like this, Momoshiro is feeling more and more elevated. Like he's got all his senses knocked out of him. His thoughts have stopped processing, and he's not really thinking of anything when he's like this with Kaidoh. It's the adrenaline in his veins that he's functioning on, that heart beating crazy fast, and that stupid look in Kaidoh's eyes that keeps driving him.

That doesn't mean he has an endless supply of energy though, Momoshiro is tired. Today had been one heck of a day, and now he's fighting with Kaidoh again. Just like this morning.

Could he really call it fighting though?

When he's sitting on top of Kaidoh, just like this, thighs straddled at the other man's waist, fingers clutched around his wrist, and the other entangled with Kaidoh's own fingers. The sweat rubbing between them, perspiration simply up in the air, that heavy pressing-down-on-his-chest air. The sand that is simply stuck _everywhere_, on his arms, legs, hands, toes, nose, lips, some even got in his ears. Kaidoh doesn't look any different, he looks just as roughed up, just as messy, and he's breathing just as fast as Momoshiro is.

One more time, after Momoshiro's eyelids went dangerously close, and he was loosening his grip on Kaidoh, he's flipped over. He doesn't have the energy nor will to protest, to struggle. He just lets Kaidoh have his way with him. It's what he does best; going along with whatever Kaidoh has in store.

Fingers are dug deep beside Momoshiro's head, he's trapped right below Kaidoh's body. That sweaty, sweet-smelling body. Momoshiro's eyes avert up, looking Kaidoh in the eye. He notices his face is flushed with red from their fight, and also covered in sand like they're chocolate sprinkles. It kind of looks ridiculous. But Momoshiro likes how Kaidoh looks at him, he likes how he's just as worn out as Momoshiro is. He likes how he's always there, ready to engage in a fight with him, at the drop of a hat. He's always there.

Momoshiro's arms raise up, clawing at the side of Kaidoh's thoroughly drenched tank top, climbing up, until he's got a grip on his muscular and skinny back. His thumb brushes over his spine, while the rest sink with enormous strength into his muscles, getting a pretty good grip on him. And he's about to throw Kaidoh off, to not let him win, to continue their fight, to make him stop thinking.

Right now all he can think about is Kaidoh.

He's always there …

Momoshiro doesn't know what he'd do without him.

The arms that are wrapped around Kaidoh, meaning to throw him off, are instead being used to raise his body from the sand, until it touches Kaidoh's chest. Their sweaty bodies makes it pretty easy to get them to stick, almost like Kaidoh's body is sucking him in. It sort of feels like it, because Momoshiro's mind is a whirpool, he can't think straight, not that he wants to. He places his forehead against Kaidoh's bare neck, and he's exerting so much of his weight upon the other man, that Kaidoh succumbs, and bends through his arms and knees, collapsing on top of Momoshiro.

All the air gets knocked out of Momoshiro and he gasps for air. Fuck, that was heavy.

But he's not telling Kaidoh to get off of him.

"You cow," says Momoshiro instead.

"Shut up," Kaidoh growls. His face is kind of smushed against Momoshiro's shoulder and he pulls himself up so he can glare at him properly. "That was your own damn fault." His voice is heavy and the sentence punctuated by his breath.

Momoshiro shrugs. "It's not my fault you're not strong enough to support my weight."

"I shouldn't have to, moron!"

"Well then, don't struggle." Momoshiro tenses up the muscles in his arms, then pushes against Kaidoh's back to bring him down again. He keeps him there, against his chest, against the heart beating out of control.

Kaidoh's breath drains out of him with a hiss. "Stupid..." he mumbles. One hand finds Momoshiro's side and jabs at it in a tired, half-hearted punch.

"Ow." Momoshiro flinches away from Kaidoh's hand. "Asshole." Even though he said that, Momoshiro is still not really letting go from this weird position they're in. With Kaidoh, still squished up against him, and his arms wrapped around his back. He slowly releases his stronghold on him, resting his arms on top of him now—Kaidoh can pull away if he wants to, Momoshiro isn't going to hold him back. He takes a few deep, uneven breaths, breathing it out against Kaidoh's ear.

Oh, the candles … Momoshiro tilts his head a bit to the side as he looks up at the palm tree. The flames are out.

Kaidoh disentangles himself from Momoshiro's now loosened arms and rolls off of him, lying on his back in the sand next to him. He's still so close that their arms are touching, pressed together with sweat and warmth, as though his body wouldn't let him pull away completely. Kaidoh's heart beat hasn't started to slow down at all; if anything, it's racing faster than ever now that they've stopped moving and fighting and he's aware of how they are simply lying there together.

He swipes the back of his hand across his forehead. "It's must be really late now," he thinks aloud.

"Uh-huh," Momoshiro agrees. His birthday has long passed by now. "I don't feel like moving." Meaning, he doesn't want to trek all the way back to the hut to go to sleep. It's too far, it's too tiring—he's tired _now_. He doesn't want to move an inch, let alone a mile. Doesn't want to get up, and leave, or think about anything, and … Momoshiro's eyes briefly dart over towards Kaidoh. Doesn't want to leave him just yet.

Momoshiro's afraid if he does, all those bad feeling will come back to him, and he'll be angry once more, and maybe he'll stomp over towards his old shack in an angry stampede and demand answers from Echizen. No, he has to stay with Kaidoh for a bit, get his mind off of it, distract him, keep him busy, keep him occupied until he closes his eyes and thinks of nothing else and falls asleep.

"Uuuhhh," Momoshiro groans out. He lifts his arm to reach for the hammock net behind him, but it's out of his reach. "Too …far," he says with great difficulty. Not to mention everything else feels heavy, his body feels so worn out. His mind feels worn out.

"Lazy," Kaidoh says, but isn't making much effort to shift his own position either. "Well. You're not sleeping out in the sand. That would be stupid."

"I'd end up having crabs in my hair," Momoshiro snorts.

Kaidoh's mouth curls into a small smile. "Yeah, you would. Stupid idiot."

Momoshiro wiggles his fingers at him, snapping them like the claws of a crab. "They'd get you first. Because. Your hair is greasier." Yup, makes sense to him.

"What the hell, no they wouldn't," Kaidoh protests grumpily. "Besides, I'm not going to sleep out here on the beach anyway."

"Oh?" Momoshiro stops looking at the hammock, and flips his head to the side to look at Kaidoh. "Still got some energy left to go back to your hut then?"

"Yeah," Kaidoh says. "I guess." He always has enough energy to run somewhere if he needs to. Not that he really wants to right now.

"Ahhh, you just gonna leave me here? Alone?" Covered in sand? He really needs to clean himself.

Kaidoh gives Momoshiro a flat look. "What do you want me to do?"

Momoshiro has enough energy to roll over once, so that he's on his side, practically lying on Kaidoh. "Carry me."

"What?" Kaidoh sputters, face all scrunched up in surprise. "All the way back to the hut? No way, idiot."

"Oh, you'd be fine if it was closer?" Momoshiro grins.

"That's not what I said! I didn't say I'd carry you anywhere!"

"Well I'm fine just staying here like this."

Kaidoh scowls at him. "With crabs crawling on your face when you wake up?"

"No you dumbass." Momoshiro shoves his shoulder against Kaidoh's face."With you." And then he realizes what he's just said, and quickly starts to stutter and come up with a different reason. "I mean. Here. With the hammock. Yeah."

"You're not in the hammock," Kaidoh points out, because Momoshiro isn't. Because he's on the ground, with Kaidoh. And he said he's fine like that, and for some reason that makes Kaidoh's insides turn to syrup.

"Yeah well, I don't see you picking me up and putting me inside of it either." Momoshiro wrinkles his nose, then he rolls away from Kaidoh, right back onto his cellphone. It's stabbing him in the back. "You hit me too hard. Take some responsibility." Kaidoh should take _all_ the responsibility for all these weird hormonal feelings he's been experiencing throughout the day. He caused them in the first place.

Kaidoh huffs. "Fine," he says, and pulls himself up in the sand. "You spoiled jackass..." He climbs to his feet and looks at Momoshiro like he's a barbell waiting to be lifted, because if Kaidoh thinks about this as picking up and carrying _Momoshiro_, he'll only freak himself out. Because that would be weird, and he doesn't have a good excuse. It's not like they're teenagers back at training camp stuck climbing the side of a mountain in some twisted survival game.

Whatever. Just get it over quickly.

Kaidoh isn't delicate at all when he slides his hands under Momoshiro's legs and torso and hauls him up into the air. Then, just as abruptly, he flings him into the center of the hammock like a hot potato. A very surprised looking hot potato.

Momoshiro quickly lifts his head up, staring wide-eyed at Kaidoh, dazzled, confused, flabbergasted—impressed?

"Huh," he says lamely. He feels lame. He feels like a toy Kaidoh just picked up and slung away. "I didn't …" Mean it? "Asshole, don't just pick me up like I'm some kind of object, I'm a person too!" One with feelings. Lots of feelings. Happy feelings. Floaty feelings.

So Momoshiro reaches out with his hand, yanking on Kaidoh's tank top, and pulling him towards the hammock in one quick movement, so that Kaidoh loses his footing and falls right into the hammock as well. Except less gracefully. Like a big flopping fish, right next to him. The hammock rocks back and forth like a violent swing. It's funny. It's really funny. Momoshiro laughs as he looks at Kaidoh's behind strutting out high in the air.

_You look ridiculous._

Momoshiro stretches out his legs and leans back against the pillows with his arms behind his head, lazy and relaxed. He's still laughing, because he thinks this is probably the funniest thing on earth. Kaidoh being clumsy and looking ridiculous always gets a rise out of him.

"You're stupid," says Momoshiro. He pokes Kaidoh's butt with his knee. "Really stupid."

Kaidoh fidgets around, trying to get his bearings, and finally manages to roll over onto his back, more or less right into Momoshiro's side. He glares, his mouth pulled into an annoyed frown. "You're stupider," he says. His face feels hot with embarrassment.

"That's not a real word," says Momoshiro in a sing-song voice.

Kaidoh growls at him. "Shut up. It's what you are, so of course it's real."

"Huh, what—you make no sense." Not that Kaidoh ever makes sense to him, despite being super simpleminded. He certainly didn't expect to be lifted up and thrown on top of the hammock though.

"If I am, then you're even more so," says Momoshiro. He smiles smugly and worms himself in the hammock more snug against Kaidoh. There's actually a lot of space in the hammock. "Idiot. You even made this hammock way too big for one person. I'm not _that_ fat."

"It's just so you can … uh, stretch out," Kaidoh says, the blush in his cheeks deepening. "It was definitely only meant to hold one person though."

"Sure it was … heh, you probably made this for yourself. That's why it's so big. To hold your big inflated head."

"Asshole!" Kaidoh snarls, and reaches across his chest to grab Momoshiro's collar. He doesn't really know what to do with it though, since another fight would just land them both in the sand again, and he's too tired for it anyway, so he just kind of holds onto it awkwardly and narrows his eyes.

Momoshiro's eyes trail down his chest, staring at Kaidoh's hand. Then he changes direction and looks at Kaidoh. He feels smug all of the sudden. "What's this Mamushi, want me that close to you that badly?"

Kaidoh immediately drops his hand and yanks it away, back to his side of the hammock. "I _don't_," he denies.

Heh.

Momoshiro breaks one hand free from behind his head, then sneaks over to Kaidoh's side, and catches his hair, then ruffles it up.

So simpleminded, yet impossible to understand.

But at least he can count on Kaidoh being there for a distraction.

He swirls his fingers around Kaidoh's scalp, making pleasing circles.

Well, maybe he's not creating a distraction anymore. Maybe he's become a distraction himself.

This, Momoshiro thinks, is probably going to change. All of it. And he can't do anything but close his eyes, and hopes that when he wakes up tomorrow, Kaidoh hasn't gone off to run.


	20. Sucker Punch

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **time for some good old fashioned MomoKai fighting.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Momo has confronted Ryoma about the prank, which he simply brushed off as saying Momo deserved it, and he was angry with him at the time  
- Feeling angry, Momo tidies up Kaidoh's hut and decorates it, even going as far as making them both beds (fashioned out of lots of blankets) and says he'll be living with Kaidoh foreeeeever (to rub it in Ryoma's face)  
- They sort of start ignoring each other again, because Momo still feels betrayed and hurt  
- Ryoma has a conversation with Kirihara, and tells him about what a crappy friend and homophobe Momo is  
- Kirihara tells Momo that he should treat Ryoma better and not be such a homophobe to him, to which Momo asks him if Ryoma called him that, and Kirihara says yes  
- Momo is completely angry with Ryoma, tells him to keep the shack he built because it's his now, and he's never moving back in, and he calls Kaidoh out because he needs to punch someone

**Date:** August 8, 2012

* * *

Kaidoh can see his hut growing bigger on the horizon and he speeds up into a sprint for the last couple minutes of his run, which he wasn't even halfway through when he'd turned around and headed back to Momoshiro. He didn't even need to think about it. It isn't even that he's going soft; he kind of is. It isn't that he'll do whatever Momoshiro says; he kind of does. But Momoshiro sounded serious this time, short and blunt—the way he gets when he's really angry about something, with none of the usual rambling playfulness. It made Kaidoh feel serious too.

When Kaidoh nears his hut, he can see Momoshiro sitting outside, and he stops and pulls the towel from around his neck and lets it hang limply from his left hand. He stands there panting for a moment, and then he jogs up.

"You're lucky I was nearly finished, idiot," he says gruffly, not bothering with a real greeting, and swings the towel down against Momoshiro's shoulder.

Momoshiro was lost in thought before Kaidoh snapped him out of it. He glares up at Kaidoh, and he just feel this _anger_ well up in him. It's not Kaidoh's fault, he's got nothing to do with it. But he kept finding out all these things about Echizen—things he's said behind his back, and they definitely weren't compliments—and that seriously pissed him off so much.

Momoshiro stands up and faces Kaidoh.

"Punch me first. It won't feel good if I just punch you for no reason," he says, and he's deadly serious. He needs to get it out of his system, he needs to blow off some steam; Kaidoh's always been a good outlet for him. He always knew what to do when Momoshiro was angry.

That is, to shut up and fight him.

Momoshiro turns the other cheek. "Do it," he says.

Kaidoh narrows his eyes at Momoshiro. "What the fuck is wrong with you," he says, his voice slicing low through the air like a blade. He balls his fingers into fists and throws a punch at Momoshiro's face, but it's half-hearted and a little confused and Kaidoh doesn't really want to hurt Momoshiro. It's more a press of knuckles into his cheek than anything, but it's hard enough to let Momoshiro know that Kaidoh's there and he isn't backing down.

And it really didn't hurt; Momoshiro growls at Kaidoh for not being serious. He's pissed, he wants to fight, and he wants himself to hurt.

"I'm just pissed—now be serious!" Momoshiro knocks Kaidoh's arm away, and then he pushes at Kaidoh's chest. "Just fucking hit me." He stands up straight and brushes the hair out of his eyes. "I'll hit you back, if that's what you're worried about."

The look in Momoshiro's eyes sets Kaidoh's heart pounding and he grinds his teeth as he growls back, "Fine, asshole!" and swings his arm again. This time there's more force behind it and it connects with Momoshiro's jaw with a thud.

And that one _did_ hurt, as Momoshiro's jaw starts to ache and he stumbles backwards with the force as if a bulldozer hit him. It knocks all of his thoughts out, and he's running on pure adrenaline right now. Exactly what he wanted. He clenches his fingers into a fist, and he quickly hits Kaidoh back, right on his cheek, because he's not going to let Kaidoh get away with it.

Something simply clicks between them, like it always does whenever they're fighting with each other. Only Kaidoh can make Momoshiro so out of touch with reality, to zone everything out and only focus on the movement between them, on their punches, their breathing—he's only focused on Kaidoh. And that's all he can think about. With each new punch, Momoshiro hurts more and more, but he barely notices. He doesn't want to stop and think, he wants to continue like this until he's knocked out.

Yet he doesn't end up knocked out.

They both end up taking in deep breaths as they lie on the sand of the beach. They've got bruises all over their bodies, and Momoshiro is sure Kaidoh gave him a black eye, because damn, it _stings!_ He's lying right next to Kaidoh, their heads close to each other, staring at the blue sky above them.

"Fuck," Momoshiro curses out loud. He's still pumped and cranky. But at least he's hurting, and Kaidoh managed to calm him down a bit. He was always a good punching bag. "I think I broke my finger, Mamushi. What's your skull made out of? Lead?"

"Don't talk," Kaidoh grinds out grouchily. "Your voice is too loud." His ears are ringing and he cups his hand over the side of his face which stings where Momoshiro punched him. It feels good. He can feel on his body every place where Momoshiro hit him and the aches are weirdly satisfying, even if they _were_ fighting over nothing. That's usually how it is with them.

When Kaidoh's chest rises and falls with each breath he can feel a swelling pain and he's sure there'll be a big bruise there. His heart is racing and he feels angry, but mostly just worn out, like he does after a long run.

He lifts his arm and punches it weakly into Momoshiro's shoulder, then drops it again. "You really are an idiot," he breathes.

"Shut up," says Momoshiro. He knocks his head against Kaidoh, for being a jerk, and to shut up him. The nice thing about Kaidoh though, was that he never asked any questions. Momoshiro could show up covered in seaweed, say 'punch me' and he'd do it—provided he hasn't yet run off with his tail between his legs because Momoshiro looked like the Loch Ness monster.

That's exactly what he needed. No questions, no nothing, just breathing in and out, and lying next to Kaidoh. Don't think of anything. Don't think of that brat. Don't think about the things he's said behind his back. Think about Kaidoh instead. Think about a great witty insult he could use the next time he felt like arguing with Kaidoh. Which is pretty much all the time, so he'd better come up with one soon.

"Your sweat smells sickenly sweet," says Momoshiro. It's supposed to be his clever and witty insult, but instead sounds like some weird perverted thing. But it's true though, Kaidoh's scent has always smelled a little sweet, and when he sweats, it becomes really overwhelming. It's kind of weird how Momoshiro could recognize Kaidoh simply by the scent of his sweat. It's nasty. He should forget about that.

"Not the good sweet kind," he adds.

"What the hell?!" Kaidoh growls. He sniffs the air. It just smells normal to him. Sweaty, but normal. But then, he's never really given much thought to what he smells like, sweating or otherwise. "Don't say that kind of shit… You're gross." He gives a glare to Momoshiro's stupid sweaty body and adds, rather immaturely, "_You're_ the one who smells."

Momoshiro laughs at the pathetic insult. "Are you kidding me, I smell like a bouquet of roses." Mostly because he was still using rose scented shampoo.

"Here, just smell it," he says, and Momoshiro presses his head against Kaidoh's even more.

Kaidoh knocks his head back against Momoshiro's, which makes his ears start ringing a bit again. "I'm not smelling you, moron."

"Whatever." Momoshiro knocks his head right back against Kaidoh's, like they're some two stupid woodpeckers. "I smell awesome. I wish there was deodorant on this island." Actually, Momoshiro is starting to wish he wasn't on the island to begin with.

It was going fine lately, well not exactly perfectly, but Momoshiro was starting to like hunting for food, building shelters, messing around with Kaidoh. And his birthday was really awesome. It really wasn't that bad anymore … not until he found out all the stuff about Echizen.

And great, now he's thinking about it again. Kaidoh didn't knock him hard enough, but he feels like he doesn't have the energy anymore to ask for another one.

"Hey Kaidoh," says Momoshiro. He takes in a long and deep breath. "You don't hate me, right?" He knows Kaidoh doesn't, but then again, he thought he was Echizen's best friend too, and that turned upside down. Then again, this is Kaidoh, he wouldn't really hide it if he hated Momoshiro.

Not even waiting for Kaidoh's answer, Momoshiro sighs in relief. "Good. I don't either." He kicks Kaidoh's leg with his foot. "If you do, I'll smother you in your sleep."

"Good," Kaidoh echoes, and tilts his head towards Momoshiro. It's a strange angle since they're not facing each other, but he can look him in the eye this way, so he does. He holds Momoshiro's gaze for a moment before saying, "Obviously I don't."

Then he leans his head back again. "But if you do anything to me in my sleep I'll punch you in the face again."

Once more, Momoshiro laughs heartily. "Like I'd even let you." Well, maybe he would, if he ever gets pissed again. "My face already hurts enough as it is. I'm going to be sporting a black eye later tonight. I wish we had some ice on the island. Everything is so hot and humid, something cold would be nice for once. A cold drink … hmm, sounds good. Maybe some coke. God, I haven't had coke in such a long time. I want some now, in a glass bottle, you know those really cool and expensive ones they only have in restaurants, or on their stupid TV commercials. I can never actually find them at the store. I wonder why? What are they hiding? I want some … actually, I think the ship had a few. They're long gone by now though." Momoshiro finally shuts his trap and sighs; his jaw is starting to ache from talking so much after getting hit by Kaidoh's fist.

"How did people make ice in the medieval ages anyway? They didn't have a freezer back then. Do you think they just waited till winter until there was snow and the water froze over? Probably, huh." Momoshiro groans in frustration, then he turns on his side to face Kaidoh. The sand scratches his cheek, and everything feels itchy and scratchy and annoying. "I have no idea what I'm talking about anymore."

This day is really stupid. Everything is so annoying.

"Then stop talking," Kaidoh replies simply. He can feel Momoshiro's breath against the side of his face, and part of him wants to shove Momoshiro away for being so damn close, but the rest of him just wants to lie there next to Momoshiro for as long as he needs him. Maybe fight him again if he asks. Whatever Momoshiro wants.

"Believe me, wish I could Kaidoh, wish I could." After all, wasn't it his mouth that got him into this mess? This ... this _thing_ with Echizen, and being some sort of homophobe. No matter what he says or does, people are going to call him that forever, aren't they? Well fuck that.

Doesn't being a homophobe mean you're afraid of gay people? Momoshiro looks right at Kaidoh. He's not afraid of that stupid snake, and he isn't of Echizen either—nor anyone else for that matter, and there's plenty of gay people on the island. It's stupid. Echizen is stupid. He should be more like Kaidoh, meaning to shut up. What has he even done to deserve all that stupid talk behind his back?

He treated Echizen as his best friend … nothing more. He never said anything bad about the brat. Not at all. Not even when he confessed to him and kissed him.

It hurts finding out. It really does.

And it's written all over Momoshiro's face; getting punched didn't help. Except make him feel more hurt, and look like some kicked puppy, what with his swollen eye. Right now he's just sad and hurt, and angry at finding out.

Momoshiro wonders if running really does hold all the answers. Kaidoh's always running, it seems to work for him. But he doesn't feel like running. He doesn't feel like doing anything at all, nothing but lie there in the sand, with Kaidoh right next to him, bruised and beaten by him. At least some things never change, and he's thankful for that. He wants to tell Kaidoh to continue being a stupid idiot forever, but that sounds stupid, so instead Momoshiro just calls him an idiot.

"And a running freak, too," he adds. At least that's one person Momoshiro can count on to talk badly behind his back, but never mean it. Kaidoh never means it. Echizen did. It hurts.

_It hurts, it hurts._

What is he supposed to do now? Is Momoshiro really that bad of a friend? Should Kaidoh try and knock some sense into him again?

Momoshiro slips his fingers into the sand, clenching it into a fist. "Kaidoh," he starts, slowly and unsure. "What do you do when you want to get something off of your mind?" Getting punched in the face didn't work. If Kaidoh tells him to go running, he might pop a blood vessel.

Kaidoh's eyes narrow as he contemplates the question. "I don't know. Something physical. Running, or doing sports, or working out. Get your body going so you stop thinking so much..."

His own body aches, and he gets it; Momoshiro needed a distraction. Kaidoh doesn't ask from what, that's not really important, and Kaidoh isn't much of a talk-things-out kind of guy anyway. But physical stuff—that's Kaidoh's thing. That, Kaidoh can do. But they're both already kind of worn out from fighting and Kaidoh doesn't know what other physical things they could do together that wouldn't just be exhausting.

"What do you _feel like_ doing?" he asks, glancing at Momoshiro out of the corner of his eye. Momoshiro just looks kind of deflated, not by the fight, although maybe because of that too. Kaidoh doesn't really know what to do with Momoshiro when he looks like that.

Momoshiro stays quiet for a long time. He doesn't really know what he feels like doing. He's just angry, and hurt, and he wants it to stop. He wants to shake Echizen, so that perhaps answers will fall out of him. But he can't do that.

"I don't fucking know," says Momoshiro. He sounds agitated, but it's not directed at Kaidoh, more so at himself for being indecisive and a spineless douchebag. "Running doesn't sound good. Moving my body even an inch feels like the heaviest thing on earth. Ugh. I hate this." Why didn't Kaidoh have any more suggestions? Is that really how he deals with his problems; running all the time? That seems so lame.

"You're lame, Kaidoh," says Momoshiro. He knock his fist against his shoulder, even if it feels heavy and it aches. Then something pops up in his mind. "Do I make you go running a lot?" Kaidoh did run a lot, and if he says he does it to get his mind off of something … perhaps Momoshiro sometimes was the cause of that?

That'd be weird.

"What?" Kaidoh replies indignantly. "No. Sometimes I just want to run!" His mouth pulls into a frown. "Most of the time," he corrects, then revises it again to, "Almost all of the time." Then he just kicks his leg against Momoshiro's and says, "You're stupid."

"What, what's that supposed to mean," Momoshiro kicks Kaidoh back, "moron. I'm just asking. If you're annoyed with me, just say it to my face. Don't go around and … and … hah. No way, you'd never do that." He lowers his eyebrows and stares with a serious expression at Kaidoh. "Do you talk to other people about me?" In a bad way, he means.

Well, he knows Kaidoh does, probably. That guy can probably never even utter anything nice about him in the same sentence as his name—but that's typical Kaidoh. Not like Momoshiro will be singing his praises as well. But, well, that's no secret at all. And it's not like Kaidoh _truly_ means it, just like Momoshiro doesn't give a fuck about it either. Or at least, he sure hopes so. Kaidoh can't honestly believe his own words whenever he speaks about Momoshiro like that, right? He knows he can be a dumbass, and a moron, and a total idiot. But that's not something you _mean_ outright. It's almost endearing the way Momoshiro and Kaidoh address each other. It's not meant to stab him right through the heart.

It isn't meant to hurt the other. That's their mutual agreement. That's how they've always been like.

In fact, Momoshiro can almost say it with a straight face, that whenever either of them calls the other an idiot, they're just saying 'hey, nice story bro' or something cool like that.

They don't _hate_ each other.

But that's how he and Kaidoh work out. That's not how Echizen works. The brat never says anything, and Momoshiro has never said anything bad about him, aside from a few cute bratty nicknames. He's even apologized to him, several times, from the bottom of his heart, because Momoshiro knows he was acting stupid (it's much easier with Kaidoh, since Kaidoh forgives his stupidity pretty easily), so did he really deserve all those harsh comments behind his back?

The brat he thought so highly of, was doing nothing but calling him a homophobe to everyone else? The shorty he took care of constantly while they were on the island? Saved him from the ship, kept him safe and sound on the island, fed him food, built a shelter?

Did Momoshiro really deserve that pin-pointed stab through his heart?

"Hey Kaidoh," he says, voice low and sad. "Nevermind. I know you just call me an idiot to everyone else anyway."

Kaidoh just hisses. "Yeah," he agrees. He puts his hand over his chest and feels it rise and fall with each intake of breath. It still kind of stings, his whole body does, but he doesn't mind. He turns his head so he can look at Momoshiro again. "I don't think you're a _complete_ idiot, you know."

_Oh …_

Momoshiro lowers his gaze, opting to stare at the crook of Kaidoh's neck. He feels himself becoming a bit bashful; he's never heard Kaidoh say something like that outright. Not without Momoshiro forcing him to say stupid things like that. It's weird, sort of strange, kind of new—but this heavy weight pressing down on him evaporates a little bit. Dissolving into thin air, and being replaced with a tiny smile.

Heh.

"Is that so," says Momoshiro. He closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath. He knows what Kaidoh means; doesn't he always? "You're not the biggest idiot I know either." Which is true, he knows some really shitty people.

But he really rather likes Kaidoh.

Kaidoh snorts. He twists a bit in the sand, stretching himself out, feeling his muscles pull and relax. He brings the back of his hand up and rests it over his eyes.

"This is so stupid," he mutters, but it's how they are. He's used to being stupid together with Momoshiro, saying things that don't really mean how they sound, but mean a lot to him. It's easy and familiar and comfortable; Kaidoh likes it.

"_You're_ stupid," is Momoshiro's standard reply. But he's grinning at Kaidoh. He can always count on Kaidoh's honesty, or well, he can always count on Kaidoh saying one thing, but meaning another.

For a few seconds, Momoshiro says nothing, and instead continues to lie there in the sand with Kaidoh. He listens to the ocean right behind them, calm and serene. It's kind of disgusting and unbefitting of the situation, with two bruised and beaten guys lying next to each other.

Then Momoshiro shifts from his position—his entire body aches, and his eye really hurts, but he rolls and rolls over, until he stops right next to Kaidoh. He flips his body and arches it above Kaidoh, then sits down onto his waist, and his hands reach for Kaidoh's top. That snake certainly didn't hold back on his punches, as every single fiber in his body is screaming whenever his muscles move. But. There's something else there that was also there on the day of his birthday, and subsequent days after that.

"Kaidoh," Momoshiro says with a bit more energy. He lowers his face down at Kaidoh, his hair almost touching his bandana. "I _really_ want some chocolate strawberries right now." Momoshiro looks a bit serious for a second, until his cheekbone rises and he laughs. Food would cheer him up, most definitely, but so does Kaidoh's bewildered face.

Kaidoh huffs and glares up at him. Momoshiro's so close that it's kind of hard to glare at him without going cross-eyed, but he's used to them being in each other's faces like this. It's a little weird when Momoshiro isn't glaring at him too, though; just looking at him. Staring, really.

"Yeah, well, too bad," Kaidoh says, sounding as irritable as he can from this position, "because I told you I don't have any chocolate."

"Hmpf." Momoshiro leans back this time, straightening out his back and looking around them. "Someone's gotta have chocolate, right? I really want some now … of course I'd want a burger more, but that's even more impossible than getting sweet delicious chocolate." He turns his head back at Kaidoh, grinning once more (it actually hurts his eyes to smile this wide), clenching his grip tighter at his shirt. "If I get some chocolate, you'll make me some, right?"

Kaidoh better make him some chocolate covered strawberries. Now if only they had whipped cream too! That'd be awesome.

"Hey, how do you make whipped cream?" asks Momoshiro. Isn't it from like milk or something? Well … they had a goat, didn't they?

Kaidoh's mouth stretches out into a thin line. "I think you just, uh … need cream … for you to whip," he says flatly.

"Oh … how do you make cream?" Momoshiro scratches his cheek, feeling stupid.

"I think it's a part of the milk," Kaidoh replies. "Just … mixed in with it or something." At least, he's pretty sure he's heard that before, maybe when he was at a petting zoo.

"Heh, you sound like you don't know either." Momoshiro chuckles and pushes his fist against Kaidoh's chest. "Idiot. I guess I can go ask Tachibana, he'd definitely know. And hey—maybe we can make a cake! You said you'd make one for me." Actually no, Kaidoh said he didn't want to, but Momoshiro doesn't care.

Momoshiro closes his eyes and imagines a chocolate cake with strawberries. Moist soft angel cake, covered in a thick cream of chocolate, with strawberries dipped around on the top, each decorated with a little bit of whipped cream. That sounds so utterly good right now. Hmm …

Kaidoh looks up at Momoshiro's stupid, happy face. "Food is all you ever think about, isn't it," he says, his voice low and deadpan.

No, it's not _all_ he thinks about, but it's definitely a good distraction, so Momoshiro stops fantasizing about the food, his eyes open and serious. He look straight at Kaidoh, as if he's secretly challenging him.

"It's not," he says. Because it's true. There's a reason he came out here. "It'd be nice if it were true though." Momoshiro sighs then he finally heaves himself off of Kaidoh and sits next to him. "So, you baking me one or not? A real one!"

"Moron," Kaidoh says grumpily. Meaning yes, probably.

"That's a yes, right?" asks Momoshiro for confirmation.

"That's an, 'I'll think about it'," Kaidoh replies in a low, disgruntled tone as he stubbornly tries to hold onto some shred of his pride. He's not going to just roll over and do whatever Momoshiro asks of him. Well, no, he probably is, but he has to at least pretend to put up a fight first.

"I want to ... uhh, help too. I'm probably just as good as you are—if not better—and two hands are better than one, right?" Momoshiro shows his hands, happy and open, at Kaidoh, lying down, serious and grumpy. Ass. He shoves his knee against Kaidoh's elbow.

"Don't look like it's the end of the world baking a cake with me, asshole."

No, it's not the end of the world. Kaidoh could think of worse things he could be doing. Anything that doesn't involve Momoshiro, for example.

He props himself up on his elbows and scowls, or tries to anyway. "Fine, whatever," he says in a tone that's annoyed and long-suffering, in spite of the smile twitching at the corner of his mouth. "We can make your stupid cake."

Momoshiro eyes enlarge, and he happily turns his head around to face Kaidoh with a big smile. "Really?" he asks. "You can't take back your words now. I'll punch you if you do."

Standing up from the sand, Momoshiro offers his hand to Kaidoh. "Come on, instead of going back to run, let's go check on our garden, see if the strawberries are doing fine." It's one way to keep his mind off of backstabbing best friends, so Momoshiro hopes Kaidoh will go along with his suggestion.

Kaidoh takes Momoshiro's hand and lets himself be pulled up to his feet. His bruised muscles protest as he stands and brushes himself off.

"Yeah," he says. "Sure." He doesn't feel like he could go back to running now anyway even if he wanted to.

Lingering a second or three for too long, Momoshiro slowly slips his hand away from Kaidoh's, he keeps it hanging by his side, and it feels heavy. Everything feels heavy on him. He sort of wants to reach out for Kaidoh's hand again, because he didn't feel heavy at all. It felt kind of pleasant, almost.

"Hey uhm," Momoshiro starts. He looks up at Kaidoh, and wonders what he was trying to say, but he feels kind of messed up. He shakes his head. "Never mind, let's go see it. I can taste test one strawberry, right? It won't make me sick?"

Kaidoh snorts. "Okay. _One_." He gives Momoshiro a flat, reluctant look, as though this is a big hassle for him. It isn't, really. That's just how he looks at Momoshiro most of the time, like he's a pain in the ass to put up with. And he can be, but Kaidoh stopped feeling like he was merely tolerating Momoshiro a long time ago. If that's all it was, he'd be off running now instead of standing there thinking about how Momoshiro's palm had felt as it slid against his when Momoshiro had pulled his hand away. Damnit. No, that's definitely not all it was.

"Don't choose one that still looks really white or green and you should be fine," Kaidoh says, and knocks his fist against Momoshiro's shoulder. Even though he doesn't put much force behind it, his knuckles still kind of sting on impact, and it's the same place he'd punched Momoshiro before during their fight, so he's sure Momoshiro feels a sting too.

"Okay, okay! Ass." Momoshiro rubs his shoulder.

Kaidoh pulls his arm back again. "Well, you can choose whichever one you want," he adds, a little quieter. "I mean, since they're yours and all."

"Heh." Momoshiro leans closer to Kaidoh, before flipping his arm over his shoulder and pulling him in a (sort of painful, for him) headlock."Well, maybe one or two are yours."

He pinches Kaidoh's cheeks (where it hurts!), chuckles at him, then runs like hell.


	21. Seven Tests

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **this is a log that I wrote to signify Momo's realization that Kaidoh likes him. It spans for a week until he comes to a sort of conclusion. Happiestwhen and I wrote out one of the days together as a regular log as well, which will be inserted here as well.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo, Hazue) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- To give everyone on the island something to do, some people decide to hold an island Olympics, to coincide with the real Olympics happening out in the real world  
- They've built a shoddy tennis court, and Momo took the opportunity to compete with Kaidoh as doubles partners  
- Hazue is horrified at the prospect of training for the Olympics (he'd die from Kaidoh's training), and he pretends his ankle is sprained and Kaidoh believes him  
- Momo continues to ignore Ryoma, and likewise for Ryoma  
- The day set before this log, Momo decides to go running in the morning with Kaidoh for once, but immediately regrets it the next day when his muscles ache  
- A few hours before this log starts, Hazue talks about keeping pictures on his phone, and Momo questions him how well he knows Kaidoh's phone, to which Hazue says he's transferred a lot of pictures from the computer to Kaidoh's phone for him (Kaidoh doesn't know how to)  
- Momo is embarrassed that Hazue might have seen the picture of him with his shirt off, to which Hazue says he understands Momo's goofiness, and lets it slips that the last time he transferred a picture of Momo to Kaidoh's phone, was right before Kaidoh left for America  
- Momo realizes Kaidoh's been hogging pictures of himself on his phone, and he's been doing it continuously and recently  
- All throughout this week, Momo is becoming more and more agitated with Kaidoh's running, and calls him a running freak all of the time

**Date:** August 19 through August 25, 2012

**August 19 - Sunday**

* * *

There's something on Momoshiro's mind. It's usually food, or the need to sleep, or some kind of stupid thing that no one cares about—sometimes it's about Echizen—but this time, it's a bit more complicated than that.

Momoshiro avoids thinking about complicated matters. He prefers simple things, straight-to-the-point, things that don't make him restless and anxious, and most of all, terribly confused. And that's what he feels right now, terribly confused.

Only just an hour ago, while commenting on Kaidoh's brother's post, he found something out. Well, he already knew from back on the day of his birthday, but it seems there was _more_ to it than he thought. On his birthday, while browsing through pictures of Kaidoh's phone, Momoshiro had found the pictures he sent to Kaidoh years ago. It seemed he had kept them all this time. That was already worrying enough, and weird, and just super confusing, and Momoshiro wondered what the hell Kaidoh did with those pictures, but he figured—it was in the past. Kaidoh _liked_ him back then, so Momoshiro gets why he'd have pictures of him.

He still doesn't know why they're still on his phone though.

But that's not the thing that really confuses him. It's that Hazue had implied that Kaidoh had a lot more pictures of him. Recent ones. He said something about transferring pictures of Kaidoh before he left to Florida, and Momoshiro know that this is _very_ recent. As in, the same year still. They lost contact back in 2007, which is when Momoshiro had also sent his last picture, but in 2012 Kaidoh was still putting pictures of him on his phone?

Where'd he get those kind of pictures anyway? Is Kaidoh taking pictures of him while he sleeps? Did Kaidoh secretly stalk him all these years that he thought they were ignoring each other?

Momoshiro doesn't know how Kaidoh has access to pictures of him that he didn't sent, but trying to question this makes his brain boil over, so he figures he focuses on the _reason_ why Kaidoh would have more pictures of him.

He can only think of one thing: Kaidoh still likes him. The snake still has a crush on the peach. Or perhaps the feelings returned, or whatever—Momoshiro feels short of breath just thinking about it.

So that makes two people who like him now? And why did it have to be two guys?

Not to mention one is supposedly his best friend (whom he's ignoring), and the other is supposed to be his rival (and nothing more!).

Well okay, so maybe Kaidoh doesn't like him, and Momoshiro is just imagining it, and Kaidoh is collecting pictures of him for blackmail. That's something he'd do, right? That's what Momoshiro would do, so it could be possible. So Momoshiro doesn't know for sure if Kaidoh does like him.

Though he's pretty damn sure that if he asks Kaidoh, right to his face, that he'll get punched. Maybe in the balls. Ouch.

But then how will he know? How can Momoshiro find out if Kaidoh does or not? Not that he's really interested in it … he just wants to know for confirmation. Yeah. It's not like he'll be happy if Kaidoh likes him again. It's not like this will make him feel lightheaded and sweaty—those are from pollen allergies. He just wants to know so that … so that …

Damn, he had a really good reason just a second ago.

Well, whatever. Momoshiro doesn't need a reason. He just wants to know if Kaidoh likes him. Because … he's his rival. Or maybe they're not … and that freaks Momoshiro out, because they've always been nothing but rivals. What if that changes? What if he can't do stupid stuff anymore with Kaidoh, simply because they want to compete with each other? What if he can't get into fights anymore, because Kaidoh 'likes' him too much to hurt him? Ew, that's gross, Momoshiro feels like he threw up a little in his mouth thinking about that.

The bottom line … if Kaidoh likes him, will things change?

But Kaidoh didn't change back then … when he first liked Momoshiro. Or at least, he doesn't think so.

So maybe he's just worrying over nothing. If Kaidoh likes him, well, that's his own problem. As long as he still acts normal, and as long as Momoshiro can still punch him in the gut, then it's fine. As long as he doesn't start acting like Echizen—calling him hot, and talking about a guy's floppy dick—then yeah … it should be fine. Maybe.

He has to find out first though.

And Momoshiro doesn't know how—he can't just _ask_. So he'll have to find out another way.

Which he still hasn't thought of (he doesn't like to think about complicated matters), so Momoshiro wings it. He'll find out if Kaidoh likes him, one way or the other.

Except Kaidoh is basically busy the entire day, running his stupid marathon for the Dumbnuts Olympics. It's stupid, Momoshiro thinks it's stupid, and he calls Kaidoh stupid right before he leaves.

"You're the only one running," he says.

Kaidoh simply hisses and starts his marathon. He'll get automatic gold for being the only participant (thank god Hazue's ankle is busted so he won't run to his death as well). It's sad, it's kind of lonely—does Kaidoh really like running that much? It's insane, he seriously needs to stop running so much. Running that much, especially out in the hot sun, and for an entire day, just can't be good.

And not having Kaidoh around him at a moment's notice is weird, because Momoshiro needs to find something out.

Kaidoh finishes his 5-hour damn marathon, and Momoshiro can't wait to pester him again. And call him a running freak.

He ends up asking Hazue to play cards with him, then baits Kaidoh to come join too, and it surprisingly works out really well. It was so easy getting Kaidoh to join, by telling him he could build a house of cards better than him, which was always a good way to get Kaidoh riled up and agree with anything he proposed. Because if there's something Kaidoh can't say no to, it's a challenge.

Or he just can't say no to Momoshiro, but that feels weird, and probably isn't true.

Probably.

Then this idea hatches in his head as he looks at the queen of hearts. What if he can test the waters with Kaidoh? What if Kaidoh goes along with anything he says, because he likes Momoshiro? If that is true, then there should be an easy way to find out. If Kaidoh likes him, then he won't reject anything Momoshiro proposes.

"Stick this card on your head," he says. "Let's see who can get a card to stick on their head the longest."

Momoshiro slaps a card against Kaidoh's forehead.

_If Kaidoh likes him …_

Kaidoh the grumpy snake argues with him, tells Momoshiro it's stupid, and he's not going to do it. He takes the card off his forehead and flings it at Momoshiro, who dodges it like a ninja.

"Well, then I win," he says.

Kaidoh mumbles something under his breath, but slips a card out of the deck and presses it against his forehead.

Momoshiro feels a weird cool feeling crawl over his spine. Ignore it. It's just a fluke. He's just really good at manipulating Kaidoh. This doesn't mean he likes him. It doesn't … does it? He does actually end up winning this stupid made-up game, because his forehead was so sweaty, that card wouldn't have fallen off unless there was a hurricane. Kaidoh sulks around, and wants a rematch. Hazue keeps giggling like he knows something.

It makes Momoshiro wonder—does Kaidoh ever get enough of competing with Momoshiro?

He picks the cards up they used for their stupid challenge, and now they're playing Go Fish. Momoshiro shoves the cards in his face, to hide himself from view. He peers over the edges of the cards to Kaidoh, who momentarily looks up at him, and quickly looks away. That's not something he imagined, right? Why is this making _him_ nervous as well. Stupid Kaidoh. Why can't playing cards be simple.

Why can't Kaidoh just come out and say if he likes Momoshiro or hates him.

Momoshiro breaks his record that day, his house of cards is seven stacks high. Well, it was, until Kaidoh felt like ruining it by taking out the bottom card with his annoying hissing. He did it on purpose, Momoshiro is sure of that.

**August 20 - Monday**

The next day, Momoshiro wakes up alone. This shouldn't bother him, but it does. It bothers him every day. Kaidoh is always up early, and he's left the hut before Momoshiro can even turn over in his sleep. Not only that, Kaidoh comes home late at night, when Momoshiro is either asleep already, or so sleepy he doesn't even remember it. It's annoying. It's starting to piss him off for some strange inexplicable reason. Why can't Kaidoh get up like a normal person, and go to bed like a normal person? Why is he always running so damn much? Why hasn't he dropped dead yet from over exertion?

It makes Momoshiro feel bored, really bored. He wakes up alone, and he's got no one to talk to or to pester. It feels exactly like his lonely apartment, except he had a cactus. A cactus was better company than Kaidoh was. At least the cactus won't suddenly run away, or start to develop feelings for him.

Do cacti have feelings ...?

Momoshiro spots the marker he used for drawing on his birthday lantern, lying half underneath the rug that Akutagawa gave them. Or Kaidoh, whatever, this is not really Momoshiro's 'home'. It'd be silly to call it home. That would mean he is sharing a home with Kaidoh, and that would actually mean Kaidoh would have to _be_ there with him for it to be a home. But Kaidoh isn't there, he's off running.

Fucking running freak.

Annoyed at this terrible morning, Momoshiro reaches for the marker and pulls the cap off. If this is supposed to be his home, then it damn well will be. He'll make it his. He positions himself on his makeshift bed, then he puts the tip of the black felt against the wooden wall. The wood has splinters and comes off loose as Momoshiro drags the marker against the wall, writing 'Momo was here' right on the wall that was 'his side' (Kaidoh had the left side). It feels almost therapeutic to mark his territory like this. Kaidoh will probably call it stupid, but whatever. It's his corner.

He draws a peach next to his name. It sort of looks like a heart. Why do peaches look like hearts? He adds some leaves to the peach, but now it ends up looking like a bow, a heart wearing a bow, how girly. So girly, Momoshiro feels he must do something manly, so he writes 'AWESOME' right above his bed. He doesn't notice he spells it wrong, because right now Momoshiro is in the zone, he's keeping his mind off of complicated matters he really doesn't want to be thinking of, so he just keeps on scribbling.

And scribbling …

Until he realizes he's on Kaidoh's side, and he's drawing stupid cat faces, and fish (who is watching Kaidoh, Momoshiro knows this freaks him out), and he writes Kaidoh's girly name on the wall as well. He puts a small tiny little snake-like figure at a more hidden spot, as if it's a secret. And it feels stupid once Momoshiro realizes what he's actually doing. Why is he on Kaidoh's side? Why is he drawing cat faces (which look suspiciously the same as the cat face on Kaidoh's pillow, that he drew as well)? This feels stupid. Kaidoh is stupid.

So he writes 'dumbass' right next to Kaidoh's bed. Then he draws an arrow pointing at Kaidoh's bed, just to get the message across.

Momoshiro leaves to go gather food and water—he knows when he'll return Kaidoh will punch him for finding out. Well, it's his fault anyway, he shouldn't be running every day. He should wake up at the same time as Momoshiro does. Then they could say 'good morning!' to each other, and maybe Momoshiro can start the day off with a classic insult fight. That sounds nice to wake up like that.

And doesn't Kaidoh like him anyway? He'd probably secretly like his scribbles on the walls.

As expected, when Kaidoh finds out, he rages about it on his journal. Momoshiro doesn't know what's his deal, because he thinks he did awesome at drawing those cats. He should be a professional artist. It's Kaidoh's fault he did it anyway, because Momoshiro was looking for a distraction, and Kaidoh (whom he needed to be distracted from …) wasn't there to provide a distraction. Momoshiro's brain twists into a knot as he tries to think of this logic; he doesn't want to think about Kaidoh, so he wants to spend time with Kaidoh to take his mind off of it?

Well.

It makes sense to him.

Regardless, it's all Kaidoh's fault he drew on the walls, and it doesn't look bad. And who the hell really cares; it's just a hut. But Kaidoh acts like it's some kind of terrorist act, like some kind of blasphemy on his hut. Momoshiro even gets into a stupid fight with him about running too much. It really is all Kaidoh's fault; he shouldn't keep running every morning before the sun is even up!

But when Momoshiro returns to the hut that day, he only notices big smudge marks on the word 'dumbass' and the stupid fish he drew. It didn't wash off (permanent marker!), so it just looks really dark and black. It almost looks scary, like this dark cloud of doom hanging over his bed, and this makes Momoshiro smile, since he knows Kaidoh gets scared fast.

He's also smiling because he left the rest of the scribbles alone. The cats and 'Kaoru-chan' are untouched. And knowing that Kaidoh _does_ seem to not mind these, makes Momoshiro's brain twist into two big knots, and he can't wipe the smile from his face either.

"Why did you leave the rest alone?" he asks. He's forgotten about their earlier fight.

He's got better things to do, Kaidoh says, and the marker wasn't coming off anyway so he gave up.

But Momoshiro doesn't believe Kaidoh's lie. That's simply an excuse, he thinks—Kaidoh liked what Momoshiro drew. Because Kaidoh likes Momoshiro.

Maybe.

**August 21 - Tuesday**

That's when it really starts. What was first simply some annoying nagging thought on his mind, became something Momoshiro had to solve. He needs to know, he needs to know if Kaidoh likes him.

There's no reason why (there probably is), he just wants to know. He can't stop himself from wanting to, nor can he stop himself from going full-out into manipulative mode. Momoshiro is good at reading body language, an expert at small subtle cues. Which is exactly what he does with Kaidoh. He's scanning his every move, calculating his every intention, all for the sake of finding out, if Kaidoh Kaoru has a crush on him.

He's acting like a damn high school girl.

Whatever.

So either way, Momoshiro wakes up early, just when Kaidoh does. He wants to run with Kaidoh, he's got a plan to put into motion. And maybe it might be a little bit because he wants to wake up in the morning and Kaidoh is actually there for once. He set his stupid alarm clock on his watch to 4 AM, and when he wakes up, Kaidoh is already dressed and ready to go. Freak.

"To prevent myself from scribbling on the walls out of boredom again," he says, when Kaidoh looks at him skeptically.

The snake mumbles, but seems to be okay with the idea. He's probably a lot less grumpy than he looks, Momoshiro notices. Especially when he notices the subtle, very subtle, movement in the corner of Kaidoh's lips.

"But," says Momoshiro, as he grabs the back of Kaidoh's shirt to stop him. "I'll only run this morning with you, if you sleep in tomorrow with me." It's a fair trade Momoshiro thinks. He needs to stop and rest a bit (and didn't he run a marathon the other day?).

Kaidoh hisses and sputters, and calls Momoshiro a moron then runs away.

But he didn't actually say _no_, so Momoshiro runs right after him.

He knows Kaidoh runs a lot, it's not even bright outside and it feels like it's nighttime, so Momoshiro has this crazy idea that he'll pretend he can't go on anymore, and stop running. And then, if Kaidoh really does like him, he'll stop running too, and take Momoshiro back home. Maybe.

They've been running for an hour non-stop, and Momoshiro's insides feel like they're burning, and he might just need a new liver and kidney. He barely even has to pretend to be exhausted and out of breath, because he really is. Kaidoh is running ahead of him, he's not even looking back. He can see the trail of footsteps the stupid idiot left behind in the sand, and it's what he focuses on instead. This is stupid. Why is he doing this? Why is he doing this ... this … _test?_

It's almost two hours later, when Momoshiro collapses against his own will. He was going to fake this entire thing, but he really can't go on any further. He doesn't know how Kaidoh does it, he really must be some kind of robot. His insides must be made out of metal, and he's running on solar power, because Momoshiro sure as hell doesn't know how else Kaidoh is able to run that much without any effort. At least Kaidoh sweats, he sweats a lot, and he's running against the wind, and Momoshiro smells that sickly sweetening smell, and it's not helping his dizziness go down.

He's panting, he's heaving, he's sitting in the sand, crawling towards the ocean to cool himself down. He needs something to drink, something to rehydrate himself, because Momoshiro feels like he's going to pass out any second now. He's seeing black dots dance around right in front of his eyes. He doesn't even know if Kaidoh noticed he stopped running, that idiot was probably way ahead by now, leaving him behind.

Of course Kaidoh doesn't like him.

Something that sounds like his name fills his ears, except as it grows closer, he realizes it's not his name, it's 'moron'. Momoshiro can barely tell what's going on as Kaidoh rushes to his side, dunks his body into the ocean—ahh, that felt refreshing—then pushes the tip of a plastic bottle against his lips.

He's an idiot, a true moron, why run that much if he can't—Kaidoh just keeps on insulting him, and Momoshiro gulps down most of the water. The black spots lessen a bit, but they're there. He looks up at Kaidoh, and he looks even scarier now that half his face is clouded in dark spots. It looks kind of funny.

Momoshiro feels kind of funny, and it's not because he's on the brink of passing out.

"Running freak," he mutters when he catches his breath. Momoshiro closes his eyes and flops back into the sand. "Take me home," he says.

It's their home after all.

He's an idiot.

He's a moron.

Kaidoh keeps repeating those words over and over, and Momoshiro tunes them out. He's only really thinking about one thing.

That his plan sort of failed, but Kaidoh did come back for him.

The bonus point?

Kaidoh is carrying him back to their hut. While of course, insulting him with every word in his insult vocabulary, all the way through. But Momoshiro is half aware, and he's pressed up against Kaidoh's sweaty back, and he smells sweet, and this feels like back at the U-17 camp, and all he can think about is that Kaidoh liked him back then.

And maybe he likes Momoshiro right now too.

Maybe.

**August 22 - Wednesday**

Kaidoh is in his bed when Momoshiro wakes up that morning, and this makes Momoshiro happy, for about one second, until he smells it.

Kaidoh's sickeningly sweet sweat.

He gets up and saunters over to Kaidoh's side, then kicks the side of his blanket. "You liar," he says. "You went running anyway."

Kaidoh upholds that he is not a liar, because Momoshiro never heard him say anything. Which is true, but still, he silently agreed to it. To which he says Momoshiro said nothing about running, and only sleeping, and then calls him a dumbass.

Already pumped up in the morning (but secretly glad he didn't wake up alone), Momoshiro is holding himself back from getting into a physical fight with Kaidoh straight away. He walks back over to his spot, then digs through his backpack and pulls out a long red cloth. He flings it at Kaidoh.

"Your punishment," he says. "You'll have to tie that bandana for me because you went running."

Kaidoh is reluctant, but he does tie the bandana on Momoshiro's head. He also calls him an incompetent baby who can't tie his own shoelaces as well. But, whatever, Momoshiro will let it slide, since he's feeling a little tingly whenever Kaidoh's fingers brush over the back of his neck. It's almost like he's doing it on purpose.

When Kaidoh is done, he tells Momoshiro that this is the last time he'll tie it for him, because he should know by now, and he's an idiot.

And that feels like a challenge.

Kaidoh can't resist him, right?

"Sure," he lies.

Several hours later, Momoshiro finds Kaidoh on the beach. The bandana is in his hand, and he shows it to Kaidoh.

"Got stuck on a treebranch," he lies.

_If Kaidoh can't resist him …_

Within a few minutes, the red bandana is back on Momoshiro's head. Followed by more insults about being an idiot, and this is really the last time he'll do it. Sure Kaidoh … whatever he says.

"I fell down a hill," he lies. Kaidoh looks at him like he's the biggest moron on earth, and clumsy as well. But Kaidoh ties his bandana for him again.

"A fish got caught in it, I had to take it off," he lies once more. Kaidoh looks horrified.

"A banana fell on my head."

"Karupin tore it off."

No matter what ridiculous excuse Momoshiro comes up with as he clutches the red cloth in his hands, Kaidoh would retie it. He'd be completely grumpy, and struggle, and call him all sorts of things (mostly being an inept retard), but Kaidoh would still tie the bandana for him.

And Momoshiro was getting a kick out of it.

He sort of likes that tingly feeling when Kaidoh's finger brush over his neck again and again. It's sort of addicting.

Later on, Momoshiro gets some hair gel from Shiraishi's sister, and he didn't notice it contained glitter until it was too late, and in his eye. He had called Kaidoh for help immediately, and surprisingly, Kaidoh was there within a minute.

He stills remembers it crystal clear ...

"Ow, fuck!"

Momoshiro was having a bad day. He was having a relatively okay day (what with getting Kaidoh to keep tying the bandana on his head), but right now, it's just a really horrible day. A little while ago, Momoshiro had scored some hair gel from Shiraishi's sister, and in the present, he was putting it on his hands, and in his hair, spiking it up, and then he rubbed his eyes and …

The gel contained glitter. And the glitter is in his eyes now.

And it _burns_—god it burns!

"Kaidoh!" whines Momoshiro, rubbing at his eye as he stumbles outside of the hut to meet the snake half-way. There's tears streaming out of his left eye, and the entire area looks inflamed and red. He's pretty sure his eye looks completely red as well. It really stings!

Kaidoh looks up and is momentarily distracted, not by Momoshiro's eye, but his hair, which is spiked up into his familiar style. Only this time it's … sparkly. When he moves, the sunlight catches his hair and the glitter in it and Momoshiro looks, for lack of a better word, dazzling.

It looks really stupid, so Kaidoh glares at him. He can't force himself to stay glaring for long though, because Momoshiro also looks totally miserable, the left side of his face all blotchy and wet and his eye looking red and painful. It just makes Momoshiro look kind of pathetic, and Kaidoh is pretty helpless when it comes to Momoshiro's pathetic face.

"You idiot," Kaidoh says. "C'mon, let's wash it out."

Momoshiro follows after Kaidoh as he retreats back to the hut like a lost puppy, whimpering all the way through, and not leaving his eye alone at all. He keeps rubbing his knuckles against his eyelid. It just stings too much, and it's all hot and red, and the tears won't stop pouring out. It's really annoying.

"It feels like my eye turned into a god damn disco ball, god it fucking stings." Momoshiro accidentally bumps against Kaidoh since he wasn't really looking where he was walking, then takes a step back. He grabs the hem of Kaidoh's shirt to prevent himself from running into anything else while one eye is temporarily disabled.

"That stupid girl, she gave me hair gel … I didn't know it had glitter in it!" Once more, Momoshiro whines out loud in agony, and he rubs at his eye some more. It just won't come out, that stupid glitter. "Just ... get it out already!"

Once they're back inside the hut, Kaidoh grabs Momoshiro's hand and tugs it away from his face, wrapping his fingers around Momoshiro's wrist and holding it tightly.

"Stop rubbing at it," he says, sounding a bit exasperated. "It will only make it worse." With his free hand, he takes one of the bottles of fresh water off of the floor, opens it, and holds it up. "Lean your head back."

"Ugh, this good enough?" Momoshiro tilts back his head so he's looking up at a blurry ceiling (his other eye started watering too). He tries to rub at his eye again, but Kaidoh is holding his wrist, so he uses his other hand to rub at it. It's impossible for him to stop.

"I guess right now it's a bad time to tell you that … I really hate it when things go into my eye?" says Momoshiro with a snort. He's kind of deathly afraid of anything touching his eye, and now there's damn glitter in it, and now Kaidoh wants to flush it out with water, and well, it's scary! And it hurts! He unconsciously flinches away from the bottle of water in Kaidoh's hand.

"Hold still," Kaidoh says, and uses the bottle to nudge away Momoshiro's other hand. He looks at Momoshiro like he's being a big baby about all of this, but there's a softness in the way he looks at him too, like it's kind of endearing. Kaidoh is pretty sure it isn't, and he's just being temporarily blinded by Momoshiro's idiotically glittery hair.

He drops Momoshiro's wrist and uses his fingers to hold Momoshiro's eye open, his thumb and forefinger pressing against the lids. It makes Momoshiro squirm again. Damnit, Kaidoh's going to end up poking his eye out if Momoshiro doesn't stop moving. He can see glitter in there, looking scratchy against the surface of Momoshiro's very red eye. It makes Kaidoh's own eyes feel itchy in sympathy. It must really suck. Kaidoh feels like he should be offering some words of comfort or something, but he doesn't really do comfort, especially not with Momoshiro.

"It'll be out soon," he says instead, trying to sound confident. He doesn't actually know how easy it is to get glitter out of an eye. It's never been a problem he's had to deal with. Why'd Momoshiro have to be such a dumbass?

"Okay, I'm going to put water on it," Kaidoh warns, and holds up the water bottle and tips it so that water comes streaming out over Momoshiro's face.

"Hoo—_fuck!_" Momoshiro pulls away from the bottle and Kaidoh, letting out a string of some very nasty curses that would make Hazue hit him on the head.

"Fuck, that fucking hurt!" he complains. The water had hit his eye, and somehow made it worse, because now he can really feel everything scratch inside of his eyelid, and it's burning like hellfire. Ugh, this is the worst day ever. He wants to scratch his eye out.

"At least count to three or something, asshole." Momoshiro almost feels like Kaidoh is enjoying this, he keeps seeing him try to suppress a smile, or maybe his vision is just too blurry, and Kaidoh is really trying to snarl instead. For being a dumbass. Well, it wasn't his fault! He thought it was ordinary hair gel. Not one with damn glitter inside of it.

Despite not really wanting to do that ever again, he knows the only way to get it to stop burning a hole through his retina, the water has to flush it out. Momoshiro inches closer to Kaidoh, a bit afraid of him, cowering away, and it feels really pathetic. Combined with the fact that Kaidoh already sees him like some incompetent elephant throughout this day, it really isn't making matters better.

Momoshiro leans his head back again—rubs at his eye—then tries to keep it open, but it stings so damn much that he squeezes it back closed tight again.

Stupid Kaidoh, it's all his fault somehow. He wasn't there to stop Momoshiro from putting this stuff in his hair. It's because he was running. Yeah, blame the running. Always the damn running. Freak.

"We have to do it like this," Kaidoh says, trying to stay calm. It's hard when Momoshiro is acting like it's the end of the world. Kaidoh's first instinct whenever Momoshiro gets dramatic is to pick a fight with him over it, for being such a moron, but that doesn't exactly seem wise at the moment, and part of Kaidoh really does feel bad and want to help Momoshiro out.

He lifts the water bottle again. "Okay?" he asks tentatively. He isn't really looking forward to Momoshiro thrashing and flailing around again. He might even knock the bottle of water over and then they'd have to start all over. "Open your eye."

In a completely subconscious kind of move, Momoshiro grabs hold of Kaidoh's wrist, to steady his arm, and to prevent any water from entering his eye.

"You better count," says Momoshiro. He then tightens his grip on Kaidoh's wrist—to help deal with the burning pain—and he slowly and uncertainly peels his eyelids open to reveal his eye. There's a lot of red veins flowing through what used to be the white of the eye. It almost looks like a scene from a horror movie. If Momoshiro weren't so much in pain right now, he'd be making fun of Kaidoh, or scaring him, with his creepy eye.

But instead, Momoshiro leans his head back up, anticipating the water like it's a history test in high school on Monday morning. Or just a kick in the balls.

"Ok, do it," Momoshiro manages to grit through his teeth. He doesn't relax his grip on Kaidoh's wrist though. It's kind of stuck on there now, like it's been glued onto it.

Kaidoh nods. "One … two … three," he counts, and raises his hand—their hands, really—and tilts the water bottle again, sending the water out in a rush.

And it hurts just as much as the first time, but luckily, Momoshiro is squeezing the hell out of Kaidoh's wrist to prevent himself from turning away, and to take it like a man. Despite squealing like a girl. The water flows over his eye, and he can't see anything anymore, and everything is just goddamn _burning_, that after only three seconds, Momoshiro pulls away again. He immediately shuts his eye and starts to rub at it.

And it feels a lot less painful than before. The more he rubs at it, the less it stings, and it's not as irritated anymore. Momoshiro tries to open up his eye with a bit of difficulty. It still stings a little, and he blinks several times, looking at Kaidoh. One, two, three—hey it doesn't hurt as much. He can still feel some of it still in there though, but it seems most of it got out. As evidenced by his fingers which are now covered in glitter again.

"Hey, it hurts less," says Momoshiro, a bit happy. He wipes his hand off on his shorts to get rid of the glitter and rubs at his eye some more, but it's not getting rid of the itchiness.

"Okay, one more time, I think." Momoshiro steps closer, not grabbing Kaidoh's wrist this time, and his eye is open, despite feeling like he must squeeze it shut. "Count."

Kaidoh counts to three a second time and holds the bottle up over Momoshiro's face, letting it splash into his eye. He realizes that it's a bit strange, what they're doing—stranger still that Kaidoh doesn't even feel annoyed with Momoshiro anymore for it, just relieved that it's working.

Momoshiro lets out an audible sigh of relief as the water flushes the rest of the glitter out. He blinks against the thick stream of water a few times, until there's no more water left, and it's basically splattered all over his clothes. He rubs at his eye; doesn't sting as much anymore, but he can definitely feel no more glitter in it. Looking around for something to dry his face off with, Momoshiro thinks, to hell with it, and slams his face into Kaidoh's chest.

His hands slip underneath Kaidoh's top, and he travels upwards until he's at his chest. Then he pushes his hands towards his face so he can rub it against his eye just to make sure all the glitter is out, and to dry his face off. And to perhaps annoy Kaidoh just a little bit, because it's quite pathetic that snake had to come in and rescue him from _glitter_, but also because he's still … well … testing.

At least that's one thing Momoshiro is sure about now; Kaidoh will always come to him in need. He's thankful for that.

Kaidoh stands there as if paralyzed, painfully conscious of how his whole chest is tingling, like Momoshiro's arms against his skin are made up entirely of electric shocks. And heat. Kaidoh doesn't know how Momoshiro can be splashed with so much water and still feel so warm.

"Ever heard of a towel, moron?" he says uselessly, as his whole tank top becomes damp with water. His own arms reach up under the front of his shirt and he grabs Momoshiro's wrists, trying to pull them out. "You're going to stretch my shirt out."

"Does it look like there's a towel anywhere near me?" Momoshiro retorts. He quickly rubs the corner of his eye one last time with Kaidoh's top before he lets himself get pulled out of it. He doesn't quite move from his position though, still being so close to each other. It looks like Momoshiro cried on Kaidoh's chest, which he guesses is basically what did happen, as his eyes are still tearing up a bit.

"Still feels like there's glitter in my eye, do you see anything?" Momoshiro leans his head back a bit, and with his index finger and thumb, he spreads his eyelids apart to let Kaidoh have a look.

"Just your stupid eyeball," Kaidoh says, giving Momoshiro a flat look. "I don't see anything. It's probably going to be irritated for a while because of how much you were rubbing at it."

Momoshiro rubs at his eye.

Kaidoh grabs Momoshiro's hand again and holds it firmly, like Momoshiro is a disobedient child who keeps reaching for the cookie jar. "Idiot, you'll only make it worse! Just leave it alone."

"But it hurts!" And it still really does. Maybe Momoshiro is just a little paranoid and thinks there's still some in his eye, despite being dunked in water several times. He curls his lips into a quivering pout and stares at Kaidoh with a sad depressing look on his face, whimpering a bit for added effect. The fact that his eyes are still watering, and his left eye is bright red, only serves to complete the sad look.

Momoshiro tugs slightly at his hand, wanting to rub his eye, and sort of wanting to pull away out of Kaidoh's grip, but then he also feels like he doesn't want to. It's kind of nice being babied (he'll die before saying this out loud), taken care of like this. Kaidoh really does fuss a lot, following Oishi's footsteps as being the motherly type. But then again, Kaidoh has always fussed about him in his own snark-like way, hasn't he? Not to mention he kept on retying Momoshiro's bandana today.

"I won't go blind, right?" asks Momoshiro in a tiny voice.

Kaidoh snorts. "I really doubt it," he says. Sure, Momoshiro looks totally pathetic right now, and his eye is all puffy and red, but Kaidoh doesn't see glitter stuck in it anymore. He'll be fine. Whiny, but fine.

Momoshiro still seems to be looking for some kind of reassurance though, so Kaidoh pulls one of the clean bandanas out of his pocket—this time a black one. After letting go of Momoshiro's hand, he wets the bandana with some water from a different, new bottle, since they'd completely exhausted the supply from the first one trying to rinse out Momoshiro's eye.

Once the bandana is cool and damp, Kaidoh holds it out to Momoshiro and says, "Close your eye and hold this against it. It should help with the stinging, but if it doesn't stop, we can, uh, try to wash it out again I guess." He grimaces. His voice sounds a lot gentler than it should. It's Momoshiro's fault for looking so sad and helpless.

And Momoshiro picks it up as well. A caring Kaidoh is something he could really get used to. He grins slightly as he takes Kaidoh's bandana (does he seriously have an endless supply of them in his pocket?), his fingers sliding against Kaidoh's long ones on purpose, then takes the cloth up to his face and presses it against his eye. He massages little circles against his eye a bit, it's hard not to rub! But seeing Kaidoh's stern expression, Momoshiro pouts once more and stops, and simply applies pressure to it.

"Yeah, uhh, thanks," says Momoshiro. With his one good eye, he looks at Kaidoh for a few seconds, then diverts his gaze at the wet spot on Kaidoh's tank top. It really does look like he cried all over him.

It's weird how Momoshiro feels torn between wanting to punch Kaidoh for making him look like he can't do anything else, to simply enjoying being pampered. Maybe this is what Echizen feels all the time whenever Momoshiro does something for him. It _is_ a nice feeling, but this is still Kaidoh. And yesterday he had already helped Momoshiro yet again when he collapsed while running, and took him back to their hut. He had meant to fake passing out at first, but he ended up doing it nearly for real, and thinking about how worried Kaidoh sounded like (despite the only things he was saying were insults), made Momoshiro's cheeks turn a little bit pink. He shuffles awkwardly on the spot and puts one of his hands underneath his armpit, while the other just tries to cover his face as much as possible as he presses the bandana against his eye.

"Uhh," Momoshiro starts. "You can go back to running. Or whatever you were doing. If you see that Shiraishi chick, punch her in the gut for me."

"I'm not going to punch a girl for you, moron," Kaidoh grumbles, but he still doesn't manage to sound that grouchy. He pulls at his tank top and smoothes his palm down the front of it to flatten it out. It feels cool and damp against his chest. It feels kind of weird. He looks back up at Momoshiro, who seems to be trying to hide behind his hand. Well, his face _is_ all red and blotchy, almost like he's been crying. It's pretty stupid-looking, Kaidoh thinks.

"I should be back in an hour," he says, as though it's suddenly important for Momoshiro to know. "Don't touch your eye too much," he adds, as though he cares. "Dumbass," he finishes, because he doesn't. Really. He just thinks it would be completely idiotic if Momoshiro really did go blind because he couldn't stop rubbing at his eye.

"Fine, I'll try not to," says Momoshiro gruffly. "If I do go blind, punch her!" As if to illustrate how to punch her, Momoshiro takes his hand away from his armpit, balls it up into a fist, and softly pushes it against the wet spot on Kaidoh's chest. "Like that," he says softly.

Momoshiro can't resist rubbing at his eye once more when he feels a sting again. "Don't—don't run too much. Dumbass." Come home sooner.

"I'll run as much as I want to," Kaidoh replies tersely, because he can't just agree with Momoshiro, not even when he feels like he'd be just fine staying here with him instead of going back out to run more. Because that _wouldn't_ be just fine at all, and if Kaidoh did that, if he stayed here with Momoshiro and his pathetic face, it would have to mean something. Right?

He turns toward the entrance of the hut and descends the steps down to the sandy beach. He glances back over his shoulder once before he starts to run again, and as he does, his whole body feels heavier.

Well, maybe he can make it back in 45 minutes, he thinks.

Back at the hut, Momoshiro spends the rest of his time trying to get that nasty glitter gel out of his hair. He never thought there'd be a day where he'd _hate_ hair gel, and actually _liked_ Kaidoh's bandana.

But that's not what he's focusing on, he's focusing on the fact that Kaidoh bends to his every whim, no matter how ridiculous. Kaidoh really _can't_ resist Momoshiro. He probably can't even reject anything Momoshiro will ask of him. So maybe Momoshiro isn't just a master manipulator, but Kaidoh is simply a doormat. Or maybe he just likes Momoshiro.

Yeah, maybe he does.

**August 23 - Thursday**

Liking someone … crushes … they're kind of complicated. Momoshiro has had crushes before. Not that many … maybe two, he can think of. One when he was very little, and there was this cute girl in his class that he spent a lot of time with. K-chan, he thinks her name was. He never really remembered her full name. And then there was An, Tachibana's sister. Momoshiro has always liked active and sporty girls, so of course he got along with her, and eventually they started to date. It didn't last long, but whatever—the point is, Momoshiro knows what crushes feel like, and they're sort of unpredictable too.

There's one thing he knows extremely well, and this is when the person you have a crush on touches you, there should be a fireworks display in your stomach. It should feel good, it should feel addicting, it should feel fluttery. It's the kind of feeling people want to keep feeling, but on the other side of the coin, it's also something that terrifies them. What if the person finds out? What if they figured it all out? Do they feel the same way? Questions plague their minds forever.

And that's why Momoshiro knows, that _if_ Kaidoh has a crush on him, that all physical contact between them will be magnified to him. He will shy away from all that contact, get fidgety, nervous, anxious, and he'll act awkward and try to pull away. Or at least, that's how Momoshiro would act.

Not that he has a crush on Kaidoh.

Hahahaha!

Hah.

Fuck no.

But Kaidoh might have a crush on him (again).

So to find out, Momoshiro decides to fight with Kaidoh. He doesn't even need to find a reason, since they're already a bit on edge the last couple of days.

"You seriously need to get a different hobby other than running," he says.

It's all that needs to be said.

Fighting is always so simple to understand between them. It's not complicated, they just hit each other where it hurts, and they won't go down, no matter what.

Momoshiro almost forgets his objective, he's getting too into it. He likes getting rough with Kaidoh—it's the only person in the world he can simply mess around with and it doesn't have any consequences. It's always been a familiar rush, a sensation that Momoshiro has gotten used to. It's almost like this is their connection with each other, a bond if you may, talking to each other through fists. It's how they do it, it's how they roll.

And Momoshiro really likes the rolling.

It's always on top, or the bottom, neither of them give up their dominant positions. Because where's the fun in that? There's no point to it if there's no struggle, no challenge, no obstacle to overcome. Even if his muscles hurts, and his skin is scratched and bruised, he likes the proximity of their bodies. He likes the way they move, so fluidly over each other, like they're so familiar with the way their bodies work, which areas bruise better, and which areas they should avoid. It's programmed into their brains, and it kept updating each time they had another fight. And they've had … so many fights.

So much friction between them.

The friction of Kaidoh's shirt against his collarbone, the friction of Kaidoh's arm against his back, the sensation of his nails swiping across his spine. That warm breath settling against the nook of his neck, and those intense gaze in his eyes, like he's all that matters, like the world doesn't exist. Nothing exists but them, and the scuffling and movement of their bodies. And Momoshiro returns it, he returns it tenfold.

So Kaidoh? Do you like fighting?

Momoshiro doesn't even need to try, he doesn't even really need to pretend, when his hands get touchier, when he arches up into Kaidoh's body, and then he rolls them over. He brushes up his legs with Kaidoh's, he can feel the long hairs of Kaidoh's legs rub against his shin, it's sort of soft, it's sort of strange. His fingers glide over his shoulders, down his arms, and he's pinning Kaidoh down, like he's done a million times before already, but he's making sure to draw it out as long as possible, to make sure there's skin-on-skin contact, and to keep looking at his dark blue eyes.

Why is he looking again? For a reaction?

Or acceptance?

His throat feels dry, despite not having said much during their scuffle, but it's still dry. Kaidoh looks sweaty, his skin is glistening against the sun. That sickeningly sweet smell, the aroma is swirling up in his head. He can't think straight anymore. It's messing with his mind. They both breathe, in and out, and Momoshiro doesn't tear his eyes away from him, nor does he let go of Kaidoh's arms, he's forcing more pressure onto it, as if it keeps him from going insane. From losing control.

Losing control of what exactly?

Kaidoh flips him over, climbs on top of him, and Momoshiro can't stop looking, nor can he stop feeling. His fingers trace over Kaidoh's biceps, up back to his shoulders, to the delicate skin of his neck, and he can see Kaidoh freezing up in a moment's notice, withholding his breath. That smell, that smell is making him sick … His fingers wrap around the back of Kaidoh's neck, until he forces Kaidoh down to his level, and then he's in Kaidoh's soft brown hair, massaging his scalp almost.

And there Kaidoh is, right in front of his face, his eyes surprisingly softened and weird, and kind of oogley. Momoshiro still can't break eye contact with him, but he wants to desperately bring his eyes down, to focus on those lips. Those lips which are parted, and no air is coming through them. Kaidoh isn't breathing.

Is he?

It's getting tighter inside of Momoshiro's chest, it's getting dryer in his throat, and he's getting tired of struggling, tired of this … this … invisible wall there seems to be. Like Kaidoh is holding himself back from doing whatever he wants to do.

What are you waiting for Kaidoh?

But what is Momoshiro waiting for? What is he expecting? Why is he finding it harder and harder to let go, to pull his fingers out of Kaidoh's hair, to slip his body away from Kaidoh, to actually punch him instead of staring at him. This is definitely something that needs updating in his brain, because usually, they'd be hurting each other right now. They shouldn't be leaning closer, and Momoshiro is losing his objective, and it's getting closer, Kaidoh is getting closer, and Momoshiro doesn't hate it.

Then just like that, like a snap of a straw, Kaidoh pulls back. The wind rushes around them from the speed at which Kaidoh moves, and then the snake is running, running away.

Momoshiro continues to lie there as he stares up at the sky. His throat is starting to feel a little better. But he still feels like that there was something about to happen, some sort of secret was about to get spilled, and Momoshiro wants to know …

The secret—is it that Kaidoh likes him?

He wants to know.

He really wants to know!

**August 24 - Friday**

Momoshiro is on edge, and it's partially because today is the first day of the doubles matches for the Dumbnuts Olympics, but mostly because whenever he ends up alone with Kaidoh, he keeps remembering yesterday. The movement of their bodies together as they fought, and stopped, and something else seemed to transpire in the air—just like on his birthday.

"Let's go win this match," he says. But he doesn't feel confident. Kaidoh simply nods his head. Momoshiro hands over the red bandana, soundlessly, and just as silent, Kaidoh ties it on his head. It's like a ritual between them now.

It's been years since he played a doubles match with Kaidoh, and he remembers them all fondly, it's something he's been wanting to do ever since their last match. How many times has he played other matches and thought 'Kaidoh would have gotten that one' or 'Kaidoh would have had my back' or maybe even 'this isn't a challenge at all'. To put it in better words, he has _missed_ playing doubles with Kaidoh _a lot_. He's even had the guts to say this personally to Kaidoh.

Because no one else is like Kaidoh. No one else can read his movements and motivations as easily as Kaidoh can. He's the only good match for him (Echizen had been a disaster), and tennis is just their thing. It had always been their thing.

Momoshiro wonders when it stopped being just about tennis, and they simply started to hang out with each other that didn't involve tennis at all.

He catches Kaidoh's eyes out on the courts, the match is starting. Momoshiro feels this heavy weight in his stomach, this block of iron. He's been looking forward to this for years, but never once had he anticipated that he'd be _nervous_ about it, and it's not even because of the tennis! That's what it should have been about; playing the match together like the good old days.

But something changed.

Kaidoh stands behind him as he serves. That was his position. He was a doubles partner and a rival. That's all Kaidoh was, that's all he has been.

Momoshiro whacks his racket against the ball; it's all it should have been. But it's not, it changed.

Somehow Kaidoh has blurred the line between doubles partners and rivals. Sure, they might be playing tennis right now as doubles, and sure they compete with each other pretty much every day—but he also does a lot more things with Kaidoh that doesn't include tennis or rivalry. Fish together, run together, build together, play stupid games together, cook food together, garden together, hang out in a hammock together, and simply _talk_ to each other. They did so many things, and every day it increases.

It's confusing, it really is. It used to be just so simple … a rival yet a partner.

What's Kaidoh now?

The match is 2-0, and they're not on the winning side. Momoshiro is distracted. He's thinking too much, he's focused too much on Kaidoh, and Kaidoh notices it too. That exciting rush he was expecting during this match? It's not there, because Momoshiro's mind isn't there on the court with them.

Why did Kaidoh have to go and mess it up. Why did he have to start liking Momoshiro in his second year, and why did Momoshiro have to find out? Why did he have to find out about the Valentine's chocolates? The pictures he's kept on his phone for years?

Why stay in his shack.

Why create rainbow roses for him.

Why make a garden for him.

Why let him stay in his hut.

Why give him the bandana.

Why dance with him.

Why wear that ridiculous hula skirt.

Why make that hammock for him.

Why indulge him so much.

Why?

That's not rivalry. That's not even close. Momoshiro wouldn't even call it a friendship.

They lose their doubles match, and it's all Momoshiro's fault. He didn't really care about winning, he was just so focused on Kaidoh. On figuring him out, on trying to sort out his own damn brain. He's a mess of emotions right now.

A few days ago, he wanted to know. He wanted to find out if Kaidoh still likes him. He didn't really have a reason—or well, maybe he did, but it's just so confusing. And admitting he has a reason is like admitting he wants Kaidoh to like him again, which is crazy and stupid and idiotic, and why the hell is Kaidoh looking at him as if he wants to say something? Just spit it out, stupid snake. Call him names for losing the match; Momoshiro doesn't care. It was his fault after all.

No—it's not his fault, it's Kaidoh's fault! Kaidoh is messing him up, is making him confused, is making him change his view of him, and the entire ride feels like a roller coaster with its ups and downs. One day Momoshiro is sure, and the other he's confused, and he just wants to go punch something. Usually, he'd have punched Kaidoh. However, Kaidoh is the one that's causing him to be confused, so he settles for punching a wall, and kicking Kaidoh's pillow. But then he feels bad for the pillow, fluffs it back up, and puts it back on his bed. And now he feels silly.

This is getting ridiculous.

All Momoshiro wanted to know is if Kaidoh still likes him. That was it. There were no other motivations for it. No secret reason that he's hiding.

Stupid Kaidoh. Why did he have to go and be gay. And then be gay for _him_. He was fine just being rivals, doubles partners—but this unknown territory that is not rivals, not doubles partner, and not even friends, it scares him. He doesn't know what will happen, what can happen. What _has_ happened.

Like these inexplicable urges he gets from time to time whenever Kaidoh is being Kaidoh, and they're simply together, and it doesn't feel strange, and he doesn't feel like strangling the snake, and they're not arguing, and they're not having a stupid competition. Where he feels safe and relaxed, and sort of really zen, a feeling he's not used to having around Kaidoh. Especially when those urges just keep on growing, and before he knows it, he's attached to Kaidoh like bees to honey, and they're both not talking, and they're close, _so close_, and he doesn't want to stop whatever happens afterwards.

But then Momoshiro is pulled to his senses, and then they're awkward around each other, like they have been the entire day. Walking on eggshells, wondering what the hell is going on.

Kaidoh. He might just like Momoshiro, but it's also very probable that it doesn't stop at that.

And that scares Momoshiro like hell, and it fills him up with a ton of bees that keep swarming around his stomach, not quieting down. Not giving him the time of day.

**August 25 - Saturday**

Another day of tennis, another day of confusion. It's hot, it's so very hot, Momoshiro feels like he wants to rip his skin off. It should never be this hot out, and people should definitely not be playing sports when the temperature is high enough to cook an egg on something metal out in the sun.

Kaidoh however, still acts like nothing can stop him, and Momoshiro wakes up alone in the morning once more. Running again. Always running. Seriously, what's so bad about waking up with him? Is he that bad at keeping company? No, that can't be, lots of people love being around Momoshiro, they always want to talk to him—Kaidoh can't be _literally_ running away from him.

Right?

Whatever, that snake can do whatever he wants, it's his life, it's his stupid running. Running himself to death might just become a reality in the future.

Not that Momoshiro wants Kaidoh to do that, nor would he even allow himself to die in such a stupid way (he's completely ignoring his own breakdown a few days ago), because that would be lame. Kaidoh should die while saving a puppy or something. Yes, be heroic. Like that time they saved a puppy together. And then they were almost late to their match … the match against Rikkai.

The match which Kaidoh said was the one he started liking Momoshiro.

What'd he do to make him like him anyway? He didn't act any different, it wasn't anything special—and they _lost_ the match too. So it's really baffling to think about the fact that Kaidoh decided now was a good time to get a crush on him.

And then totally forget about it later on!

Or well, maybe he never did. And maybe he really does still like Momoshiro. Isn't that something Momoshiro has said himself? Unrequited love will stay like that forever unless the person confesses or gets rejected. It can last for years, he knows this, he's got a friend who's been in love with her best friend's husband for several years.

But that doesn't make any sense, since he's pretty sure he rejected Kaidoh straight away when he found out.

In fact, he might have even called it disgusting.

Which was probably not the best way to handle it … but he was just so shocked and surprised, and freaking out at Kaidoh liking him. It still freaks him out if he thinks about it, but this time there's something else there. He can't figure out what it is, anxiety maybe? Nervousness? Anticipation? Whatever it is, it doesn't matter, it's not like Kaidoh does like him, and he would certainly never confess; Kaidoh is a huge coward. In the four years they knew each other, about two and a half of them was spent with Kaidoh secretly liking him. That's a very long time for not having the guts to come forward with it.

Well, it might have just been Momoshiro's fault … he probably would have freaked out, maybe punched Kaidoh, and then he'd avoid Kaidoh forever. Not a very favourable position for Kaidoh to be in. It's not like Momoshiro can help it … he was so young back then, and finding out Kaidoh had a _crush_ on him—on being gay for him, would only remind him of Konjiki and Hitouji, and those two had always made it a point to make him feel disgusted and uncomfortable. No, Momoshiro can see why Kaidoh didn't say anything, it would only have ruined everything, their rivalry, their tennis, their companionship.

So alright, he can see why Kaidoh never said anything, if Momoshiro was going to react like that.

But it's five years later, he's a little grown up now, and perhaps he has gained some maturity in those years.

Hah, yeah right.

Momoshiro can barely handle Echizen's love for him, if he finds out Kaidoh likes him too, it would just be one gigantic mess. But he's pretty sure Kaidoh does … he just doesn't know for sure (not like Kaidoh would ever tell him this, he's way too chicken to ever confess).

They lose their doubles match, terribly. Lose against people who haven't played tennis in years, it's actually pretty sad, but Momoshiro just wasn't thinking about winning. He doesn't even care he lost, he's simply lost in thought.

He's pretty sure Kaidoh thinks he's moping around because they lost and they didn't get a medal (he really wanted one), but he couldn't be further from the truth.

He's just … thinking. About Kaidoh.

How should he deal with this? He moved out of his own shack to give Echizen some space, and that ended up really badly, because now they're ignoring each other, and it's stupid, and he doesn't want to start ignoring Kaidoh too. But it's not like Kaidoh would ever pull something on him, like Echizen did. Echizen kissed him, Kaidoh's way too much of a wuss to do something like that. He's probably afraid Momoshiro will punch his teeth in. Which is a probable outcome.

But that is _if_ Kaidoh likes him. Momoshiro still doesn't know for sure. And asking Kaidoh outright is out of the question. He did respond positively to all of his 'tests' this week; he got him to play card games, he liked Momoshiro's cat drawings, he brought him back home after he collapsed from running too much, he's always tying his bandana for him … and when they touch …

When they touch …

Kaidoh isn't the only one to react.

This is just getting too much for Momoshiro. Enough with the stupid games and tests, he wants to know. He needs to know if Kaidoh likes him or not. He'll go insane otherwise.

So Momoshiro goes directly to Hazue. It seems Kaidoh's little brother knew a lot about Kaidoh's habits. He also knew about the pictures—and he even told Momoshiro that Kaidoh values him a lot. Surely the little kid would know if his brother had a crush on him or not. He seemed to be a very perceptive kid.

"How well do you know your brother?" he asks.

"Apparently, not as much as I thought," says Hazue. "Momo-nii-chan, why does my brother use so many curse words against you?"

"Ah, don't pay attention to that, we're always insulting each other. It's no big deal." And Momoshiro likes it like that. Momoshiro likes the fact he's the only one Kaidoh will insult to such great extent.

"Is that so … it seems strange to me that two friends insult each other all the time."

Friends.

They're not friends. This is what Momoshiro always replies with, right? A standard response to anyone thinking they're friends. But now, Momoshiro is kind of stumped on what to say. They're not close enough to be friends …but they don't nearly fight with each other enough to be considered only rivals. It's like a grey area, and Momoshiro doesn't know how to define it, how to use words to describe the kind of connection they have.

"Hazue-chan, do you think your brother and I are friends?" he decides to ask.

"Why else would you be around each other that much?"

Good question.

"I know my brother can be a little ... socially awkward, and he doesn't say much, so people think he has no interest in them, or some even think he's scary … but Momo-nii-chan, he talks with you every day, doesn't he?"

True, but that's because they live together.

"You _used_ to pretty much talk every day … I could hear my brother on the phone late at night. And he doesn't call anyone besides our parents, and sometimes me. So I knew it had to be you, Momo-nii-chan. I think you two even talked while Kaoru-nii-chan was taking a bath ..."

Momoshiro definitely remembers that conversation, and he turns red at knowing that Hazue had known all along about their conversations. Just how many secrets did his brother know?

"Then one day I stopped hearing the calls. Kaoru-nii-chan withdrew himself after that … he became more quiet, he started to run a lot more than before, and he was obsessed with …"

"Obsessed with what?"

"Momo-nii-chan, why did you stop calling him? Did my brother do something wrong?"

"Ah, no, that's not it. It was just … a really strange accident. I sort of lost Kaidoh's number, so I was waiting for him to call me back so I could get his number … or something."

"He never called you back?"

"No. Which really pissed me off. I mean, I thought we were getting along pretty well, but then I realized I was the only one who cared that much. I was always the one to call, always the one to send text messages. He didn't care, the bastard. If he cared, he'd have called me back the day I didn't call first."

"Momo-nii-chan, do you really think he didn't care?"

"..."

"Kaoru-nii-chan is very … insecure. Or should I say, scared? Of course he cared about your friendship, but he's just too socially awkward to know how to call you up, I guess. Or at least, that's what I think it was. He did a lot of things that he never went through with … but he definitely cared! Don't you think he would have hung up on you if he didn't?"

"I guess … that's what I thought, until we just stopped talking. At least we met each other again after all these years."

"Hehe, I was pretty surprised how comfortable my brother was with you when I first got here. He's shown a lot of growth, I think."

"Hazue-chan … do you think that … or do you know if … well … if your brother …"

"Momo-nii-chan, if you have something to ask of my brother, don't you think you should ask him?"

"Hah, no, I'd get punched for sure."

"... I really don't understand your relationship with each other sometimes."

"Neither do I kid, neither do I."

"I'll ask him not to punch you, if that helps?"

"You can't even get your brother to stop harassing you about training, how can you prevent him from punching me?"

"Well …! I can lie …"

"That you sure can, how's your ankle by the way?"

"... Don't tell him."

"Don't worry, I won't."

"So, are you going to ask him?"

"Yeah, maybe, I don't know, I really rather like my teeth."

"Haha … that's a joke … right?"

"At least we have a bunch of medical students on this island."

"Hehehe … you're really joking, right? Right!?"

"Alright squirt, don't tell your brother I talked to you, okay? I'll keep your little ankle secret between us too."

"O-okay …"

Somehow, after his conversation with Hazue, Momoshiro feels like his mind is a little bit more clear now. A little more certain. Knowing that Kaidoh cared for him on some level made him sort of happy (though Hazue was prone to lie …). Okay, maybe that wasn't the right word for it. He did feel happy, knowing Kaidoh didn't like it when their contact suddenly stopped, but most of all, Momoshiro feels relieved.

And that is … this is starting to turn into a whole other direction. He's been trying for an entire week to get any sort of confirmation out of Kaidoh, whether he likes him or not. But ...

Shit.

Maybe he shouldn't have been trying to find out if Kaidoh likes him.

What if _he_ likes Kaidoh instead?


	22. Questioning Brother

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **a cute brother log before ... the big one.

**Authors:** Celianna (Hazue) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** K

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Set a day after the last log  
- Hazue has been coaching Kaidoh into not insulting Momo, and to ask him if they're friends (Hazue thinks they are), but Kaidoh is too much of a nervous mess to ever ask that question to Momo

**Date:** August 26, 2012

* * *

Something has been on Hazue's mind since yesterday. To be honest, it's actually been on his mind for years, specifically when he was only ten years old, the age at which his brother Kaidoh had entered middle school. Things changed then, for the better he guesses, but that's when it started. Hazue had always been a bit concerned about his older brother; he had no friends, and while polite to his own family, he knew that for some reason, he's always had strangers be scared of him. Frightened of him. It was really weird, since Hazue knew he was actually a big softie. At least he managed to get along with his mother's friends, who all thought he was cute and polite (but they definitely favoured Hazue more).

He had also found out that when he was barely even a year old, Kaidoh had gotten bullied in elementary school. And something about wearing dresses … Hazue guesses his mother would have really liked to have a daughter instead, hence why she made Kaidoh wear dresses when he was only four years old. Hazue has seen the pictures in their photo album, Kaidoh _did_ look rather cute, and definitely looked like a girl.

Either way, Hazue knows that for some reason, Kaidoh has always been rather socially stunted. He was extremely happy to know he joined the tennis club in middle school (less happy about Kaidoh increasing the workload on their own training together), and he was forced to interact with other people, and for lack of better words, he managed to get comrades. Not quite friends (they never came over to his place), but at least they didn't cower away in fear from Kaidoh.

There was one person amongst that team that stood out to Hazue, because Kaidoh was always mentioning him. No, it wasn't Echizen Ryoma, whom Kaidoh did speak favourably of, but it was Momoshiro Takeshi. That name came up so many times, Hazue had lost count. He was under the impression that they were friends, though when Hazue asked his brother if he could invite Momoshiro for dinner, he stuttered and hastily formed some kind of weird excuse, which mostly consisted of 'I'm running!'.

This continued on even more strongly after Kaidoh left middle school. Hazue would sometimes hear Kaidoh talk to Momoshiro on his phone during random times of the day. He knows it's Momoshiro, because Hazue knows which people Kaidoh talks to. That is, his parents, and Hazue himself—Momoshiro really was the only other person he talked to. And since Hazue had access to Kaidoh's phone, he could check his incoming and outgoing calls. Most of them were from Momoshiro. Momoshiro also sent him a lot of texts, which Kaidoh never seemed to delete. Weird kind of texts, but Hazue thought some of them were pretty funny; the kind of texts someone would send to a friend.

Which is what Hazue thought they were, friends. Kaidoh even went out a lot during his summer break that year. And while Kaidoh had mumbled a few excuses about going running, Hazue knew—from listening in on their phone conversations at night—that he was going to meet Momoshiro. It always made him smile knowing Kaidoh had a good friend like Momoshiro.

That Kaidoh was always asking Hazue to transfer pictures of Momoshiro to his phone from his Facebook, he didn't question it at all. After all, they were friends, and the pictures were really rather funny (Momoshiro's tongue stuck to a pole for example, or drooling on a pillow). Hazue figured that Kaidoh would send pictures to Momoshiro as well. He didn't question it; they were friends, so why would he?

Kaidoh and Momoshiro were friends, that's one thing Hazue was sure of. And he might have also secretly been his fan (the amount of pictures was rather abnormally large).

Fast forward to years later, on the island, he definitely did not expect to hear his own brother deny this. Apparently, they weren't friends, or at least, Kaidoh seemed way too nervous and unsure to confirm this. He'd ask Kaidoh right then, to ask Momoshiro if they were friends or not, to get a confirmation at least. Hazue thought it was sort of cute, the way his brother acted so insecure, since he was sure they were friends. Hence why he felt entirely confident that if Kaidoh had asked, Momoshiro would have said 'of course we're friends!' or something to that extent.

Getting Kaidoh to ask it was a whole other story though.

The more Kaidoh stalled on asking, the more Hazue paid attention to Kaidoh's interactions with Momoshiro. It was really rather bizarre, to see his brother insulting Momoshiro left and right, and to threaten him with violence (he really hoped that was just a joke). It was a stark contrast to the image he had of Kaidoh in his head. Kaidoh had always been a big brother to him, polite, hard working, confident, a man of not many words, and most of all very kind. To see such a different side of him was quite shocking.

Hazue had asked Kaidoh right there to not insult Momoshiro—after all, why would you insult someone you're friends with? Kaidoh once more said that he doesn't know if they're friends, but they're definitely rivals, and 'that's just how they talk to each other'.

During a conversation with Momoshiro and himself, they started talking about pictures, and somehow the topic changed to the pictures on Kaidoh's phone. Then Kaidoh told him to stop talking about all the pictures Hazue had to transfer to his phone. Apparently, Momoshiro doesn't know a thing about the pictures, he was completely clueless about it.

Hazue was beginning to see the bigger picture now; Kaidoh had been _secretly_ collecting pictures of Momoshiro. So was he just his secret admirer? But that couldn't be true, because he and Momoshiro were talking to each other every day.

He felt like he didn't know his brother anymore.

Then yesterday, Momoshiro came to Hazue himself. He seemed rather out of energy, completely tired (well, he did have a tennis match that day, and they lost, so Hazue understood why he looked so down). Momoshiro wanted to talk about Kaidoh, a conversation Hazue had been wanting to have himself.

Just what _did_ Momoshiro think of Kaidoh?

Well, judging from their conversation, it seemed Momoshiro was rather fond of Kaidoh, and he definitely considered him a friend (despite not saying this out loud), or at least, cared a lot about him. He even had a suspicion Momoshiro likes Kaidoh a whole lot.

And this has been on his mind ever since. Hazue was starting to put the pieces together. Kaidoh, who denied being friends, yet talked to Momoshiro every day, and had a rather huge collection of pictures of the man (but kept hidden), the only person he'd outright insult and threaten—just what did Kaidoh think of Momoshiro?

And that's when Hazue started to think …not friends, not rivals, not enemies. There really is only one option left, isn't there?

And it was starting to make a whole lot of sense to him now, that certain other option. As he can recall, Kaidoh never had a girlfriend before in his life. Even when his mother forced him to go on dates (which were rather funny) with these random girls, it never went anywhere, and he knew Kaidoh really dreaded going to them. He also remembered seeing a picture of Kaidoh when he was young, looking embarrassed at being kissed on the cheek by a _boy_.

There's only been one person in Kaidoh's life that has had him in a constant uproar.

Kaidoh, on the other hand, has been doing his best to do anything but think. Running offers an easy distraction, one he's used increasingly—and is using now, but it's getting harder to avoid the thoughts and feelings that send his head spinning and his stomach churning with nervousness. It's all Momoshiro's fault. He won't stay out of Kaidoh's way, he's always there. Doesn't he know what it's doing to him? … Does he? Is that why? Is he doing it all on purpose? Asshole.

Kaidoh really thought he had things under control. He did, for a while. For a really long while, in fact. He thought he understood Momoshiro, knew where he stood with him, knew what they were and the limits of that. Now, Kaidoh isn't sure. He doesn't know _what_ he thinks. Each time he's with Momoshiro it feels like playing with a tennis racket that's been strung too tight, like there's too much tension and everything's about to snap. It's weird. It's new. It's freaking Kaidoh out.

Because of this, he's relieved to see his brother at their hut instead of Momoshiro, and gives a little wave to Hazue as he jogs up. He pulls the towel from around his neck to wipe at his face; he's already on his third run of the day.

"Kaoru-nii-chan," Hazue greets his brother with a big smile. He's been sitting outside of their hut, and had been waiting for Kaidoh's return. "Have you seen where Momo-nii-chan went?"

"I don't know where Momoshiro is," Kaidoh says, a bit of an edge to his voice, as if to say, _Why should I be in charge of that idiot's whereabouts? It's not like I'm stalking him_. He glances down the beach. "Maybe he went fishing. Why? Were you waiting for him?"

Hazue flashes a small smile to his brother. He looks exhausted, maybe it's from running too much, or maybe something else. "No, I was just making sure he wasn't here." He wraps his arms around his legs and pulls them up to his chest. "Has he asked you anything lately?"

Momoshiro was supposed to ask Kaidoh something—whatever it was—yesterday, so Hazue was quite curious if he did, and what it was about.

"Huh?" Kaidoh thinks for a moment. Mostly Momoshiro has spent the week demanding to know why Kaidoh has to run so much. Is that what his brother means? And he's asked him to _do_ things, sure, but that doesn't seem to be what Hazue is talking about either. Because that's nothing new.

After a moment, Kaidoh's eyes narrow a bit and he says, "No, I don't think so."

"Hmm, I see." So Momoshiro hasn't asked whatever has been on his mind. "Have you asked him yet?" Hazue asks instead, referring to their little talk weeks ago. About being friends with Momoshiro, Kaidoh was supposed to ask if they were or not. A simple question, Hazue thought.

"Asked him—oh." Kaidoh hangs his head and looks at the ground. "No."

"Why not? Afraid he'd say no?"

"N-no!" Kaidoh sputters. Why should Kaidoh be afraid? He doesn't even care. "It's just … It's a stupid thing to ask."

Hazue doesn't think so, but he'll stop pressing the matter. There's other matters to press! But how to bring it up without making the entire conversation really weird. "Uhm," Hazue says hesitantly. He then pats his hand next to him on the sand. "Please sit."

Kaidoh sits down next to his brother and gives him a long look like he's trying to figure him out. Maybe this is what Hazue meant by wanting to spend more time with him. Maybe he just wants to … hang out. It's not something Kaidoh usually does with his brother, but it seems like something that's important to him, if the look in his eyes is any indication, and that's good enough for Kaidoh.

His fingers unconsciously start to clench around his towel as he looks for something to say, but ends up just hissing quietly instead. Hanging out—without running or training—is already turning out to be a bit of a challenge. Kaidoh hopes that maybe Hazue will suggest something.

It's not hard to notice that Kaidoh feels uncomfortable, and it also makes Hazue painfully aware that he doesn't have the greatest social skills either. But he has to ask him; it's been on his mind now, and he likes seeing his brother happy. Like he used to be back when he was in his first year of high school.

"Uhh." Hazue narrows his eyes as he tries to think of the best way to say this, but everything sounds pretty terrible, and it's making him feel awkward and lose his voice. How _does_ one ask if their brother is homosexual? He's pretty sure Kaidoh is … and he wants to let him know that it doesn't change anything, and it's okay to like guys, and he shouldn't try to hide it (especially on this island). And maybe he should admit he likes Momoshiro. Maybe.

Hazue fiddles around with his fingers, becoming increasingly more aware of the awkward silence between them. "How was your run?" Great, he flaked out.

"Good," Kaidoh says, then immediately feels a little guilty for saying so. It must really suck for his brother to not be able to do any running these days. Kaidoh doesn't know how he's able to tolerate it. If it were him, he'd go insane. "I mean, it was okay," he amends. "How's your ankle?"

Oh right, his ankle! Hazue starts to rub his right ankle. "It's uhm, it's doing a little better!" he lies.

Kaidoh looks at Hazue's ankle and then back at Hazue's face and blinks. "Did you, uh, hurt that one, too?"

Immediately Hazue switches ankles. "N-no!" he stutters, extremely embarrassed at mistaking which ankle he was supposed to have hurt. "I was just ... itchy." Hazue couldn't believe how bad of a liar he was. He also couldn't believe how Kaidoh seemed to eat his lies up.

Maybe it runs in the family.

"But uhm, it's doing better. No need to worry about it—or think about it really. Haha." Hazue looks down at his ankle, then stops rubbing and pulls his hand back onto his knee. It feels weird again. He's not supposed to be talking about his perfectly healthy ankle, he should be steering the conversation to Momoshiro.

"How uhh, how is Momo-nii-chan? I mean, was he okay after he collapsed from running? And then he got glitter in his eye, I read …"

"He's fine now, I guess," Kaidoh says with a shrug. He isn't really sure if it's true. They lost both their doubles matches this week and Momoshiro definitely didn't seem like he was 100% in the game either time they played. Not that Kaidoh had been either, but he'd been trying. It was just hard to play alongside Momoshiro and pretend that it was just tennis, that the nervous crackle of energy in the air with each serve and volley was just from the game.

"He was just being stupid." And maybe Kaidoh is, too.

"He was stupid for running with you?" What does that make Hazue?

"No, I mean..." Kaidoh trails off. What does he mean, exactly? "I mean he shouldn't have run as much as he did. It was too much for him." And it was kind of scary. And worrying. Even though Kaidoh would never admit that.

Well, at least it's a good thing Kaidoh can see that it's too much for Momoshiro. That's one step in the right direction … now to convince him that Hazue isn't superman either.

"Yeah, _no_ one should run that much," stresses Hazue. He leans a little bit closer to Kaidoh, his shoulder touching Kaidoh's. "Neither should you."

Kaidoh grimaces. "That's what he says too," he grumbles. "It's not too much for me." With all the things that are overwhelming him at the moment, running is probably the least of his worries.

"Well, I know that you can definitely run that much and not …" Topple over, and die alone. "Uhm, yeah, it's not too much, but what I meant was … you'll have less time to do other things, you know? I think that's what Momo-nii-chan is really complaining about." Well, here goes. "I uhh, I think he just wants to spend more time with you …"

It's ridiculous that Hazue himself is feeling shy, like he's confessing to some really big secret, but it's not _his_ secret. Which makes it even worse. If only Kaidoh was better at picking up social cues.

Kaidoh's whole body freezes up at that, as if temporarily paralyzed by Hazue's words. A jolt of electricity shoots straight to his stomach where it seems to zip around a bit before settling in.

"What...?" Why would he want to do that? Why would the idiot even care? Doesn't he get to bother and annoy Kaidoh enough as it is?

Hazue turns his slightly red face away and scratches his nose. "Uhm. I'm saying he … wants to spend time with you? It's pretty obvious." What with Momoshiro always complaining about running, and then telling Kaidoh that he should sleep in, and wake up with him. How can Kaidoh not see what he really wants? "Don't you want to too?"

Kaidoh's cheeks flush. "I …" His fingers dig deeper into the towel and he looks nervously at his brother. "Maybe. Yeah."

Okay, Hazue was on the right track. Now … how to casually ask if Kaidoh has some sort of crush on Momoshiro. There might not even be a casual way to ask this; who randomly asks about another person's crush? Especially their brother's? Hazue groans and digs his face into his knees. This proved to be harder than he thought it would be. He just has to ask, quickly, before he changes his mind, like ripping off a band-aid. He takes in a deep breath to prepare himself

"You like him, don't you?" Hazue quickly mumbles, and it becomes slightly muffled, maybe enough so that Kaidoh didn't hear, and he can pretend he never asked. The tips of his ears turn red at asking the question so bluntly like that.

"_What?!_" Kaidoh's eyes shoot wide open, his pupils looking like tiny dots. Then he lowers his voice. "I d-don't … I don't li—" He's suddenly too flustered to even say the word out loud; maybe it would sound too much like a lie if he tried. So he balls his fingers into fists and hisses, looking down at the sand at his feet.

The outburst of denial was something Hazue had prepared himself for. That didn't make it any less startling though. He turns to Kaidoh to calm him down.

"It's okay—I won't tell anyone. Not even Momo-nii-chan himself. There's no need to … no need to … err … freak out. It's uhm." Hazue tries to think of anything to say that'll make his brother less embarrassed and to reassure him that it'll be fine. "I mean, it's okay. To like him, I mean. I know you've always liked him in general years ago … I just didn't know it was _like that_, but err, ehm." What in the world is he trying to say now? He's never been this awkward trying to fumble for the right words to say. His head is kind of scrambled up, and when he looks at Kaidoh, he looks even worse. Which makes Hazue feel bad for even saying it in the first place.

He quickly shields his face with his hands and curls up as tiny as he could possibly make himself be. "It's okay … to like him," he says in a very tiny and embarrassed voice.

Kaidoh wants to growl back that it's _not_ okay, because Momoshiro would freak out if he knew. He was horrified just to find out Kaidoh ever liked him in the first place, and he's not supposed to anymore. And he _doesn't_. Right? He told himself a thousand times that he doesn't. He never did! It was never a … a … it was never anything. Those were just stupid feelings. And Momoshiro had asserted that he doesn't feel anything remotely like that towards Kaidoh anyway. Anything Kaidoh's been feeling recently, and anything Momoshiro's been doing recently … those have all just been weird flukes. They don't mean anything. Maybe with enough running, they won't.

So why is it so hard for Kaidoh to just say it? If he doesn't like Momoshiro, why can't he say it out loud?

Because it's too big of a lie.

He turns his head into his shoulder to try and hide how red his face is, but it's sort of useless. His head is spinning. He kind of feels like he's going to throw up. He feels like he's been barreled into by a bus. How does Hazue know? What if … what if Momoshiro knows, too?

Kaidoh crosses his arms over his chest as though they'll keep all his secrets from spilling out. "I don't know what to do," he mumbles in a small, low voice. That, at least, isn't a lie. He doesn't know how to make it all stop.

In an instant, Hazue stops feeling sorry for himself and he pushes his own nervous and fumbly feelings to the side. He scoots over to Kaidoh and pats his hand against Kaidoh's back for comfort. A slight smile tugs at his lips, a sad one. Of course Kaidoh doesn't know what to do. Hazue knows that, it's crystal clear to him that Kaidoh didn't have a clue what to do with liking Momoshiro for years. So he ends up fighting with him, insulting him—kind of like that saying people use, like a boy pulling a girl's pigtails because he likes her. It's like he's been stumbling through life ever since it started, and Hazue has witnessed it, little by little. He rubs small soothing circles on Kaidoh's back, he seems so confused, so vulnerable; a side Hazue rarely sees.

"Well," Hazue starts. "You should probably not let him find out that you've been collecting pictures of him all these years." He meant it as a joke, to ease the tension in the air, and to make Kaidoh feel a little bit better.

"But it's okay … I can help you out, I'm your little brother. And I am a lot more perceptive towards other people's feelings." He'll ignore the fact that it took him years to figure out Kaidoh had a crush on Momoshiro. He breathes out a tiny sigh of relief. "For what it's worth, I don't think Momo-nii-chan will hate it if he knows."

"But—" Kaidoh starts. But he doesn't even know what he'd say. It's hard enough to make sense of it in his own head, he could never try to explain it all to Momoshiro, too. He wouldn't even want to. And even if Momoshiro didn't _hate_ it, he'd still probably think Kaidoh was a freak forever, and he'd never want to fight him or do, well, anything with him again.

Kaidoh huffs. "I don't see why he needs to know." As though the whole thing will magically go away on its own. It might, Kaidoh thinks hopefully. It almost did once. If he hadn't seen Momoshiro again after all this time … But he did, and now he's stuck here with him, and those feelings aren't going anywhere. If anything, they're becoming magnified with each passing day. It's getting hard to take, because they're fizzly and exciting and really annoying too.

"Because I think he likes you too," is Hazue's most simple reply.

Kaidoh doesn't know what to say. That's impossible, isn't it? But Kaidoh thinks about all the things he's done with Momoshiro in the past few months, all the times they've spent together, the way they've acted towards each other, the things Momoshiro has said to him, the way he's always been there. Could he...? Does he...?

"Really?" Kaidoh can't help but ask. The corners of his mouth twitch like he's suppressing a smile. And then it turns into more of a frown. No. _No_. Don't be stupid. It's Momoshiro. He thinks Kaidoh is an idiot.

But Kaidoh thinks Momoshiro is an idiot too, so that doesn't mean a whole lot.

"I uhh, I'm not completely certain ... but yes." Judging by the fact how much time Momoshiro wants to spend with Kaidoh, how many times he mentions him in his journal posts, Hazue thinks it's pretty likely Momoshiro likes Kaidoh too. "I mean, he's always seeking you out, isn't he? And talking about you … heh, it's like he can't get enough of you." Hazue smiles at his brother; he seems to be looking a lot more hopeful now.

"I'm still not _sure_, but I think he does … or at least he just _really_ likes you as his best friend." He rubs at Kaidoh's back again. "So he wouldn't hate it or anything, if he knew. I'm sure he'd actually really like hearing it."

Kaidoh finally allows himself to look at his brother again. His cheeks are still pretty red, but he doesn't feel as mortified as he did a few moments ago. Instead he just feels kind of jumpy and anxious, like he's waiting for something to happen. If Momoshiro likes him …

Kaidoh doesn't know how to finish that thought. What would that mean? Then what?

"H-how..." Kaidoh starts. "How do I … you know … tell him? I can't just …" He lets his palm fall open. "I can't just say it," he admits meekly.

"Uhm … I guess actions speak louder than words?" Though Hazue wouldn't know exactly what Kaidoh should do to make this clear. He already spends a lot of time with Momoshiro … oh right, the compliments! "Or how about you stop insulting him. Like I said, use compliments instead. Just … act nice to him."

Hazue shrugs. "Or maybe I can tell him for you."

"No!" Kaidoh's eyes widen, horrified. "I mean, no. Don't … He … We …" Again Kaidoh feels himself getting flustered. His face feels hot. The words just refuse to string themselves into a sentence. Just the idea of Momoshiro knowing _anything_ about this is new and mortifying. Even if he … even if Momoshiro _might_ —he also might not. Logically, it makes more sense that Momoshiro doesn't, that he couldn't, wouldn't.

But there's a small seed of hopefulness planted in Kaidoh's mind now. He doesn't know what it would mean if Momoshiro liked him, but it feels like a good thing. It feels like something Kaidoh has been waiting for, maybe even something that he wants. He wants to know, but at the same time is completely nervous about it.

So what? What actions? What should he do? Act nice to him? To _Momoshiro_? Easier said than done. Kaidoh wouldn't even know where to begin. And Momoshiro already seems freaked out enough over Echizen saying and doing things. Kaidoh doesn't want to add to that. He doesn't want to make Momoshiro ignore him, too. If Momoshiro finds out, wouldn't it be just as weird?

He glances at Hazue, then back at the ground. "I can try," he says, but doesn't sound very confident at all.

"Yes, just say nice things! Like uhm, he looks …" Nice, is what Hazue wants to say, but him being a guy and all, it feels weird. Momoshiro might not appreciate the sentiment. "Cool." Yes, cool is a much cooler word. "Or … ehh … that you like doing things with him. Right, when he ran with you a few days ago, you should have thanked him for that. Also, even though you both lost, you should have cheered him up a little bit after the last two days from the matches. He seemed a bit down, I think. Having you tell him that he did his best, and that's enough, he'd surely like it!"

And now Hazue was getting pumped up about giving all this advice. He thinks it's sort of endearing the way his brother doesn't know how to give compliments to people.

"And you could like, uhh, go do things together," says Hazue. Preferably not running, that didn't seem to end well for Momoshiro last time. "What does he like doing with you in the first place?"

Kaidoh shrugs. "How am I supposed to know what he likes doing? He looks happy doing anything." Which Kaidoh assumes is just Momoshiro's default face. Smiley idiot. Smiley … cool … idiot? No, that sounds stupid. Even in Kaidoh's thoughts, he's finding it hard to be nice when it comes to Momoshiro.

Hazue grins. "Doesn't that just mean he's always happy being around you?"

Kaidoh's mouth twitches, the corners pulling up, and he covers his face with his hand, feeling embarrassed that something like that could make him smile so automatically. Is that true? Maybe it's true.

"I don't know," he says aloud. Kaidoh knows Momoshiro likes bothering him, teasing him, arguing with him, fighting with him, but he's always thought that's just because Momoshiro thinks Kaidoh is a dumbass. Not because he … is happy to be with him.

"You can find out, you know. If he likes spending time with you." Hazue gives Kaidoh an encouraging smile. "Just ask him to do something with you, and I guarantee you that he'll say yes. Whatever you propose, he'll say yes." Because Hazue is very sure that Momoshiro likes spending time with Kaidoh, and he'll take what he can get.

"And then …I don't know, act nice to him." Hazue looks at Kaidoh with stern eyes. "No fighting."

Kaidoh doesn't particularly like the sound of that. He likes fighting with Momoshiro, for reasons he's never really been able to pin down. Maybe it's the thrill of the competition, getting to knock Momoshiro down a peg, and have it returned to him in kind. Maybe it's something simpler than that, that Kaidoh just likes being close to Momoshiro, but the thought kind of makes Kaidoh feel like a pervert. Fighting is just fighting, right? It's never meant more than that. Although lately there's a weird edge to their fights that Kaidoh doesn't recognize, and it always feels like they're treading a dangerous line into something more, something different. Maybe Hazue is right. Maybe they shouldn't fight anymore. Not until Kaidoh can figure out how to control himself better.

He grunts in agreement, because Hazue sounds confident, and he knows more about people than Kaidoh does. He wouldn't suggest something totally off base. He wouldn't want Kaidoh to look like an idiot. If being nice to Momoshiro, and asking him to do things with him will help settle the nervous flutter in his stomach, then Kaidoh will try. Anything is better than nothing.

"Good. Instead just, you know, be nice to him. Do things with him. And …" Hazue turns his bright red face away. "If you're … too scared to say it, then just, well, _show_ it."

"Show it how?" Kaidoh asks, his voice flat and skeptical. He is definitely not going to do any dumb, mushy, romantic things for Momoshiro. That is out of the question, because he doesn't _feel_ dumb, mushy, romantic things for the idiot. Probably. Maybe. He hopes not. He doesn't know how to define what he feels. He's always just avoided thinking about it as much as possible. He actually isn't sure what those kind of feelings are supposed to feel like in the first place. What if he already has them? What if he's all mushy for Momoshiro? The idea alone makes Kaidoh want to run forever.

"I ehh …" Hazue tries to form his thoughts in a more cohesive sentence. Quite frankly, Hazue thinks Kaidoh already shows it just fine; he's not very good at hiding his feelings for Momoshiro (though he likes to think so—maybe he's just really gullible?), and he's already _showing_ it quite often.

Like for example, when Kaidoh made Momoshiro those rainbow coloured roses (red flags should have raised up by now), that's actually a very romantic gift. And Kaidoh did it all on his own—though Momoshiro was the one to request it. And maybe Kaidoh gave something to Momoshiro on his birthday. Hazue isn't sure if he did or not, but he does know they spent time together, not to mention they performed a fire dance together. Hazue remembers that day fondly; his brother looked really cool, and he admired Momoshiro for being able to get Kaidoh to go along with it in the first place. He could make Kaidoh do anything, Hazue noticed.

"Well, like, giving him things … and stuff," says Hazue lamely. "Like those rainbow roses you made for him? He loved those! I'm sure he'd be happy to receive anything you make for him." Hazue nudges his elbow softly into Kaidoh's side. "And don't back out on it, give it to him this time. I know about all the gifts you were planning on giving him, Kaoru-nii-chan."

Kaidoh's cheeks turn pink upon hearing that Hazue knew about all the presents he made in the past. He thought he'd hid them well. Was it really that obvious?

"Those were just stupid things," he says, and lets out a huff of air. "If I … Now … I don't want him to … to think …" Kaidoh isn't sure what Momoshiro would think. That Kaidoh likes him? Would that be so bad? Isn't that the point? Why is it such a terrifying thing for Kaidoh to imagine?

He looks hesitantly at his brother. "You're sure he wouldn't mind?"

"Of course he wouldn't. Hasn't he been asking for a lot of things recently? From you, no less?" asks Hazue. He was pretty sure that Momoshiro wanted a chocolate cake with strawberries from Kaidoh. Or at least make them together.

Actually, now that Hazue thinks back on that, he realizes that entire post had been rather … strange. Momoshiro kept coaxing Kaidoh into saying he liked him. Really now—they're both terrible at hiding their own feelings. Now Hazue is almost 100% sure that Momoshiro likes Kaidoh too; why else would he keep saying things like 'so you like me, right?'.

"Momo-nii-chan seems like a simpleminded guy, I think he'd love to get anything from you, it definitely wouldn't bother him." Hazue is sure of that. "And you can also do other things besides … gifts."

Kaidoh feels like maybe he should be taking notes. Usually he is the one giving his brother tips—the best ways to stretch, how much weight he should be lifting, how to pace himself while running—but this is unfamiliar territory. In fact, Kaidoh is pretty clueless.

When his mother had arranged meetings for him before with girls (you need to meet some girls!) all those years ago, she had coached him a little beforehand about how to be charming and polite. It hadn't really done much good because Kaidoh was frozen stiff with nervousness anyway, and besides, Momoshiro isn't a girl. He's _Momoshiro_. It's completely different. Kaidoh's always known how to act around him. It just feels natural. He never has to try. He doesn't know what would happen if he did try. If he does all these things Hazue is suggesting, won't everything change?

"What do you mean other things?" he asks.

Hazue purses his lips in thought. "Like …" He makes a weird gesture with his hands, as if this will explain Kaidoh what he _truly_ means. "I mean …" It's hard to tell his brother that if he can't get himself to tell Momoshiro he likes him straight to his face, then he should show it. With … his body.

Ew, that just sounds totally gross, and Hazue really doesn't want to think about that.

"Like ehh …" Hazue goes red in his face, so just like Kaidoh, he hides it in his hands. "Kiss?" is Hazue's tiny reply. He feels drained.

A weird strangled squawk bubbles out of Kaidoh's throat. "W-what?!" he stammers. "I'm not going to … to … to do _that_ with him!"

Again Hazue makes a weird gesture with his hands. "Or … hold his hand?" he suggests instead.

There's a sudden image in Kaidoh's head of him and Momoshiro with their hands linked and swinging between them as they run. For some reason there are flowers everywhere too. He screws his face up in embarrassment and shakes his head to try to get rid of it. It's not going away. Kaidoh's palms start to feel sweaty so he balls his hands up into fists again and stuffs them into his towel.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, though. It's just like an extended fist bump, right? With hands open instead of closed. Maybe Kaidoh could manage that, if it's something people do when they … when they … feel the way Kaidoh does. It's not like touching Momoshiro is weird to him. He does it all the time. It's just that he never thinks about it like that. Like he's … touching him. Damnit. He's thinking about it like that now though, and it's making his cheeks feel like they're on fire.

He kicks at the sand. "This is embarrassing," he grumbles. It doesn't make it any less so to admit it out loud.

Hazue gives Kaidoh a weak smile. "I know. That's what it feels like to have a person you like." He makes himself small and huddles his knees closer to his chest. "Like with my girlfriend ... oh, ex girlfriend I guess. I really liked her, but I was always so nervous to do things with her … like hold her hand … or kiss her. I did do it though, despite it being all weird and awkward, and probably the most embarrassing thing on earth."

But Hazue knows Kaidoh doesn't act nervous in front of Momoshiro. Or at least, he hasn't noticed yet. "But you're always very friendly with Momo-nii-chan in the first place. I guess if it's too terrifying to do it on your own, how about you indulge him? He's always super friendly, and if you let him instead of pushing him away … well …" Then you'd see the result whether Momoshiro likes Kaidoh or not.

"I don't know, I think it's for the best if you don't fight him, or argue with him. Just act natural! And ask him to do things with you, of course."

"Okay..." Kaidoh says slowly, but doesn't sound like he's okay at all. How could he be? He can't just suddenly say nice things to Momoshiro, and ask him to do things together, and … hold his hand without everything changing between them. Kaidoh doesn't know if he wants that. Natural to him means being able to punch Momoshiro and wrestle with him and fling insults in his face. Kaidoh wonders if that can be expanded to include other things too, or if everything else will continue to fluster and frustrate him and make him want to run.

He should try though, especially if his brother seems so certain that the result will be positive. "Okay," he repeats, a little more confidently. Kaidoh will just have to take it as a challenge. At least a challenge is something that makes sense to him.

"That's the spirit!" Hazue pats on Kaidoh's back again, happy that his advice got through to him. He needs a little bit more pushing though. "You should go ask him out to do something with you right now."

"I should?" Kaidoh's voice cracks over the question. Right now? The immediacy freaks Kaidoh out, but maybe Hazue has a point. If Kaidoh doesn't bite the bullet and ask right away, he'll probably push it from his mind and never do it. "Would, uh, running be okay?" he asks, as though running is his security blanket. Which it kind of is. He wants to stick with something familiar; he can only change so many variables at once.

Hazue face drops and spreads out his lips into a thin horizontal line. No, running is probably not a good idea, but his brother looks so hopeful, and nervous—and running is probably the only thing he can deal with. He reluctantly nods his head, slightly, a bit unsure still (Momoshiro did pass out a few days ago, and he's been complaining about sore muscles from the last two doubles matches), but he has to throw his brother a bone. If running will give him the courage to ask Momoshiro out, then running it is.

"Yes but uhm, don't run too much, and take it slow, and don't forget to say something nice to him." As long as his brother can do that, there shouldn't be a problem. "And no fighting." Kaidoh doesn't have to do things like … kissing and holding hands right away, or at least, not right now. His brother really would have a heart attack if he attempted to do such things. Yes, for now he should just spend more time with Momoshiro. Hazue's sure that if he doesn't fight, and acts nice, something is bound to happen.

"As long as you spend time with him, that isn't spent fighting … then I think you will do fine, Kaoru-nii-chan. I'm sure Momo-nii-chan will reciprocate in kind, he'll definitely like it." Hazue stands up and dusts off his butt. "And I'm pretty sure he likes you too," he says with a smile. "All you need to do, is spend more time with him."

Hazue bends down a little to Kaidoh's level, as if to whisper a secret. "And if that doesn't work out, I can always tell him for you."

Kaidoh looks up. "You don't have to do that," he says, his voice gruff and a little worried. He knows his brother means well, but Kaidoh is horrified by the idea of him talking to Momoshiro about this … almost as horrified as he is about talking to Momoshiro about this, himself. As long as he doesn't have to say it, as long as he doesn't have to acknowledge what it is, then maybe Kaidoh will be fine doing what Hazue has suggested. Maybe Kaidoh can go running with Momoshiro and make an effort to spend more time with him and tell him nice things. Maybe.

He pulls himself to his feet, the towel still clenched in his right hand, the tension still there. Now he's tall again and looking down at his brother, but he still feels small and nervous.

"I can … uh … I can show him on my own," he adds quietly, trying to sound certain, even though he isn't sure where to even begin. He's never done this before, at least never on purpose.

Hazue straightens up and pats Kaidoh on his arm. "Good luck, I'll be cheering for you!" Then behind Kaidoh, he can see a figure appear in the distance. "Actually, I'll be off right now, I see Momo-nii-chan coming back." Hazue starts taking a few steps towards the direction of his own hammock and waves at his brother.

"Be nice!" he calls out at him before he dashes away so he can give Kaidoh and Momoshiro some privacy.


	23. Attempted Run

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **the big log!

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** M

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Set directly after the last log

**Date:** August 26, 2012

* * *

Momoshiro is too distracted by the fish he's caught to pay attention to what's ahead of him. At the hut are Kaidoh and Hazue, but Hazue quickly dashes off before Momoshiro could even say hit o him. He's carrying a bucket, a bucket with live fish he's caught, and he's carrying it back to Kaidoh's hut. Fishing distracted him a little from his roller coaster feelings, but is doing little to keep his mind off of it now, especially when he finally looks up and sees Kaidoh, standing outside the hut, and he's looking at him.

And his heart does three little flips in his chest. He sucks in a breath and marches onwards.

"Hey," he greets Kaidoh, and walks right past him, going up the little steps and going inside the hut. "Got some live fish for us to eat later." He puts it in the corner of the room, and covers it with a towel to prevent the fish from jumping out. "And no, they won't have any eyes." Momoshiro snorts at Kaidoh's fish-eye phobia. He looks at Kaidoh's side of the room, at the scribbles on the wall, and the dark smudged spot that used to be a fish, and now looks like a devil with horns.

Despite staring at the wall in front of him, he can feel Kaidoh's presence. He's always aware of him now, hyper-aware, really. It's ridiculous. But Momoshiro can't help himself, because after yesterday, the talk with Hazue, Momoshiro is 99% sure that Kaidoh likes him. And he doesn't know what to do with it, nor does he know how to react to it. And he doesn't know whether or not this makes him happy, and that's kind of scary. He runs his fingers through his thick black hair and sighs; how many more days can he tolerate like this?

And wasn't Kaidoh supposed to be running now?

Kaidoh follows Momoshiro into the hut and stands there in the doorway, trying to form words. He's both surprised and relieved that his cheeks haven't been dyed permanently red from the conversation he had earlier with Hazue. In fact, his face feels kind of cold now, like he's freezing up, like the thought of asking Momoshiro to do something with him has turned him into an icicle. He's got his towel jammed into his pocket and both his hands clenched at his sides like he's steeling himself for a fight. They're shaking a bit. It's ridiculous. This would be so much easier if he could just punch Momoshiro and call him a dumbass, but according to his brother, that's not the best way to get his point across.

He clears his throat, in part to fill the awkward silence broken only by the sound of the fish leaping about in the bucket. He swallows. He can hear his heart thumping; the sound is intimidating. Here goes nothing.

"Wannagorunningwithme?" Kaidoh blurts, the words coming out in a rush, his voice too loud, almost like he's shouting it. His tone makes the words sound like the worst insult he could come up with, rather than a polite invitation. He looks sheepishly at the floor. He's really no good at this.

The sound of Kaidoh's loud voice was like a sudden thunderbolt in the silent of the night. Momoshiro lifts up his head, turning it slowly towards Kaidoh, like he's some kind of mechanical robot, and he clicks his neck into each teeth of the gear until he's looking over his shoulder, eyes narrowed and eyebrows raised.

"What …?" he asks. Momoshiro didn't quite understand what Kaidoh had said. Something about wannagoloogey. Or something. Maybe Kaidoh is spurting out voodoo nonsense. That still doesn't make it any less weird for him, because Kaidoh's at the doorway, standing there like an awkward fish, gaping for things to say. An awkward Kaidoh isn't anything new to Momoshiro, but now that he ... did all that … the entire week, he's sort of been overthinking each and every single action Kaidoh makes. Every time he speaks, Momoshiro wonders if he's hiding something, or can't get it out. Every time he goes running, Momoshiro wonders if it's because of him. Every time they fight … well, just how long can they go on pretending that it's just 'fighting'?

Maybe Momoshiro is just overthinking things too much. So he's almost figured out that Kaidoh likes him, but that doesn't change things, right? He liked him back in middle school, and that certainly didn't go anywhere.

Except that now it sort of is.

Momoshiro picks himself up and starts to walk towards Kaidoh. "Did you need something?" he asks. Which is weird, because Kaidoh rarely asks for anything. "Or are you complaining I got fish again? Look, there's only so much seafood out there that I can get!"

"There's nothing wrong with the fish," Kaidoh grumbles, although, if pressed, he could state a bunch of things wrong with fish, starting with the way they don't stop looking at you even when they're dead. It's disgusting. But he's getting off track here.

"I …" It's harder now that Momoshiro has moved closer, and Kaidoh had been hoping that he'd only have to say it once anyway, but since he'd ended up yelling instead of speaking, he'd have to try again. He hisses out a few sharp breaths to try and calm himself down so he can get the words out. "I was just asking …" he starts slowly, "… if you wanted to … uh, go running with me."

"Why, I didn't do anything wrong," says Momoshiro defensively.

"You—what? No, that's... Obviously you didn't do anything wrong, mo—Momoshiro. I just want to …" Kaidoh's fingernails dig into the palms of his hands. "I just want to … go running with you," he finishes quietly, as though saying it has drained all his energy.

"Oh," says Momoshiro like a stupid dumb gaping fish, much like Kaidoh was earlier. Then a second passes, and Kaidoh is still standing there, looking awkward. Another second passes, and Momoshiro throws his head to the side, and he rewinds what Kaidoh had just said like a videotape in his head.

"Oh!" he exclaims as he gets it. And then he's frozen. He stares at Kaidoh with a blank look.

Did he just … ?

Yes he did.

_Don't overthink it, don't overthink it._

To hell with that—Kaidoh had just personally asked him if he wanted to go running with him. Kaidoh, that snake. That grumpy stupid dumbass who's been pushing Momoshiro's buttons lately, and it's all in the right places. Like he really is some stupid robot who will respond to each button pressed, to all the input he's been given. And right now, Kaidoh's pressed the start button.

"Yeah, okay," says Momoshiro, and all his muscles protest in shrill high pitched squeals. His voice sounds dumb to him, he probably looks really confused and lame as well. But what else can he say … ? Kaidoh _never_ asks him to do anything, nothing at all. It's sort of a problem, sort of a really big problem that feels like Momoshiro's been kicked to the curb, and sometimes he can take it, and sometimes it hurts. Kaidoh never _asks_ anything, he never _starts_ anything, he never _wants_ anything, he never goes out to seek Momoshiro and, well, do things with him. It's always been Momoshiro himself who is stuck to Kaidoh like he's his siamese twin.

But now Kaidoh is here, right in front of him, asking him to run. Of course he'll run. It doesn't matter his muscles feel sore and abused, and literally torn apart from his doubles matches. And so what he nearly passed out the last time he ran with Kaidoh. _Kaidoh_ asked him—he _wants_ something—and it's such a surprise, such a rarity, like he's stumbled upon this hidden treasure, that Momoshiro can't do anything but spread his lips into a stupid goofy grin. He immediately bites down on his lips and he pulls it into a scowl instead, which ends up looking bizarre. No, he can't show Kaidoh he's too happy about this … that's kind of weird. Yes, he's quite amazed at the request, and he's actually quite thrilled, and he wonders what made Kaidoh ask him in the first place, but he feels like if he draws attention to it, it'll break the magic, and Kaidoh will turn back into a pumpkin.

Or something like that. He had a great analogy in his head just now, but he's grinning too much to keep his thoughts on the right track.

Stupid pumpkin.

"Now?" Momoshiro asks.

Kaidoh smiles a little too, an almost imperceptible curl of his mouth, because his brother was right. Momoshiro didn't laugh at him or punch him or call him an idiot. No, instead he looks really happy. And for whatever reason, it was Kaidoh's words that made him happy. The realization makes a knot of tension untie itself in Kaidoh's stomach, makes his face unfreeze a bit, makes his heartbeat turn from an ominous thump to a light, hopeful skip.

"Now is good," Kaidoh says, but so as not to sound like he's forcing it, he adds, "I mean, whenever you want to."

It's crazy how contagious smiling can be, especially when Momoshiro notices Kaidoh is looking _happy_, lips slightly curled up, and Momoshiro is starting to look really stupid trying to suppress his own smile. It keeps wanting to explode into a big laugh, and something keeps bubbling in his stomach that feels pretty nice, and it's shooting up in his face, where his skin colour starts to turn slightly reddish.

Ah crap, trying to keep himself from smiling is making Momoshiro mush his face into a really weird expression, like he's curling his lips around like a moving wave, up and down, and now he just covers his mouth with his hand and looks away. This is weird. Happy and exciting, but weird. Like he's treading on new territory, and it's the first time he's seen this side of Kaidoh, so he's not quite sure how to respond to it.

"Yeah uhm, I can run now," says Momoshiro, and his voice breaks in the middle of it. This just embarrasses him even more.

Momoshiro scratches the back of his head with his other hand. "Didn't you just run though?" He can recognize Kaidoh's sweat from a mile away. If they would play hide and seek, Momoshiro would be a master at it just by whiffing Kaidoh out by his scent.

That's kind of gross. He should stop thinking about what Kaidoh smells like. Think about something else. Think about the fact that he's standing right in front of him, and he's _asking_ him something he _wants_ to do with Momoshiro. Kaidoh wants to do something with him. Kaidoh. With him. Kaidoh wants him.

And now his ears are turning red, great.

In an awkward sudden stumble, Momoshiro doesn't wait for Kaidoh's response as he rushes past him, climbs down the steps and takes out the red bandana out of his pocket and wraps it around his face. Yes, his face, because he seems to think that by covering it with red cloth, then Kaidoh won't be able to tell his face is red as well. Good camouflage. He really would be the master of hide and seek.

Kaidoh turns around and looks out the entrance of the hut. "Du—" He stops himself. But really, Momoshiro _does_ look like a dumbass right now. Kaidoh should be allowed to point that out! He huffs. Maybe Momoshiro is just really eager to run. Maybe he's just really eager to run _with Kaidoh_. It's enough to make Kaidoh feel warm all over, the icy nervousness all melted away and replaced with something different, a crackle of anticipation.

"Are you ever going to learn to tie that on properly?" he calls, his voice low and gruff, but more amused than annoyed. He takes the steps two at a time until he's down on the sandy beach and catches Momoshiro by the shoulder. "I'll do it for you," he offers, completely unplanned. Maybe the being nice thing is getting to him.

Momoshiro takes in a deep breath, making the cloth cling to his face as he sucks it in. He breathes out, then slowly lowers it from his face. If Kaidoh thinks that this is the way Momoshiro ties bandanas to his head, he's going to punch him—he's not completely inept! And he's just about to fling an insult at Kaidoh, when he realizes just how close Kaidoh is, that asshole is right behind him. And he's offering to tie the bandana, an activity that Momoshiro secretly really likes.

Yet he can't seem to say anything, he's kind of turned to stone. Momoshiro doesn't know what to do with himself, because all these new fluttery and happy feelings are starting to overwhelm him, and it's like Kaidoh knows. As if he's doing it on purpose. What an asshole. But Momoshiro says nothing and he throws the bandana over his shoulder so that it hits Kaidoh's arm.

"Don't pull out my hair." He's got to argue with Kaidoh about something, right? Momoshiro bites down on his lips, and he hopes Kaidoh doesn't decide to walk in front of him so he can see that really strange expression he's making. He also hopes Kaidoh won't notice the tip of his ears are burning, and already the close proximity between them is making the hairs on his neck rise in response. Or maybe it's just in anticipation at feeling Kaidoh's fingers glide through his hair, and accidentally brush them over his neck, something which he has experienced quite a handful of times just a couple of days ago.

And Momoshiro is really hooked on the feeling. Damnit.

"Hurry up." _Move as slowly as you can._

Kaidoh plucks the bandana off his arm and unfolds it. It still feels warm from being against Momoshiro's face, and Kaidoh takes a moment to run it between his thumb and forefinger before folding it and resting it on Momoshiro's head. Momoshiro feels really warm too, Kaidoh notices, or maybe it's Kaidoh's hands that are warm. In fact, everything just feels warm and nice, but Momoshiro said to hurry, so maybe he's impatient to get this over with.

It's kind of difficult to both hurry up and also avoid catching any of Momoshiro's hair in the bandana knot at the same time, so Kaidoh chooses the be careful and precise instead of hasty. He tells himself it isn't because he likes being close like this, because that would be weird. He just likes tying bandanas correctly. There's nothing weird about that.

He uses his thumbs to push the bandana against the sides of Momoshiro's head, his fingers grazing Momoshiro's ears in a way that makes Momoshiro flinch, until the cloth is smoothed back all the way to the back of Momoshiro's neck. Kaidoh uses one hand to hold the corners of the bandana in place and his other to gently swipe the hair off Momoshiro's neck. Momoshiro jerks a bit at the touch and Kaidoh grumbles and pulls on the bandana to get him to hold still. He presses the side of his hand against the back of Momoshiro's head to flatten the stray hairs out of the way while he ties the knot twice.

It really is like Kaidoh is doing it on purpose, Momoshiro thinks. But he's the one that started this entire mess, isn't he? He got Kaidoh to do it the first time, tying his bandana, and he kept pestering him to do it again and again because it's always fun getting Kaidoh to do something for him. And it might also be that Momoshiro's gotten used to the feeling. Or well, not _used_ to it—it makes his skin crawl with ants whenever Kaidoh's fingers touch the back of his neck—but more like, he _wants_ to get used to it.

And for Momoshiro, that's a pretty scary thought. But he's hardly able to think as Kaidoh stands so close to him, and his fingers are dancing around his head, and he feels warm, and kind of light headed; it's making him a bit short of breath. When Kaidoh just touches that right spot, grazes right over him, Momoshiro can't help himself but squirm away because the reactions he gets out of it are way too intense.

Over time, Kaidoh has gotten better at this, more in tune with how high the knot should be, and how tight. Even if that one day earlier this week, Momoshiro had somehow managed to keep getting the bandana pulled off; Kaidoh's pretty sure his tying jobs weren't at fault. It's becoming a routine for him, something that feels natural; not as natural when he ties it on his own head, but it's something he thinks he could get used to doing.

He checks the knot again, his thumbs pressed into the curve of Momoshiro's neck as his fingers tug at the ends of the cloth. It's just so Momoshiro won't have any excuses if it somehow falls off later. Not that Kaidoh would refuse to tie it on again, if that happened. And he wouldn't be refusing just to be nice, either.

"That should be good," Kaidoh says finally. He steps back from Momoshiro a bit, because it's a little weird to linger so close without some kind of reason.

Maybe Momoshiro had something weird to drink for lunch. Maybe he had met Inui when he went fishing, and he gave him some of his latest juice, and he'd forgotten about the entire encounter altogether. That's why he's feeling like his heart is racing in a marathon and going for first place. Like a little mini-Kaidoh running around inside of him on a treadmill, spinning 'round and 'round, and it's driving him absolutely _nuts_.

"Thanks," Momoshiro forces himself to say. Because saying something is better than saying nothing at all. He feels strangely uncovered and exposed, like he's been doing something that was meant to be done in private, and now here's Kaidoh, acting like his mom who walked in on him watching porn on his computer.

God that was embarrassing.

And Momoshiro doesn't want to _feel_ embarrassed. He wants to turn that start button off Kaidoh had pressed earlier, because it's winding him up with far too much energy. That low current of electricity that keeps generating just because Kaidoh's fingers are brushing against his neck. And he _keeps_ doing it, as if he knows. As if he's doing it all on purpose, just to mess with Momoshiro. Why else would he ask Momoshiro to run with him? Why else offer to tie the bandana for him?

Isn't it because he wants to mess with Momoshiro? Or maybe it's just all in his head, and all the blood rushing to it made him incapable of thinking straight.

So there's only one thing Momoshiro can do in this kind of situation. Where his skin is buzzing and feels tingly, and he can feel his shorts starting to tighten around his waist rather uncomfortably. He deflects it.

"You like doing this, huh?" says Momoshiro in his most arrogant voice. "I bet that's why you always offer to do it." Take away the attention from the fact that Momoshiro _really likes_ it when Kaidoh does it, and turn it onto Kaidoh and make _him_ feel weird for doing it. As Momoshiro sees it, it's all his fault anyway. He told him to hurry up! And didn't he tell Kaidoh before that his neck is sensitive?

Maybe Momoshiro should have shouted it instead and wrap it with a sticker that says 'do not touch!' on it. Maybe then Kaidoh would get the message.

Now it's Kaidoh's turn to feel all flustered. At least when he had something to occupy his mind (and hands), he could focus on just that, and try to avoid thinking about Momoshiro's head and neck and ears and how he was touching him all over, but now the bandana is tied and Kaidoh has nothing to hide behind.

"N-no," he sputters, his face instantly hot again. "No I don't." Kaidoh's pretty sure that's not the answer he's supposed to give—his brother would scold him for denying it—but it feels like the only safe thing to say. He doesn't want Momoshiro to think he's some kind of freak. After all, what kind of person _likes_ tying bandanas on other people? "If you could learn to keep that bandana on your head by yourself then I wouldn't have to do it."

Momoshiro slightly turns his head to Kaidoh, and the energy is changing into irritation. "Like I even want you to tie it," he grumbles back. Which is a big fat lie of course, but how else can he respond to Kaidoh when he sounds like he's picking a fight with Momoshiro?

"I bet you glue yours on so it never gets off." And Momoshiro can't resist picking a fight with Kaidoh either. At least it's drawing attention away from the swirling feelings inside of him, and the less he thinks about his lower body, the better.

Kaidoh glares at him. He can't help it sometimes, his face just responds all on its own. "Don't be stupid, you've seen me with it off."

"No I don't," Momoshiro lies. He huffs and crosses his arms. "You only take it off—supposedly—when you go to bed. And guess what, I never see you go to bed, and you're always gone in the morning before I wake up."

That buzzy feeling finally quiets down a bit, because arguing with Kaidoh is always therapeutic to Momoshiro. He always knows what to do, fighting simply comes naturally to him. It's also a good distraction from other newer feelings that he's experiencing. He finally turns around completely to face Kaidoh. Then he puts one hand on his hip, stretches forward to shove his face into Kaidoh's, and with his other hand, he pokes Kaidoh's forehead.

"You use glue, definitely."

Kaidoh grabs Momoshiro's wrist to yank his hand out of his face. "Unlike you, I don't like putting weird gunk in my hair, dumbass." So the nice thing didn't last very long after all. It's Momoshiro's fault, stupid idiot.

"You need to get your eyes checked, Mamushi—I don't _have_ any weird gunk in my hair," growls Momoshiro. He jerks his wrist back from Kaidoh's hold and reels it in, keeping it protectively close against his chest.

"And the last time doesn't count!" Momoshiro quickly adds, remembering the glitter gel.

"That time it seemed to be more in your eye than on your head," Kaidoh points out with a snort.

On instinct, Momoshiro grabs the collar of Kaidoh's shirt, and he pulls them both closer. That weird feeling he had only moments ago? Replaced by the urge to kick the shit out of Kaidoh.

"Why don't you say that again," threatens Momoshiro.

Kaidoh grabs Momoshiro's collar right back and pulls until their foreheads bump together. "You heard me, moron," he challenges.

In a swift second, Momoshiro's ankle is behind Kaidoh's, and then he shoves at his chest, causing him to lose balance, and Kaidoh falls backwards. He pushes even more until Kaidoh does finally trip over his foot and falls down, and Momoshiro dives right after him (he doesn't have much of a choice when Kaidoh insists on being an asshole enough to not let go of his shirt). It doesn't really occur to him that lately their fights have been escalating. Not in the sense that they really _do_ beat each other blue, but in the sense that it intensifies the feeling that was rushing through him only seconds ago.

He blames it all on Kaidoh. It's all his fault. Liking him. He never asked for it. He didn't want to know (second fat lie of the day), Kaidoh should have just kept it to himself. Why does he suck at hiding things so much?

Momoshiro jabs his fist into Kaidoh's side as he struggles to pin him down into the sand. "Asshole," he says, and he means it. Kaidoh really is an asshole for making things change.

"You're the asshole," Kaidoh grinds back, because it's Momoshiro's fault. He's not supposed to be doing this. He's not supposed to be fighting with Momoshiro. His whole plan—or, more accurately, his brother's whole plan—is kind of falling to pieces here, because now Momoshiro is just going to think Kaidoh hates him and nothing will ever change and all the weird feelings will just stay locked up in the pit of his stomach forever.

Quick, do something nice. Kaidoh lets go of Momoshiro's collar. That doesn't feel right though, then he has nothing to hold on to, and they're already in the middle of a fight, so if Kaidoh backs out now, it will seem strange. He'll look like a complete coward. He grabs Momoshiro by the shoulders instead, trying to shove at him and push him away, or maybe pull him closer, down into the sand with him; Kaidoh's not sure. What's the right way to fight with Momoshiro now? Hazue would say he shouldn't be doing it at all, but it was stupid for Kaidoh to think he could agree with that. It's not something he can stop.

"No, you are …" Momoshiro stops and looks down at his shoulder, which Kaidoh is clutching. He's not shoving him away though. In fact, Kaidoh's not doing anything, it's like he's frozen to ice. That's kind of strange. Kaidoh's been acting strange period. He blinks a few times, trying to figure out what that snake is up to.

"... Didn't you want to run?" They haven't yet stepped a foot outside of the hut's perimeters.

Kaidoh loosens his grip on Momoshiro's shoulders. "Yeah," he says, a little embarrassed for getting so side-tracked. He feels like he's done everything wrong so far.

He scowls to try and hide the color in his cheeks. "You're going to have to get off of me if we're going to run."

Momoshiro makes himself comfortable on top of Kaidoh; he's not going anywhere anytime soon. "Why do you want to run anyway? You—" Momoshiro sniffs, "—already smell like sweat. I'm pretty sure you've been running for the past two hours." Momoshiro's hand, which had been holding onto Kaidoh's collar, now lets go of it, and he slides it up on Kaidoh's chest towards his neck. "Is there something in it for me?" Momoshiro asks with a grin. "Like that shiny golden medal which you got a few days ago …"

"I'm not giving you that," Kaidoh replies flatly, squirming a little under Momoshiro. He doesn't like being stuck under him for very long, especially not when Momoshiro is trailing his hand over him in a way that makes Kaidoh feel both chilly and hot at the same time. "I didn't see you running any marathons lately."

Momoshiro shrugs. "I ran for two hours. Long enough." He _should_ be given a medal for that.

Kaidoh's eyes soften a little. "You didn't _have_ to run that much," he says. Not that it wasn't nice to have someone else out there running with him, especially when that someone was Momoshiro, but Kaidoh can't bring himself to admit that. "It was really..." He fumbles for a word that isn't 'stupid' or 'idiotic'. "Unexpected," is what he settles on. Which at least doesn't sound like an insult, but isn't much of a compliment either.

"But you can get your own medal," he adds dismissively.

"Well," Momoshiro drawls out. "_If_ you give me yours, then it'd be my own medal, no?" Then he arches back over Kaidoh, the hand now reaching for Kaidoh's throat—but he's not grabbing it. "If I run with you all the way, I think I deserve it." He's not even thinking about what he's doing, where he's touching, where he's rubbing, but his hand slips around Kaidoh's neck, so that the tips of his fingers can feel his hair, and his thumb rests on his adam's apple.

"Plus, it'll make me happy," chuckles Momoshiro. "Especially since we … well, yeah, lost." He sheepishly pulls his hand away and sits back up right on Kaidoh once more. "Sorry about that …" Wait, maybe that's why Kaidoh wants to go running with him; to distract him from their losses. Or maybe to cheer him up. Or maybe both.

"It wasn't your fault," Kaidoh says, his mouth scrunching into a frown. "It's just been a long time since we've played together." That and Kaidoh had other things on his mind besides tennis, which was less than ideal for a competitive match. But it was easier to blame the losses on them just being rusty.

"No, it was … but whatever. Next time I'll do better." Next time maybe Momoshiro won't keep looking at Kaidoh instead of at the ball. And maybe he won't be having weird fantasies in his head. And most importantly, maybe he won't feel mini-Kaidoh running in his chest. Is that ever going to go away?

But even now, as he's doing nothing nothing at all, simply sitting on Kaidoh—something which he's done too many times to count—and Kaidoh isn't doing anything either, it's still there like a constant humming source of electricity. They're not even fighting anymore; that irritation faded away a minute ago. They're simply talking to each other, and close, and those warm feelings are back, winding up bursts of energy. This is not how their fights are supposed to end. It's supposed to end with them completely out of breath, and their muscles are hurting all over, and they're lying down next to each other.

Well … Momoshiro's muscles _are_ hurting, and his breath _is_ quickening up. This is getting strange, but it's happened quite a few times before. Each time he's with Kaidoh, things just keep changing, it keeps escalating. It's not like the old days anymore, when fights were probably the easiest thing to understand. And now it's changed into … this … this whatchamacalledit.

And it's not like Momoshiro hates it either. But it's unfamiliar to him, it's all so new. Kaidoh feels new to him, like a different person. Like a person he can hang out with and talk to, and then fight every once in a while, which will inevitably lead to …

"Hey … hey, Kaidoh," says Momoshiro in a low voice. He leans forward, his hand pressing down on Kaidoh's chest to support his weight. "Do you …" Understand what this is? Think the same way? Feel the same way?

Is it because Kaidoh likes him?

Or is it because he likes Kaidoh?

"I …" Momoshiro's cheeks redden the longer he stays like that, the longer he stretches out the silence between them. No, liking Kaidoh is ridiculous. Sure, he'll admit to genuinely liking him, you know, as a person and whatnot. He's okay to be around. But liking him like ... like … his fingertips feel like they're thawing out after being out in the freezing cold for a while? Or how it still feels like his heart is spinning around? Or how he just can't seem to resist getting closer each time?

"What the hell are you trying to say?" It's weird to see Momoshiro grasping for words. Usually the problem is trying to get him to shut up. It makes a warm, fizzy tension coil in Kaidoh's stomach. Is Momoshiro nervous too?

Kaidoh curls his fingers into a fist and pushes it against Momoshiro's shoulder. "Idiot," he says.

With his other free hand, Momoshiro places it on top of Kaidoh's fist, grasping it in his own hand, but not as tight as he would have if he wanted to tear it away from his body.

"I had fun," says Momoshiro. And it's true. While ogling Kaidoh across the court the entire time, he had fun, despite losing spectacularly. "Together. Err, playing I mean. Yeah. We'll do it again, right?" He squeezes Kaidoh's hand lightly.

Kaidoh's hand feels like a jolt of electricity has shot through it. He feels tingly and good. He should be finding all this heavy and annoying and stupid, but it's starting to just feel … nice.

"Of course," Kaidoh replies, and then adds confidently, "And when we do, we'll win."

"Like the nationals?" Momoshiro smiles at him.

"Yeah," says Kaidoh, although he isn't sure anything can beat the triumphant rush he felt on that day. It's probably one of his favorite memories.

Momoshiro pries Kaidoh's fingers open from his closed fist, one by one, stretching them out so that he can brush his own fingers against his warm palm. "Yeah," he echoes. He subconsciously guides Kaidoh's fingers up from his shoulder, towards his neck, pressing his bony fingers against it, and keeping his own hand covering it.

And it feels good.

"We'll definitely win," says Momoshiro. He lowers his eyelids and stares at Kaidoh. He's starting to think he really doesn't want to be separated from Kaidoh. It's looking much more attractive to stay together, for as long as they can. When they go back home, when they're finally off of this island, Momoshiro is going to make sure he'll bother Kaidoh every day. That he can talk to him whenever he wants, pick a fight whenever he feels like it. And—Momoshiro nuzzles his chin against Kaidoh's knuckles—touch him whenever the urge rises up.

Kaidoh sighs. His breath hitches. His heart pounds. Maybe it's because Momoshiro is pressing on his chest, maybe it's because Momoshiro is holding onto his hand, maybe it's because Momoshiro is so close, maybe it's simply because Momoshiro is there in the first place. Kaidoh wonders if Momoshiro can feel it, Kaidoh's racing pulse and the heat emanating from his skin, heat that Momoshiro is causing. But if he does, Momoshiro isn't saying anything, isn't moving, isn't going away, so maybe he … doesn't mind. Maybe it's okay for Kaidoh to feel the way he feels. At least in this moment, it doesn't seem like such a bad thing.

He twists a little on the ground, the sand feeling scratchy on his back. He wants to roll them both over so he can be on top, so he can win this fight, but is this really even a fight anymore? Does there have to be a winner? And besides, Kaidoh doesn't want Momoshiro to let go of his hand, because he doesn't hate it; quite the opposite, really. It's a thought he never really expected to have. Obviously all of Hazue's weird suggestions are getting to him.

Kaidoh's fingertips brush against the strands of hair at Momoshiro's neck, against the cloth of the bandana that's tied over them. "Your hair is getting long," he observes, then his fingers shrink back and his cheeks go pink, because what the hell is he doing touching and talking about Momoshiro's hair? It's like he's getting too comfortable to remember to think, and he shouldn't really be comfortable with this in the first place. Why is Momoshiro making him want to say and do such weird things?

_You like me, don't you?_

That word keeps repeating in Momoshiro's head. Like. Like, like, like—like. Oh yes, he most definitely likes the very warm palm of Kaidoh wrapped around his neck; his fingertips actually toying with his hair. It's giving him shivers, steel cold shivers running along his arms, up to his neck, and back down again where his hand makes contact with Kaidoh's chest. Kaidoh's pulse is racing against his hand, and he's sure Kaidoh can feel his own leap against his palm, it's throbbing quite painfully.

"I know," says Momoshiro. He knows it. Knows that Kaidoh likes him again—or maybe he never stopped. The confusion from earlier this week ebs away, it's like a wave that crashed on him in surprise, and now it's slowly washing away, and he's left feeling drained, but refreshed.

Why is Kaidoh suddenly such an enigma to him? Suddenly everything seems so fascinating, everything is growing hotter; he doesn't want to get rid of this feeling. No it's … it's drawing him in. Is Kaidoh doing it on purpose? Does he know just what kind of response he elicits in Momoshiro? Because it's definitely not rivalry; he doesn't feel like beating Kaidoh, at whatever this is. He feels himself pull in closer to Kaidoh instead, and he tightens his grip on Kaidoh's hand, to force him to stay there.

_Don't leave._ Don't let go. Keep those fingers there that feel like they're injecting him with drowsiness, and yet at the same time it feels exciting. Like a drug he's hooked on, and he wants to do nothing but get more of it. He slinks his own fingers between Kaidoh's, and he can feel his own fast pulse throbbing against it. Kaidoh can feel this too. Maybe he noticed, maybe he knows it too, that Momoshiro is going a little bit crazy right now. It's probably the drug he injected him with.

The hand which was resting on Kaidoh's chest, now travels up, dragging his shirt along and making sure to apply even pressure to his body. Until Momoshiro is touching Kaidoh's neck in a similar way Kaidoh is touching his; he can feel Kaidoh's heartbeat even more like this. His fingers dig deeply against his scalp, hidden in his thick hair.

"Yours is too," Momoshiro breathes out, like it's the hardest thing to do on earth. "You should probably …" Move away. This is getting dangerous. This is treading into a scary territory that Momoshiro has no control of. He can't control these … these … feelings.

How is he supposed to? Kaidoh's right underneath him, and the slightest twitch or wiggle is making Momoshiro feel lightheaded, and the craziest thing is—he wants more of it. And now Momoshiro sighs too, his breath warm, and close to Kaidoh's face. When did he lean down that much? When did he entangle his fingers with Kaidoh's? When did he slip his hand behind Kaidoh's neck and start _massaging_ it? It's insane, it's really insane, but he just. Can't. Stop.

Kaidoh looks back at Momoshiro, his eyes dark and open. "Probably what?" he asks. Without thinking, he's leaning into Momoshiro's touch, and the words seem to vibrate against his hand when he speaks. His voice is so low and quiet that it's scarcely more than a rumble in his throat. He can't seem to stay focused on Momoshiro's eyes to hold his stare, his eyes darting to Momoshiro's mouth, to the flare of heat on his cheeks, to their hands tightly entwined at Momoshiro's neck, to Momoshiro's mouth again.

What is he doing? What is Momoshiro doing? Why hasn't one of them broken away yet? Kaidoh tenses. Could it be that they are both thinking the same thing? He swallows, feeling scared and excited and alive. Has he really been missing this piece of the puzzle all along? Has it always been this simple? Kaidoh knew that many things were easy between them, but this? This … whatever it is … isn't supposed to be easy, too.

He lets out a long, shuddery hiss of air. "Momoshiro…" he says carefully, drawing out the sound. There's an edge to his tone that's like a challenge, as if to say, _Do you know what you're doing_? Because Kaidoh sure doesn't.

Momoshiro playfully teases Kaidoh by pulling a little at his hair. "Didn't we agree …" He leans a little bit closer, and there's this wicked expression on his face. "You'd call me Momo-chan?" His tone of voice is low, and flirty—and god he's being a tease, isn't he? He's teasing Kaidoh in a way he's never teased him before.

But it's surprisingly a lot of fun. Well maybe fun isn't the right word for it, not when Momoshiro is half scared out of his mind, and the other half is screaming something to him. He can't make out the words, but he does know it's got something to do with the way his body keeps on heating up. How he's subconsciously writhing against Kaidoh beneath him, squeezing his legs tighter around him. And how his fingers are rubbing softly up and down against Kaidoh's, playing with the fingertips, and making them graze against the skin of his neck. His other hand is preoccupied with pulling softly at Kaidoh's hair.

Yeah, it's probably got to do something with that. But he can't stop, he can only indulge this weird fluttery and liberating feeling. Like Momoshiro's been keeping it locked away all this time, and now it's threatening to come out—no, it's _bursting_ to come out. If he keeps touching Kaidoh like this, and looking at him through his long eyelashes, at that face he's so familiar with, something is probably going to happen. Something is about to change.

Not yet rivals and not yet friends. There's an invisible line they're waiting to cross into something more than that.

"Right?" Momoshiro hums, and there's a playful smirk on his lips.

Kaidoh scowls, as though it will help to push down the bubbly feelings that are fizzing up inside of him like he's a soda can that's been shaken. "_You_ agreed to that," he grumbles, because Momoshiro's breath is too warm and his voice and words feel dangerous. It's all a little frightening for reasons Kaidoh can't seem to pinpoint. Maybe it's because he doesn't know what happens next. They've already passed the point where things should stop, where they stopped every time before. But Kaidoh isn't sure he wants to now, which feels even scarier.

Finally Momoshiro lets go of Kaidoh's hand, his fingers untangling—he immediately misses and regrets letting go—and he arches forward until both his hands are dug deep into the sand, besides Kaidoh's head. And now his face really is dangerously close to the other man beneath him. Close enough that he can spot some very faded freckles scattered on Kaidoh's cheek. Strange, he's never noticed that before. Maybe it's just easier to spot them now since his cheeks are a rosy red. A lovely shade. Momoshiro wants to turn him even more red. It's fun teasing him like this, but he's also doing it for his own benefit. After all, it's not like he can stop himself.

"I seem to recall you agreeing too," Momoshiro says in a sing song voice. "It wasn't just a one-time thing only, you know."

"But—" Kaidoh starts, his face feeling hot. But it's embarrassing, he thinks. Maybe that's the point; to embarrass Kaidoh. Maybe it's what Momoshiro is trying to do with all of this. He's definitely trying … something. Whatever it is, it's working.

"But what? Prefer something else?" Aside from any insults such as dumbass, idiot, or asshole, or whatever. Momoshiro finally flicks his eyes away from Kaidoh, trailing down his nose and stopping at his lips. "Oh right, didn't your brother say I should call you Kaoru?"

"He says a lot of things," Kaidoh says, _like that we should …_ He shakes his head. Stupid Momoshiro. He's making it hard for Kaidoh to do anything but lie there blushing right in front of him, right up close. So close. "Don't call me that."

As usual, arguing with Kaidoh always comes naturally to him. He never has to try or search for words to say, it simply tumbles out of his mouth. "Whatcha gonna do about it if I do?" he challenges back. Momoshiro makes a point to put more weight onto Kaidoh's body to let him know Momoshiro is still the one on top.

Kaidoh's hands, still at Momoshiro's shoulders, and now nearly crushed between their bodies, clench into fists again. "I'll punch you if you do," he warns, his voice sharp and pressurized. It's how he feels—under pressure. It's not just because he's got Momoshiro's weight bearing down on him.

And that's a challenge Momoshiro can't ignore. He slides his body forwards, lowers his head next Kaidoh's, and his lips almost brush the tip of his ear. He doesn't speak, not yet, because he's focused on his own breathing, and sort of concentrated on the fact that now _everything_ is touching between them. And that's not something new, as they've always had a lot of body contact, but what's new is that Momoshiro likes it in a way that isn't because he's fighting with Kaidoh. It's giving him these weird and rather unfamiliar feelings.

The closest Momoshiro could probably describe them, is … pleasure. Because it's delightful, and he feels happy, and a little bit dizzy, but in a good way. It's those drugs Kaidoh injected him with, isn't it?

Momoshiro parts his lips, getting ready to say Kaidoh's name, to challenge him on his empty threat. How could he think about punching now? Doesn't he feel it too? This anticipation? This rumble in his stomach?

"Ka …" the first syllable leaves his lips, like a breath of warm air against Kaidoh's ear, "... o …" Momoshiro's heart seems to pump even faster now. This is such a thrill. He waits an agonizing three seconds long, in completely silence, not even breathing, before he spills the last letters. "Ru …" His lips curl up in a smug smile. "Heh."

Kaidoh lets out an audible shudder and immediately feels mortified. _Asshole_, he thinks, but can't seem to say anything, can't find the words to growl back an insult, can't even seem to move his fists to hit the stupid idiot in the face. His voice has completely dried up. In fact, his whole mouth feels dry.

That reaction was something more than Momoshiro bargained for, and it clicked something into his mind. It removed any hazy fog he's had inside of his head, and now he can think a little bit more clearly. For one, Momoshiro realizes he's hogging Kaidoh's entire body, and he's doing it on _purpose_, and because he _likes_ the friction of their bodies. And he really doesn't want to pull away. Second, his lips are so dangerously close to Kaidoh's ear, he wonders if he was about to try something based purely on his … on these …feelings.

Yet he's not moving away, he's not even making an attempt to. Momoshiro likes this position very much, and these new and exciting feelings are a lot like adrenaline, and that doesn't just die down. And suddenly he finds himself wanting to simply grab Kaidoh's entire body and feel it up against him. Tighter, closer, everywhere.

Those are not the kind of thoughts or urges Momoshiro should be having.

Luckily he shows some restraint, because if he doesn't hold back … he'll just lie on top of Kaidoh and … well … the snake actually has a rather pretty slender neck … it's attractive. He sort of wants to touch it, but his hands are holding him up from crashing into Kaidoh. Then there's another thing Momoshiro has to keep in mind, his strength seems to be slipping away; all his muscles are already sore, and it hurts to support his own weight for this long. Not to mention that he's starting to shake. Whether it's from holding himself up, or because Kaidoh's shivering below him.

This is seriously getting dangerous.

"Ka …" Momoshiro starts, but he finds his own voice scratchy, and stuck in his throat. What was he going to say? "I …" Something … about this. About this entire thing. Why is he doing this, and why is Kaidoh allowing him? Weren't they supposed to be running? He takes in a sharp breath, his eyes fixated on a certain spot on Kaidoh's neck, and he's trembling even more now. Any second now and something will snap, and he'll collapse right onto Kaidoh. "I can't …" Take this anymore? Hold back anymore?

Get out while you still can, Momoshiro wants to say. But he finds it difficult to even breathe, let alone form words—or even a complete sentence. This madness keeps swirling inside of his head.

Kaidoh moves one hand up between them to cover his red face, and puts the other flat against Momoshiro's chest, like he's warning him not to come any closer—can he even get closer?

"I told you not to call me that," he says guiltily, voice nearly a whisper, but even he couldn't have predicted that reaction. And now Momoshiro is seeing far too much; Kaidoh is too exposed. There's nowhere for him to escape.

Momoshiro's not listening. He moves away from the side of Kaidoh's head, moving over the hand that is trying to hide his face. Damnit, he can't stop shaking. He leans all his weight on his right hand, and uses his left to cover Kaidoh's. He wraps his fingers around Kaidoh's warm and sweaty one. Or is he the one that's sweating? Slowly, he tugs at it, trying to move it away from Kaidoh's face.

_What are you hiding?_

Kaidoh doesn't offer up much resistance as Momoshiro pulls his hand away from his face. And now Momoshiro has a really good look of messed up he is. It reminds him of the day before his birthday, when he took that picture, Kaidoh sort of looked the same back then. Frazzled, confused, shocked, and there's this other expression he can't quite nail. But he's sure it matches his own expression.

He really shouldn't …He really can't … But Kaidoh isn't pushing him away. That hand on his chest is doing nothing but send jitters down his entire body, setting him on fire in all the right places, in all the right spots, and it's simply making Momoshiro want to do it more.

Do what more exactly ... ?

Tease Kaidoh some more?

It's way beyond that point right now. Momoshiro's control is slipping, and his body is dipping lower to Kaidoh's, and he's putting his fingers in between Kaidoh's again, and pinning it down in the sand above his head. But his grip isn't strong, Kaidoh could move and get out anytime he wants. If he wants to, but with a face like that … with eyes like those that are holding secrets, waiting to spill—Momoshiro doesn't think Kaidoh's going to stop him. He doesn't know what's come over him, he's never felt this way before, nor lost control this much.

Kaidoh's eyes are wide now, a bit frightened, completely alert and aware. _What are you doing?_ he thinks frantically, not sure if the thought is directed at himself, or Momoshiro, or perhaps both of them. What are _they_ doing? He can feel every touch of Momoshiro's body against him like it's a shock of static electricity; the intensity of it is overwhelming. He doesn't know what to do.

He twists his fingers against the front of Momoshiro's shirt, to try and show he's serious, that he's not going to … that he won't … that with whatever this is, he's not going to crumble. Then why is he grabbing onto Momoshiro like a lifeline instead of shoving him away? His lips part and a shaky hiss rattles out of his throat. When it comes to Momoshiro, why does he even bother with why anymore?

Something snaps; rigid muscles unfreeze, and Momoshiro dips his body lower with a shaky groan.

That sweet sweaty scent is engulfing Momoshiro, and he loses his focus, he loses his entire goal when his nose bumps against Kaidoh's as he ever so slightly puckers out his lips. Their dry lips connect, though slightly off, and a spark is ignited between them. A humming dangerous voltage of electricity is shooting down all his nerves, making him shiver all over, and he keeps blinking in and out of focus. _Their lips are ..._ He shudders, he breathes out a weak gust of air; it's enough to finally make him lose all his strength, and he sinks through his elbow with a muffled yelp, and suffocates Kaidoh with his entire body. The sudden movement makes Momoshiro slip away from Kaidoh's plump lips, the connection between them broken, and it's quiet for a brief moment until nausea settles inside of his stomach when he realizes just exactly what he did.

Lips still tingly and parted, face thoroughly flushed with red, he gives Kaidoh this fearful, wide-eyed look. _What did he do?_

Maybe he can still say it was just an accident. That it wasn't spurred on in the heat of the moment, and he simply ... fell on his face. Say something Momoshiro. Anything. Stop gaping at him. Stop _feeling!_

Kaidoh stares back at Momoshiro and feels like he's functioning in stop-motion, like he's seeing things move frame by frame, not getting the whole picture all at once. He blinks once, then again, as though it will make things clarify, but it doesn't change what just happened, and it doesn't change the way Momoshiro is looking at him. Is this what it's like to have glitter in your eyes? But this doesn't hurt, doesn't feel bad at all. There's just a strange, unfamiliar shiver creeping across his lips like they've been stung.

It takes Kaidoh a moment to realize that he's actually shivering all over. It's not just his mouth. His whole body is shaking, his heart feels like it's pounding in every part of him, a deafening throb of excitement, of terror. He feels flooded with feelings, with cravings he didn't even know he ever had. He wants to … he wants to … His eyes slide to Momoshiro's mouth, and then he hastily looks back up at his eyes, like he's revealed a dangerous secret. The secret is that Kaidoh liked it. He's scared, but he liked it.

His arm is still crushed between them, still tightly gripping Momoshiro's shirt. Maybe even more tightly now. The muscles are going to fall asleep if one of them doesn't move, so Kaidoh unfurls his fingers, and slides them up Momoshiro's chest, watching Momoshiro as he does, scared that Momoshiro's scared, but maybe comforted too. Kaidoh isn't the only one who's terrified. When his hand reaches Momoshiro's neck, he stops and blinks again, then slowly slides it around him, his thumb pressing against the skin there so that Kaidoh can feel Momoshiro's pulse leaping wildly.

He's starting to feel like he understands a little more why Momoshiro is doing all this. Maybe. Maybe he didn't mean to, maybe Momoshiro is just really that clumsy, but the way Momoshiro is looking at him makes him think … maybe not. That just makes Kaidoh's lips tingle even more, the thought that it could have been deliberate. The thought that Momoshiro wanted to. Just like Kaidoh wants to now.

If only to delay them having to acknowledge it. If only to avoid talking about it. If only to stop Momoshiro's silent staring. Kaidoh doesn't want to talk about it. He doesn't know how to talk about it. Kaidoh doesn't use words, he uses actions.

So his hand snakes back around Momoshiro's head to the place where his shoulderblades meet, and he presses, pushes, draws Momoshiro closer until he has no choice but to press his mouth against Kaidoh's again. The tingle at Kaidoh's lips seems to multiply, until his whole face is buzzing with energy.

_Don't you dare pull away_, Kaidoh thinks desperately, narrowing his eyes at Momoshiro in challenge. _Don't you dare pin this all on me, dumbass. You started it_. He's unable to stop the instinct to glare at him, as though it will outweigh everything else his body is doing, all the other signals he's sending that say he's not angry at all.

And Momoshiro isn't pulling away at all, he's sort of stunned, like Kaidoh pressed the pause button on him, frozen still at the overwhelming throbs rushing through his body, pulsating fast from Kaidoh's mouth against his. From all the places Kaidoh is touching him—_voluntarily_—it's giving him a bad case of the wiggles. The spot on his back where Kaidoh's hand is holding him down feels like he's been dipped into steaming hot liquid. He feels like squirming, he feels like taking in a million breaths, but can't, he can't what with their dry and ocean tasting lips pressed together.

And they're really warm … really comforting …

There's a shock in Momoshiro's mind, and suddenly he boots back up, he starts to move, he starts to act—acting on all these hormones swirling around in his stomach. Fingers tighten around Kaidoh's, pushing him deeper into the sand, as if it will somehow keep himself from falling deeper into this void. But he kind of likes it, he kind of really likes it. Momoshiro takes in a muffled breath through his nose, and his eyes finally close after staring at Kaidoh cross-eyed for way too long, then he presses down, his lips forming around Kaidoh's.

It's never felt like this before, and Momoshiro would have probably started to compare, if he weren't so involved with it. There's not much space left in his brain to think about what he's doing, he just … does it. Because this is Kaidoh, and he's making him feel all kinds of crazy, and while his lips are dry, and taste like the ocean, and there's even some sand on them, it's probably the most addicting feeling Momoshiro has ever felt before. He wants more. _More_.

A sigh, or maybe just a really low moan, climbs its way up from his throat, and he parts his lips, they scrape down against Kaidoh's like sandpaper, eliciting all these weird reactions from both himself, and from Kaidoh. With their bodies now so close, so molded with each other, he can feel Kaidoh shake, or maybe that's him, he's not quite sure. But he does know he ends up, in a quite subtle manner, moving against Kaidoh's body below him. Their shirts cling and wrinkle up, his arms touch Kaidoh's bare shoulders, and his groin is sort of digging into Kaidoh's.

_Yes, more_.

Momoshiro tilts his face a bit to the side, and plants his lips back onto Kaidoh's, while at the same time using the tip of his tongue to trail against Kaidoh's bottom lip. Those lips he's always wondered about how it would feel like to kiss, and now he's actually doing it. Ah, it's seriously mind numbing. He feels the irregularities, the unique dents in the soft flesh, but he smoothes them out with his own saliva until they're moist, and Momoshiro is back mushing their trembling lips together again. Blood is drawn forward as Momoshiro sucks with all his willpower. In doing so he can feel his legs turn into jello, and his arms feel heavy, his entire body feels heavy, and it's like he's got this fever that's making him act on things he would have never acted upon before.

Like kissing Kaidoh Kaoru.

But who cares—_it feels amazing_. Like something he's been waiting for all this time, like an overdose of a sugar rush, like eating a million burgers. And Momoshiro is not about to pull away and let go. He grinds his body more forcefully into Kaidoh's, moving in directions that are very pleasing and exciting, and are keeping him short of breath.

Kaidoh lets out a sharp, short breath against Momoshiro's lips, feeling dizzy. His blood seems to be suddenly pumping at an accelerated rate, like it's trying hard to catch up with the rest of him. It pounds at his ears, it races through his chest, it thrums low in his stomach.

His fingers dig into the fabric of Momoshiro's shirt, almost like he's clinging to him for balance, as though he can somehow preserve the pretense that he can regain control of himself, of Momoshiro, of the situation. He flexes his ankles, feeling his toes curling in his sneakers. He squeezes against Momoshiro's hand. He arches his neck up so he can press his mouth harder against Momoshiro's lips. His whole body arches with it. Every part of him is responding to Momoshiro, wanting to push closer to him. Kaidoh thinks it must be the weirdest urge in the world, and if he weren't so completely wrapped up in it, he'd remember to feel humiliated.

The way Kaidoh curves into his body, rubbing everything Momoshiro can imagine, is sending his brain into ecstasy. It's making all his sore muscles contract like a guitar string being pulled too tight. And his shorts are getting way too tight.

Momoshiro grunts in the back of his throat, and immediately regrets letting embarrassing noises escape from him. Then Kaidoh will know, that he's really enjoying this. On the other hand, he's kind of _kissing_ Kaidoh, and that shows it a lot more that he likes it. Stopping doesn't seem to be an option, not when everything feels so exciting and new, and sort of scary, and that warm rush is spreading from his fingertips till his toes. No, he can't stop … especially when Kaidoh is responding too. He's moving with him, albeit both are just fumbling their way through it, clumsy, inexperienced, a mix of nervousness and eagerness. But what's most important, is that Kaidoh seems to want it too.

Kaidoh wants it as much as Momoshiro. And just the simple thought of that, that Kaidoh is writhing below him and enjoying it, and pressing his mouth harder against his, it's making him shudder violently, and he wants to curl all his fingers against Kaidoh's skin. To reel him in closer—not leave an inch of skin untouched, the exciting burns that he feels when their bare skin makes contact. He's so addicted to it.

Their lips part, ever so slightly, trembling, wet, hot—Momoshiro takes a hasty jittery breath, his eyes now halfway open and staring at the red lips below him. He brushes his own against it, it feels so raw, and he wants to do nothing but to claim them forever. He's running on pure instinct and hormones now, his body reacting to each touch with a new twitch and an urge. Momoshiro takes Kaidoh's bottom lip in between his lips; it's so warm and soft—and who knew those lips could feel so good? He sucks it at first, before he unconsciously lowers his teeth onto it, softly, not hard, just grazing against it, imprinting it. He doesn't really know what he's doing, but whatever it is, it feels good.

Feels totally amazing. And once more, he grinds his body into Kaidoh, their chests shifting against one another, and he can feel his own lower region simply digging into Kaidoh's thighs. He can't stop it. Not even when he makes slight rotation movements with his hips.

His heart is beating a thousand miles per minute. It's all Kaidoh's fault. For doing this to him.

Kaidoh's hormones seem to be sprinting away from him, hormones he'd trained and tempered with years of running, hormones he thought were under control. He can't catch up with them, he can't stop the surge of feelings and sensations they're causing. Now it's like Momoshiro figured out the combination to unlock them and they're pouring out in a rush, completely unstoppable and ravenous. And Kaidoh is helpless to do anything but squirm against Momoshiro's body and pull him closer. He can't hold back. It's like he's forgotten how. All this friction, it feels like striking rocks together to try and make a fire.

There's so much energy between them, but beneath that flows an undercurrent of relief. Kaidoh feels like some kind of weight, heavier than any dumbbell, has been lifted from his chest and replaced with something else, something that's fluttery and exciting and weighs nothing at all. Momoshiro wanted this too. Momoshiro was waiting for this. Momoshiro wants to be here, with Kaidoh. He can't even articulate how it makes him feel; he's sort of lost the ability for coherence in general. He can only focus on breath and skin and muscles and Momoshiro's insistent mouth.

His lips have gone from tingling to thrumming. The feeling of Momoshiro's mouth against them is like a magnet, sucking them against Momoshiro's face with a power that's impossible to resist. He can't bother to struggle or protest. He wouldn't want to anyway.

When Momoshiro lets go of Kaidoh's bottom lip, Kaidoh takes it as an opportunity to return the challenge, and takes Momoshiro's lip between his teeth and tugs gently, his teeth dragging along the soft red flesh. Everything Momoshiro does, Kaidoh will reciprocate; it's how they've always been.

Then, while Momoshiro's mouth is still open, Kaidoh moves completely on instinct and slips his tongue inside. He doesn't know why it seems like a good idea, hell, he doesn't even know what he's doing—he lost track sometime soon after Momoshiro's body first ground against his seeking contact. All he knows is that he wants to be closer.

The second their tongues collide—and it is a collision, nothing graceful about it—all Kaidoh can register is a kind of zooming feeling from his mouth clear down to his feet, like the ground is falling out from under him. And, despite the way it makes his body jerk and shudder, he finds he isn't scared to let it happen.

Now _this_ is definitely new territory for Momoshiro. Kaidoh's wet and extremely warm, and kind of squishy, tongue is inside of his mouth, and it's brushing against his. It's sending waves of pleasure down his entire body, like he's never felt before. He's getting lost in this feeling, in this groove. Like an untrained elephant, he crashes his tongue against Kaidoh, sloppily, wanting to gain dominance, and eager to return Kaidoh's actions.

It's an entirely new experience, one that Momoshiro likes all too well. His own tongue wraps around Kaidoh's, slipping underneath his, and he pushes it out of his own mouth, into Kaidoh's own hot and smoldering one. There he dips his tongue along Kaidoh's teeth, a sensation that is both a little painful but thrilling. It's all so slimy, and wet, and really hot, and kind of a little bit gross, but Momoshiro finds it's an extreme turn-on for him, one that he cannot stop. The texture of Kaidoh's tongue is so unreal, but it really does feel fucking fantastic. He doesn't really know what he's doing, much like Kaidoh, but when his hormones are dictating him what to do, Momoshiro finds that his tongue naturally moves along Kaidoh's, responding and reacting, expanding and contracting.

Momoshiro doesn't even realize the soft little gasps he's releasing from his mouth.

The hand that was holding up most of Momoshiro's body weight now sinks down, until he's leaning into the sand with his elbow, and resting most of his weight on a squirming and moving Kaidoh, who is rubbing him in places that feel way too good. Fingers reach for the ends of Kaidoh's bandana, and he slips it off, revealing dark brown hair that falls over Kaidoh's face. It doesn't take long before Momoshiro's fingers are lost in that hair, grabbing a fistful of it, wrapped around the back of Kaidoh's head, and pushing him closer so that there really is no empty space left between them. Nothing but a fiery hotness burning in his throat.

Momoshiro tugs at Kaidoh's hair, and he swirls his tongue around Kaidoh's in circular motions—in sync with his hips—then he pulls back a little bit, his own tongue sliding across Kaidoh's lips, until he's entirely out of it. Then he smacks his lips against Kaidoh's again, sucking and tearing at them in a more aggressive manner. It doesn't take long for his tongue to return inside of that warm goodness, and they're once more battling tongues.

Everything is spinning for Momoshiro. He can barely believe he's doing this, but he's out of fucks to give for the day, and he's completely wrapped in all these feelings, his head is full of Kaidoh. Kaidoh, Kaidoh, Kaidoh. Momoshiro lets out another groan, this time too out of it to care that Kaidoh can hear him loud and clear—who cares anyway, isn't Kaidoh enjoying this too? As much as he is? The thought alone, that Kaidoh is feeling as hot and bothered as he is, is enough to make his mind spin out of control. He's loving this.

Their entwined hands don't stay together for long, as Momoshiro pulls it back, and instead uses this hand to grasp the side of Kaidoh's face, his thumb brushing over the burning hot cheeks, and his other fingers lightly pressed against his ear. Momoshiro is keeping most of his weight on his knees, while the rest is resting on Kaidoh's chest—he's probably suffocating him, but he can't seem to care much for that, not when his hands are all over Kaidoh's face, and his tongue is still dangerously playing around with Kaidoh's, and now he's pulling at his hair, and his body will not stop moving against Kaidoh.

If Momoshiro had known how amazing this would have felt, he'd have given into his feelings much sooner instead of denying them anytime it would pop up. Anytime he'd have a moment of doubt. Well fuck that, he just wants Kaidoh.

Kaidoh can't believe the noises Momoshiro is making. At any other time, in any other place, under any other circumstances, he'd call him disgusting, but right now Kaidoh doesn't have a leg to stand on, because there are shuddery breaths, and little moans he can't believe are coming from his own voice, being torn from his throat too each time Momoshiro moves, each time their tongues slide against each other, two hot slippery-wet muscles fighting. It feels just like it always does between them when they fight, just as rough and demanding. Kaidoh didn't realize things could ever be this way between them though. He'd never let his imagination get this far.

Now he doesn't need to imagine, because it's all really happening. When Kaidoh's tongue shoves against Momoshiro's, rolling over it in his own mouth, it's real and immediate, the feeling sending a scorching shiver down Kaidoh's spine. When Kaidoh splays his fingers out against Momoshiro's back, he can feel the heat of his body, and wonders what it would feel like without the shirt's fabric in the way. So many thoughts are zipping through his mind that he'd never expected to have. He's suddenly far more interested in what kind of reaction he'd get if he touched Momoshiro here, or there, than he ever thought he was. Maybe the urges were always there lurking; maybe Momoshiro just needed to set them in motion. Or maybe Kaidoh is just a pervert as well as a stalker. The thought makes his face heat up even more, because it's _embarrassing_ that he can't stop thinking, can't stop feeling, and he knows Momoshiro can feel it because his hand is right there. It feels like his hands are everywhere. It feels like Momoshiro is everywhere.

Kaidoh's not going to let him get away with that.

His other arm, still caught behind his head where Momoshiro had left it, feels empty without something to hold on to, so Kaidoh raises it and pushes his palm against Momoshiro's neck. His fingernails scrape along the back of his neck where his hair meets his scalp. He can feel Momoshiro's pulse against his hand; it seems to match the rhythm of Kaidoh's own, their pace identical.

His body twists against Momoshiro, feeling every inch of Momoshiro's body move with him, like Momoshiro's slid completely into Kaidoh's space, a heavy weight that engulfs him completely. He lets out a low murmur from deep in his throat and the sound vibrates in the hollow of his mouth, making his tongue buzz against Momoshiro's, like it's a wire live with electric current, ready to spark.

The scraping of his fingernails against his already sensitive neck, makes Momoshiro's body twitch and flinch, and this time he really does grunt out a low moan. _Do it again_. In response, Momoshiro sets his own nails against the back of Kaidoh's scalp, and he presses and drags them, harsh and rough. Every inch of his skin feels sensitive to Kaidoh's touch, and he's starting to think his stupid clothes are in the way, everything is in the way.

Momoshiro is finding it harder to let Kaidoh go, the hotter they become, the more urgency there is to their actions as their tongues swipe and attack. Like it can't stop, it _has_ to happen now.

It doesn't even occur to Momoshiro that they're down at the beach, and everyone who will walk by can see him. God forbid Hazue decides to turn back around and walk in on them.

There's a slight moment where Momoshiro's head clears up a bit, and he starts to realize what he's doing. What he's doing to Kaidoh—what Kaidoh is doing to _him_. Under normal circumstances, Momoshiro would have punched Kaidoh, called him gross and disgusting, and maybe even ignore him. But he started it, didn't he? He's the one pinning Kaidoh down, moving his body against him, his hands in his hair and everywhere else, their tongues happily exploring, and lips feel as hot as fireworks exploding.

It doesn't matter … Momoshiro doesn't care anymore. It simply feels good, and he's not getting any complaints from Kaidoh, whose noises are making Momoshiro want to do it even more so he can keep hearing them.

They really need to get rid of their clothes … Momoshiro's shirt is sticky from sweat, and it's annoying, and it makes everything uncomfortably hot. All he wants to do is take it off and rub Kaidoh all over him.

Instead, Momoshiro's left hand leaves Kaidoh's face alone, and it wanders down … and down his chest, his fingers making sure that he's putting pressure against the fabric, and seeing him squirm and writhe in response, makes Momoshiro squirm and writhe in response, like a chain reaction. There's this feeling of power Momoshiro gets when he sees (or hears) Kaidoh's reactions to him, and this makes him all the more eager to do more things to him. Like slipping his hand underneath Kaidoh's stupid tank top, and he lies his hand flat against those steel abs. Ah, they feel warm too, skin on skin contact is definitely much better.

Momoshiro sucks Kaidoh's tongue into his own mouth like a vacuum, groaning out loud as he does so (he can't get over how good it feels), and his hand on Kaidoh's stomach is sliding up, exploring the skin beneath that black cloth, touching him everywhere he can. And since Momoshiro seems to be fond of inflicting pain on Kaidoh, he slowly and carefully bites down on Kaidoh's tongue, hard enough to make him notice, but soft enough so that it shouldn't hurt. He thinks. It feels like a challenge almost.

But it's not like there's some kind of goal to be reached here, it's not like Momoshiro can win with whatever they're doing. This doesn't make him any less competitive, and feel the need to out-do Kaidoh, and to draw out even more responses from him.

A muffled, startled noise escapes from Kaidoh's lips into Momoshiro's mouth and Kaidoh squirms, his body arching. It almost sounded like a moan, and Kaidoh curses his body for reacting against his will to all these idiotic things Momoshiro is doing; as if it weren't already obvious enough just how Momoshiro is making him feel. And since he can't exactly punch Momoshiro in response, Kaidoh finds other ways to get even.

His fingers at the back of Momoshiro's neck claw against his skin, and twist and pull at the hair there, eliciting a satisfying moan. His hand against Momoshiro's back scratches down along his spine until he's reached the edge of Momoshiro's shirt, and then his fingers creep under it, bunching the fabric as he pulls at it, his knuckles pressing into the now bare skin of Momoshiro's back. He drags his hand back up, bringing Momoshiro's shirt with it. Momoshiro's skin feels hot and damp with sweat, and Kaidoh's hand slides easily against it. When did they both start sweating so much? Kaidoh's own skin feels feverish, like he's been running for hours and hours, and though Kaidoh's sure it's an illusion, his muscles feel like they're all working just as hard as they'd be if he were, tightening and twisting and tugging and pushing.

Meanwhile, he presses his fingers against Momoshiro's neck again, this time not scratching, just padding against his skin with solid pressure, like he's trying to guide Momoshiro closer, though they can't get much closer than they already are. He reclaims his own tongue, feeling his skin prickle at the sensation of it sliding against Momoshiro's teeth and parted lips and then he surges back again for more. This time he pulls Momoshiro's bottom lip between his teeth and sucks it it into his mouth, holding it there like he's claiming it.

_Your move_, he thinks, because it's the only coherent thought in his head—that Momoshiro has to keep responding, keep reacting, keep _doing things_ to keep Kaidoh from having any other coherent thoughts, to keep him from having to think about what this is or what it means.

Momoshiro is temporarily out of order, doing nothing but freeze upon Kaidoh's lips biting and sucking on his own. And that hand at his neck, fingers scratching, it's driving him absolutely crazy, and he can't do anything but take it. Take it and shiver all over and feel good, and wish this would keep on going forever. Kaidoh continues to touch him in all the right places, or maybe there really isn't anywhere Kaidoh can touch that will make him feel bad, everything feels fantastic. It's so exciting; how come he never did this before?

Fighting has always gotten a rise out of Momoshiro, always a kick, always a thrilling rush. Right now, it's like they're fighting, but it's taken to a whole new level. A plethora of options have opened up; what used to be forbidden is now okay to do. Or at least, he thinks it is, they've kind of stepped over any boundaries they might have set, and Momoshiro is touching Kaidoh on the principle that anything goes. Anything is fine.

_Anything is okay._

Momoshiro pulls his lips back, a sensation that he wants to experience again. But it's not like he can tell Kaidoh 'hey, do that thing again, with your lips', it's not like he can say anything at all while they're like this, the only thing he can do is hope he's taking in enough oxygen to not pass out from these whirlwind of sensations. And besides, talking, acknowledging that they're doing this, is simply out of the question. Momoshiro only wants to focus on Kaidoh's hot body beneath him.

And he's challenging him, isn't he? It's like he knows that Momoshiro is sensitive at his neck, and that he's sort of getting a kick out of Kaidoh going all rough and raw on him. Maybe he noticed. Then again, it's not like he's complaining, not with the way Momoshiro presses his lips back against Kaidoh, and this is something he can't get enough of.

So this is like … a competition, huh. Kaidoh thinks he's winning, doesn't he. Just wait, Momoshiro can make him _scream._

He tries his hardest to ignore Kaidoh's hand underneath his shirt, touching him and giving him more and more shivers, or the hand on his neck which feels like it belongs there—and he wants Kaidoh to scratch him there again. But he can't be the only one to enjoy this so immensely. Kaidoh's got to have some sensitive spots on his body as well.

Time for Momoshiro to find those.

Momoshiro's hand wanders around Kaidoh's chest, rubbing and stroking him, to the side of his ribs, and pressing his thumb into each indent of his rib, down and down, until he stops at his hipbone, at the rim of his shorts. A dangerous territory, but anything goes, doesn't it? But not yet, not now. He leaves his hand right there, above his shorts, and he finally pulls away from Kaidoh's warm and wet lips. He takes in a sharp breath, and another, and stares at Kaidoh. The sight of Kaidoh looking so exhausted, red, flushed, sweaty, and panting … it's better than any fantasy he's come up with. Oh, it's a whole lot better. Now if only he could make him moan too …

It happens naturally, Momoshiro doesn't need to think hard, or even decide, when he moves his head to the right, slides his entire body up against Kaidoh, so that every body part is nicely stimulated, and he sets his lips on the side of Kaidoh's neck. Gently at first, like a very soft brush, but enough to feel Kaidoh's pulse bumping through the skin. It feels soft, and very hot, like some sort of delicate area that he never thought would be on Kaidoh's body, who is all hard angles and whatnot. But it's there, and his lips brush against it, sliding them up and down his neck, not even attempting to suck at it, since he's enjoying this for as long as he can.

Kaidoh's mouth falls open and a heavy ripple of sound rushes between his parted lips, as though Momoshiro's mouth at his neck has drawn it out of him. His breath comes out in frantic, tremulous bursts, and he squeezes his eyes shut, overwhelmed by the gentle glide of Momoshiro's lips against his skin. It's like a tease, like a taunt, like this is some kind of game. Well, Kaidoh doesn't lose. The sound turns from a moan to more of a growl as Kaidoh grows impatient.

This whole thing is starting to make Kaidoh restless. Momoshiro's hand resting at his hip feels like it's teasing him too, like Momoshiro is still holding back, like he's not fighting with full strength, like he's not giving everything he has. Kaidoh wants to make him, he wants to send the same electric shocks through Momoshiro that Momoshiro is forcing into him. It's only fair. His hips lift off the ground and at the same time he uses the arm at Momoshiro's back to pull him against him so that they're crushed even closer together and there's friction everywhere.

Kaidoh hadn't thought far enough ahead to realize that the things that might give Momoshiro magnetic, sparky feelings would probably do the same for Kaidoh, and all that movement, the arching and pushing and wriggling makes Kaidoh light-headed. He sucks a violent gasp of air in between his teeth. He wants to stay melded against Momoshiro's warm, sweaty body, but the feeling is also dangerous. It's making Kaidoh wonder where the limit is. If this isn't a fight with a winner, then how does it end?

He pushes the thought from his mind, trying to stay in the moment; if he gets distracted, Momoshiro will pull ahead again and Kaidoh can't let him. He drags his hand across the back of Momoshiro's neck again, his fingernails insistent as they dig into Momoshiro's skin, to pull himself back to the present, to stop worrying about where this is going and think only about where it is now, where Momoshiro's hands are, where his mouth is, what his body is doing against Kaidoh's.

All that wriggling of Kaidoh's body, pushing up against him, like he knows exactly how to move and throw him into a tizzy. Momoshiro's brain melts into a puddle when Kaidoh's nails are once more digging deeply into his neck; his body reacts against his own will. He shoves his groin against Kaidoh, and takes in a sharp hiss, before he bares his teeth and his canines prick into the delicate skin of Kaidoh's neck.

And Momoshiro bites down, because he doesn't know what else to do, doesn't know how else to cope with those shocks of pleasure that are both terrifying and absolutely amazing.

Momoshiro stays like that, teeth still sunken into Kaidoh's neck, and he tugs at the skin a little—nibbling almost—while the rest of his body is losing control, and he's slowly starting to rock his body back and forth. Hips sliding against each other. His already hard erection rubbing against Kaidoh's shorts, rubbing at all the junk down there, and it's just the relief he's been looking for. Except it feels like he's scratching an itch that won't go away, like there's still something more. Like it's not yet there, and he just needs to keep scratching it.

Or in this case, rubbing his crotch against Kaidoh's.

Kaidoh snarls at the sensation of Momoshiro's mouth—and _teeth_—on his neck. He feels a familiar coil of anger rising in his stomach, like Momoshiro's just thrown a punch and Kaidoh has no choice but to return it. His hips snap forward against Momoshiro's lower body, and the way Momoshiro is moving, the way he's moving, makes Kaidoh feel embarrassed. This is completely disgusting. But he can't stop himself. So long as Momoshiro isn't stopping, Kaidoh won't either, so long as they're both moving, they can just hang in this hazy, sweaty limbo where there's no need to justify or rationalize. It's something Kaidoh's always appreciated about Momoshiro, that he doesn't require an explanation, that he operates on instinct. Kaidoh's instincts now are pounding at his ears, telling him to keep going, so he does.

He buries his face against Momoshiro's shoulder, his breath so rapid and warm that it feels damp against Momoshiro's shirt. Momoshiro's skin feels just as hot as Kaidoh's cheeks when he tilts his face into the curve of Momoshiro's neck. He presses his lips against it, the same way Momoshiro had done to him, and his tongue darts out tentatively against Momoshiro's skin, causing the other man to breathe out a shaky groan. It tastes salty, sweaty, and he can feel Momoshiro shiver against him as he swipes his mouth up to Momoshiro's ear, growing more confident with each encouraging squirm of Momoshiro's body, until his teeth graze his earlobe. It makes Momoshiro's mouth move against his own neck, teeth scraping over his skin, and Kaidoh breathes out a ragged hiss against the shell of Momoshiro's ear.

That hiss goes right through Momoshiro's ear, and it's vibrating all the way down to his groin. He shudders like he's got the world's biggest fever, sweating from all his pores, and shivering like he's out naked on the Antarctic. That stupid hiss has already been burned into his memory since they had first met, when Kaidoh couldn't do anything but glare at him, and hiss at him because he hated him. Kaidoh was supposed to hate him. Momoshiro was supposed to hate him back.

So why are they here? Down in the sand, dry humping each other, Momoshiro's teeth biting the skin of Kaidoh's neck, and Kaidoh's tongue licking up his ear as if it's an ice cream cone.

And worst of all, Momoshiro finds nothing wrong with it. Maybe it's because he's actually _doing_ it that shattered all his rational, the last remaining shreds of his sanity and common sense. It's all gone, replaced by nothing but a fiery passion of instinct, and the desire to keep going. And Momoshiro does.

It's getting a bit harder to focus on what he's doing to Kaidoh, when Kaidoh is doing plenty of other things to Momoshiro himself. The way his body moves in sync with him, rubbing in the most dangerous places. Rubbing _against_ places Momoshiro never thought of rubbing with another man. The exciting part of it though, is when Momoshiro notices—barely, he's in a daze—that he's not the only one who's got something hard sticking out of his shorts. The knowledge that Kaidoh's just as into it as he is, that even he, can succumb to his crazy hormones, is enough for Momoshiro to continue this and not think about any awkward consequences. Kaidoh's reactions are off the charts, reactions he's never seen before. Suddenly hisses sound sexy, and his neck is attracting him like a magnet, and Kaidoh's thoroughly flushed face pulled in a grimace is probably the most erotic thing Momoshiro has seen in his life.

Coupled with the fact that Kaidoh is going at it just as much as he is, licking his ear, hands on his back, hips driving hard into him, Momoshiro is at a loss of what to do. Because if they keep going like this … then he'll … no … it's _going_ to happen, and it's going to happen soon.

He does the only thing he can do; sucks hard on Kaidoh's neck enough to draw blood, and viciously press his hips against Kaidoh's to get the stimulation he's craving.

He never wants this to stop.

Kaidoh pulls away from Momoshiro's ear, panting. His hand clutches at Momoshiro's back, using it for leverage to lift himself against Momoshiro's body so they collide, again and again, each time generating more heat than before. He never thought he'd like the feeling of skin under his hands so much. He never thought he'd like the feeling of Momoshiro's scorching body against his so much. He never thought he'd be lying here doing this, wanting this, wanting Momoshiro like this.

The hand at Momoshiro's neck slides up and tears off Momoshiro's bandana, because Kaidoh just wants to try and touch everything, everywhere, half-believing that maybe this is all just some weird dream that he'd better enjoy while it lasts. And he _is_ enjoying it. Much more than he should. He tugs and twists his fingers through Momoshiro's thick black hair, which really is getting stupidly long. He holds his hand there, firm and solid so that Momoshiro has to stay like that, with his face so close to Kaidoh's, with his mouth at his neck.

Kaidoh's breathing gets shallower with each passing second. He scrunches up his lips to try and keep any sounds from escaping, but he can't stop them and they just end up muffled inside his mouth, right against the side of Momoshiro's face. It's like Momoshiro is deliberately forcing them out of him, like Kaidoh can't help himself. He really can't.

Momoshiro feels like he's about to collapse from this lightheadedness, he can barely focus, and Kaidoh's fingers are up in his hair, and it's like the best thing ever—Kaidoh's the best thing ever. The way he's writhing against him, each time coming back to meet him as they simply pound into each other. This is really not going to last long, not with Kaidoh's lips next to his ear, his breath so hitched and quick, and exciting small sounds just worming its way through his lips.

Finally taking it off of Kaidoh's hipbone, Momoshiro's hand slips underneath Kaidoh's back, and it feels extremely sweaty down there, not to mention covered in sand, but it feels hot to the touch, and Momoshiro likes it. He uses this position to help Kaidoh lift up his body against him, so that their hips meet again and again, with Momoshiro making jerky sudden movements that he doesn't have much control over.

The teeth finally let go of Kaidoh's neck, and Momoshiro is sure there are bitemarks in it now, which is kind of a nice thought, but he's too full of adrenaline to think straight—simply drives himself into Kaidoh, panting with each stroke.

Momoshiro returns for some more hot tongue action as he mushes his lips against Kaidoh's again, a little bit off the mark because he's shaking too much, but it gets the job done. And since Kaidoh's gasping for air, it's easy enough to slip his tongue inside, and meet that warm piece of muscle that he can't get enough of. And he lets Kaidoh know it too, as he moans straight into his mouth because of the connection between them. He can feel the rest of his muscles tense up, his toes are curling up, and his grip on Kaidoh's back becomes stronger and more forceful. Not to mention his own tongue strives to gain dominance over Kaidoh's.

_He really isn't going to last long._

Kaidoh's heart feels like it's pounding in his throat now, like it's somehow migrated up from his chest and is threatening to escape out through his mouth. It's thumping, heavy and rapid just under his skin. Everything feels rapid, sped up. Everything is moving so fast, Kaidoh can scarcely keep up. There's no time to think through his actions.

He moves his tongue against Momoshiro's like he's trying to prove something, like he's trying to impress, like he's trying to outdo him. It seems like he's been trying to this whole time. And it's more effective than any insult, any punch, could be. Even though Momoshiro has Kaidoh pinned underneath him, against him, Kaidoh feels like he's just as in control of this as Momoshiro is, although that control has been steadily slipping for both of them. He can feel it in the way Momoshiro's breathing has gone ragged, his movements more urgent. He can feel it in his own body, too. It's both terrifying and exhilarating, moreso than any time they've ever fought.

Each time Momoshiro's tongue swipes against his, each time their bodies thrust together, Kaidoh feels like they're about to catch fire and burst into flames, like there's too much combined heat between them for them to both escape unscathed. He scrapes his fingers across Momoshiro's shoulder blades and drags his hand down Momoshiro's scalp and to the small, delicate patch of skin at the back of his neck. Momoshiro's skin is burning up under Kaidoh's touch, or maybe instead it's Kaidoh's hands that are burning up from touching too much of Momoshiro's bare skin. Maybe it's both. The line between action and reaction is blurring. It's getting dangerous.

It's accelerating like they're on a train riding through a huge wind tunnel, everything keeps speeding up. Friction is getting hotter and more rough, and urgent, oh so urgent. Momoshiro doesn't even know what he's doing anymore, except that what's going on currently is mind blowing, and he simply keeps on going, to find that release that's begging to come out.

Shorts are now stained, sticky from sweat and the pre-cum that Momoshiro is eagerly rubbing against Kaidoh's shorts. While everything else feels flaring hot, the action going on down there, two hard bumps creating friction against each other, is probably the hottest thing on earth. Like a power plant that is waiting to explode, and Momoshiro can't even hand out any warnings that it will.

Just a … little bit more. Momoshiro is taking in shallow breaths, until he holds it in, hands tightening around Kaidoh's back, the other pulling at his hair, and teeth sinking down on Kaidoh's tongue. His hips jerk and thrust, off-key, not coordinated at all, like he's a wild animal.

Kaidoh retracts his tongue into his mouth, and presses his lips hard against Momoshiro's, wanting to leave them bruised. This is how it started. Just his mouth and Momoshiro's mouth and somewhere along the way it spiraled out of control. There's no stopping it now. There's no going back. It can't be undone.

Momoshiro presses just as hard as Kaidoh is; his breath still stuck in his throat, and everything is tightening around him.

_Just a bit more …_

They part for long enough for Kaidoh to hiss warm, shaky air against Momoshiro's mouth and then suck even more in—he's feeling increasingly like there's simply not enough air out here on this beach—and then Kaidoh bites at Momoshiro's bottom lip, tugging at it. It feels hot and raw from all the mouth on mouth contact, and Kaidoh's teeth bear down, dragging the lip into his mouth.

Momoshiro recoils, and his entire body jerks at the sensation. More—more like this, keep doing that. Kaidoh is taking up his entire mind, his entire body, it's tingling, it's tightening, all his muscles are contracting from all this messing around. He squeezes his eyes shut, leaning in closer and twisting his head so that his lips burn against Kaidoh's teeth.

It doesn't stay there for long because this thing that Momoshiro is doing, the erratic pulse of his body against Kaidoh's at just the right angle, is starting to drive Kaidoh nuts. Another snap of Momoshiro's hips and Kaidoh's mouth falls open and a strange, throaty growl tears out of it. Kaidoh hardly recognizes that it's his own voice. He's so trapped in the moment that he's unable to restrain himself.

Kaidoh's rumbling growl rushes through Momoshiro's body, like a heavy beat in the pit of his stomach, except it's spreading everywhere, it's making him freeze up, his eyes rolling back, and everything stays all mixed up together for a split second, until he can feel it.

Muscles finally relax.

Fingernails scratch until it draws blood.

The breath he's holding in finally gets released.

"Ah … hah …" Momoshiro's body goes limp. The rush pumps through him, once, twice, and with the third time he's empty. He's drained, he's completely numb, his face above Kaidoh's who is still gasping for breath. The stickiness in his shorts goes from a nice relaxing warmth, to an ice chilling cold. Momoshiro freezes up, halting all of his movements.

"Shit," Momoshiro stammers out in a broken voice.

It takes Kaidoh a second to realize what has just happened because it's hard for him to process anything in the hazy state he's in. But he feels Momoshiro stop moving, hears Momoshiro's voice, feels something wet and sticky against him, and Kaidoh tenses up too, despite every muscle in his body screaming in protest. He stares up at Momoshiro, eyes like a challenge, but can't seem to form words. It's hard enough trying to make his body remember to breathe and keep his pulse from exploding out of his chest.

This … This … _Oh_. Suddenly all the thinking Kaidoh had been putting off doing comes rushing back, pounding at his ears. And suddenly he doesn't want to look Momoshiro in the eye anymore, so he drops his gaze. No good, because now he's staring at Momoshiro's very red and swollen mouth. Kaidoh can't really look at anything in his immediate frame of vision and not feel hot and bothered and still … well … Kaidoh doesn't want to stop. And, unlike moments ago, it's now making him feel kind of disgusted.

Reality comes crashing down on Momoshiro as his hormones skitter away in fright. This can't be happening … No. It _did_ happen, and his sticky crotch is still pressed up against Kaidoh, who is staring at him, but also avoiding him at the same time, and Momoshiro feels a wave of guilt wash over him. Shame. Disgust. What has he done?

And despite just moments ago he was so into it he simply lost himself, how Kaidoh seems to still be hot and sweaty and squirmy, Momoshiro feels disgusted thinking Kaidoh looks hot like this. He's disgusted with himself.

Without even looking Kaidoh in the eye anymore—he can't, he suddenly feels like he's going to throw up—Momoshiro scrambles off of Kaidoh's body. Finally they separate after screwing around together for so long. All his muscles sting and hurt, his body still feels hot in places Kaidoh's touched—and he's touched him _everywhere_, hair completely disheveled, lips raw and throbbing with pain. Pain he seemed to be totally digging a few seconds ago.

But not now.

Momoshiro covers his extremely red face with his hand, turns away from Kaidoh still lying in the sand, and then he runs in the opposite direction of their hut, despite the fact his legs feel like stone and jello at the same time. He needs to get away from Kaidoh. He can never look him in the eye again, he's that mortified.

Kaidoh sees Momoshiro run off, hears his feet beat into the sand and his clothes shiver with movement, but he doesn't immediately register that it's happened. It doesn't sink in. None of this is sinking in. It feels like a dream, but the sharp, sore spot on Kaidoh's neck is real, and so are the stinging marks on his back, and the annoying, stupid, disgusting hardness in his shorts is definitely very real.

And Momoshiro …

This was all his fault, he started it, but now he's the one who's disappeared, leaving Kaidoh lying in the sand, frozen in place, unable to move. His skin, which had previously been hot and sweaty under Momoshiro's molten body now only feels clammy, like he has a bad fever. If he did it might explain the sudden nausea swirling in his stomach.

He wants it all to go away. The thoughts, the feelings, the sensations still lingering on his skin like ghosts. All of it. If only he could shut himself off, because it's all burned into his memory now, playing through his head again and again on continuous loop. Why? Why won't it stop?

Kaidoh lies there in the sand like an overturned statue for a very long time. He hasn't stopped thinking, hasn't stopped feeling, but at least the sensations have dissipated. He rises to his feet with a heavy sigh. There's an indentation in the sand below him where their bodies were and Kaidoh kicks at it to try and erase it. Not that he's going to forget.

Maybe running will help.

No. Weren't they supposed to go running together? Kaidoh's cheeks flush with color as he recalls it. Well, he'll just have to run until he forgets about that. And everything else. Even if it takes him all night.


	24. Mushy Feelings

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **some awkwardness between the two.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Set three days after the last log  
- Momo and Kaidoh have been avoiding each other like the plague, and haven't spoken since  
- People are saying there's a storm coming soon  
- Momo rants on his journal (since he can't talk to Kaidoh), and Hazue thinks he's hallucinating because he ate funny mushrooms

**Date:** August 29, 2012

* * *

No, it wasn't the mushrooms.

Momoshiro has been getting pestered by Kaidoh's little brother Hazue for the past couple of days. He thinks he ate some weird mushrooms and that now he's hallucinating.

And he's not, okay?

Momoshiro wishes he was. Then he could pretend the entire thing was a dream, and move on with his life, and not feel like he has to duck behind a trashcan whenever he thinks he spots Kaidoh running in the distance. Not that there are any trashcans out on the beach … so he ends up ducking behind a fern instead. Not to mention the girly squeals he lets out when he thinks it's Kaidoh. But it wasn't a dream, and it wasn't a hallucination, it had been entirely real.

Okay, so he's avoiding the snake. But can you blame him? What they did … what they've done … Momoshiro wishes he'd never done it, it's just so humiliating, and he feels so ashamed and disgusting. Embarrassment doesn't even cover the range of emotions he feels when Kaidoh crosses his mind. He really wishes he hadn't done it, that he would have exercised some control; anything would have been better than doing what he did. Just the memory of it is still fresh in his mind, and he feels a turmoil of emotions, some bad, and some good. It's really mixed, and it's scaring him.

Because god—it felt so good he wants to do it again.

And that makes him feel the most disgusting; that somehow he liked it. That he wants to do it again. That it keeps plaguing his mind every day, every hour, pretty much every minute. Momoshiro simply doesn't know what to do anymore, he's never done anything like this! And of all people, it had to be Kaidoh. That stupid snake. With such a hot expression on his face, with short little gasps, and those fine muscles on his arms, back and stomach …

…No! Not now! Come on!

Stop thinking about it, Momoshiro. He needs to distract himself, this is crazy.

If only Hazue didn't look so much like his damn brother, then he wouldn't have minded it so much that he keeps fussing over his mental health (it's not the mushrooms!). But those two look so much alike, it makes Momoshiro think again, it makes him remember, it makes him _feel_, and since it's innocent little Hazue, Momoshiro feels like he's going to throw up and he chases him away. As long as he doesn't have to deal with Kaidoh—any Kaidoh—then he can somehow manage to survive this … this … _thing_.

Avoiding the hut at most times has been one of Momoshiro's priorities. The first night, he didn't even return home at all, he was so deathly afraid of facing Kaidoh, that he slept outside on the hammock. The hammock that Kaidoh had made for him. And he felt all sorts of disgustingness as he … sort of lost control all on his own again, and he wishes he could punch himself in the face with a brick. The day after that, he was covered in bug bites, and decided sleeping out in the open wasn't such a good idea, so he'd snuck inside the hut at night—Kaidoh wasn't there, he's probably avoiding him as well—he'd curled himself up underneath his blanket and huddled in the furthest corner of the room. When he heard Kaidoh's footsteps that night, he thought he was going to have a heart attack. He pretended to be asleep, and he made sure every inch of him was covered by the blanket. His heart was really beating out of control, and just by being in the same space as Kaidoh again, made him think once more, and he sort of got half hard just because of the memory. It was so goddamn awkward.

Momoshiro is repulsed by himself. If only he hadn't done it. If only he hadn't stepped over that line. If only Kaidoh didn't make him want to do it. It's all _his_ fault.

So now, three days later, Momoshiro hasn't said a word to Kaidoh—hasn't even faced him to be honest—and is still avoiding him whenever he can. Except for when he _has_ to return to the hut for daily necessities like … food. Luckily, Kaidoh is running most of the time, so he's never really inside of the hut, that is one one relief, but Momoshiro is cautious anyway. He's already had to chase Hazue away once today (he's not tripping!), and that's enough Kaidoh for him for today. Stupid Kaidoh. Next time he sees a snake in the jungle, he's going to spear it and throw it into the ocean. Or lava. Do they have a volcano on this island? He'd like to throw himself into one if there is.

Momoshiro sneaks across the beach in a stealth like manner, whipping his head around and feeling his heart beat against his chest like a horde of animals. He doesn't see Kaidoh. Good. Hopefully he's not in the hut, because that would be awful. Momoshiro stays outside the hut, right at the door, listening for any sounds, for about five minutes, before he can't hear anything but the sound of the ocean waves, and deems it safe. He goes inside. He rustles around with the kitchenware he's stored, and dumps his hand inside of the bucket full of water to grab a live fish, it takes a few tries since the thing is so _slippery_ but he manages to snatch one. Time to get the hell out of here and cook the thing.

Fish in hand, Momoshiro turns around to dash out of the hut.

Maybe it's because of the fact that Kaidoh has spent the past three days running, but he still feels like he hasn't had time to cool off. He still feels tense, on edge, and confused above all else. What happens now? Does he just avoid Momoshiro forever? He certainly doesn't feel like he can face him anytime soon. The thought alone makes his cheeks burn up with embarrassment, like he's seen something he shouldn't have—more like _done_ something. He can't continue on as himself now that he's seen Momoshiro looking so flushed and eager and wanting. He can't seem to get it out of his head.

Not for a lack of trying.

It's not like Kaidoh _wants_ to picture Momoshiro like that. It's not like Kaidoh wants to picture Momoshiro at all! But that last time he saw Momoshiro's face was that day, and he hasn't had anything to replace that image with since, so it's stuck in the front of his mind, like an insistent, blinking neon beacon. When he closes his eyes, Momoshiro's there staring at him; he doesn't stop. Even the Momoshiro in Kaidoh's head is fucking obnoxious. Among other things ... lately it's mostly those other things, things that make Kaidoh feel totally guilty and disgusting.

The worst part of it all is that Kaidoh can't make himself wish it had never happened. Turn out differently, sure—the ending was certainly not ideal for him; he'd at least have liked to get a punch in before Momoshiro ran away like his life depended on it—but some annoying, hormonally-charged part of him doesn't regret it. It felt too good to regret. Mostly he just wonders … if it will happen again. Now that it's happened once, Kaidoh isn't sure how to be satisfied with anything less. A punch in the arm or stomach or even face just can't satisfy him the way Momoshiro's mouth can. Which is stupid. And gross. And Kaidoh feels like a pervert for even thinking it.

He's kept himself busy with running, so busy that he hasn't had time to decompress. He still feels tight coils of tension in his stomach, he wonders if they're ever going to go away. Is he just stuck with them? Is he just stuck with all these new urges? He thought he'd felt everything there was to feel for Momoshiro. It had overwhelmed him for years, ever since middle school, but now there's a whole new, unfamiliar mix of feelings. Feelings that pound at his brain like demanding questions.

_Is it going to ever happen again?_

It's been three days and three days already feels far too long to go without an answer. Kaidoh's body feels like it's a buzzing tangle of ragged electrical wires, and it's all he can do to not let them catch on fire and completely fry him.

They haven't spoken. They haven't even been in the same space apart from sleeping, not that Kaidoh's been able to get much rest. Maybe Momoshiro wants to ignore it like it never happened. Well, fine then, asshole. Kaidoh can ignore it too. He doesn't care. It doesn't bother him. Momoshiro is nauseating and what happened was nauseating and Kaidoh will be perfectly fine never thinking about it ever, ever again.

If only Kaidoh's lies sounded more convincing.

The truth is, Kaidoh can't turn his brain off. It's like Momoshiro infected it with a virus and now it's only capable of thinking disgusting, perverted things when it comes to Momoshiro. It's all Momoshiro's fault. Even running doesn't help. Nothing helps. Kaidoh thinks about smashing his head with a rock; maybe then he could erase these all-too-tangible memories. He'd probably just end up with a bad headache though.

He's been telling himself to pretend it never happened, to pretend that it was nothing. But it did happen, and it wasn't nothing, and Kaidoh even has some pretty mortifying marks on his skin to prove it. Not to mention a probably permanent stain of red blush on his face. Which means he has to avoid more than just Momoshiro. If anyone else saw, if anyone else knew … The thought alone is horrifying.

Hazue's been on Kaidoh's case about not looking after Momoshiro—as though it's somehow Kaidoh's job to take care of that dumbass!—because apparently he's been hallucinating; Kaidoh wishes he were so lucky. He wishes this was just one long, bad hallucination. But it's all too real. It was three days ago and it feels like it may as well have been ago five minutes ago for how immediate it all still feels.

The worst part is that Kaidoh thinks that a lot of his frustration would be alleviated if he could just fight with Momoshiro again. Fighting has always been a good outlet, but it suddenly feels like it means far more than it used to. What if they can't fight anymore? What if they can't do _anything_ together anymore? Is this the way things are going to be? Has everything changed for the worse? Stupid Momoshiro. If only he hadn't... if only Kaidoh hadn't... if only they hadn't. But they did and the most annoying part is that, while it was happening, it felt _right_. It felt like how things should be, could be. How Kaidoh wanted them to be. He doesn't know how to go back to before. He doesn't know how to forget.

And he doesn't know how to face Momoshiro, how to look him in the eye again without his whole body flaring up with heat.

But whether or not Kaidoh actually wants to face Momoshiro is sort of irrelevant, because fate has other plans, and right at this moment, their paths are forced to intersect. They can't avoid each other forever. They're on an island after all. It's inevitable.

That doesn't stop Kaidoh from looking like he's seen a ghost the second Momoshiro's face emerges from the hut. He freezes in his tracks on the first step of the small stairs. _Shit_, he thinks. _Fuck_.

_Turn around. Turn around and run._

But he's stuck. The soles of his feet feel like they're coated in glue, sticky and heavy on the wooden step. He can't move, can't even turn his head, so he's trapped there, staring at Momoshiro like he's scared of him. Like he's fucking terrified. He kind of is.

The fish in Momoshiro's hand wriggles around as he stands frozen. Until it squirts out of his hand and collides with Kaidoh's chest, flopping around for air.

Immediately Kaidoh starts sputtering and flailing his arms around in horror as the slimy, scaly fish leaps against him in a panic and slides down the front of his tank top. It lands with a plop at his feet, next to Kaidoh's towel which has slipped from around his neck in his panic. He stumbles back off the step and down onto the sand, feeling shaky all over. His shirt is damp now. He feels like there are still fish fins and a tail flapping against his chest. It's totally disgusting. At least now he has a reason to be looking so freaked out.

Even though the past three days he's been walking on eggshells, living as though he's being charged with hormones that keep driving him on, and he's been avoiding the hell out of Kaidoh, Momoshiro still can't forget his playful personality, and he half snorts and half chuckles. That display of panic was quite funny, and for a few good seconds, Momoshiro isn't thinking about what Kaidoh's body feels like against him.

They were only a few good seconds though.

Then Momoshiro clamps up again, he covers his mouth with his hand, pretending like he never said anything—much less laughed at Kaidoh—and now his cheeks are starting to blush like crazy. He hasn't directly faced Kaidoh ever since … back then, and now that it's right in front of him again, looking horrified and startled, those memories simply keep flooding his brain.

And _urges_ sweep through him like never before. Momoshiro wants to do it again. He's been wanting to do whatever the hell they were doing three days ago, but he's so scared, so mortified— this is Kaidoh, how can he feel the way he feels? Why does he want to do these things with Kaidoh?

Maybe someone injected him with a gay drug or something.

That's better than accepting the fact that he, entirely on his own accord, wants to kiss Kaidoh again. Wants to see that scary face flushed with red and gasping for air, eyes squeezed closed. He just wants to feel Kaidoh against him, in ways that fights have never made him feel before. If only this was as easy to understand as a fight … if only Momoshiro could punch Kaidoh right now. But he can't. Everything has changed. He probably might never fight with Kaidoh again—he's scared of what will happen, and if he'll lose control again. He doesn't want that to happen, and on the other hand, he's begging for it.

So what does Momoshiro say to Kaidoh? They both are painfully aware of what transpired between them, and both of them have been avoiding each other, not even a word was exchanged between them. But as always, the easiest thing to say to Kaidoh, as it has been since the day they met, is an insult waiting to leap off of his tongue.

"Idiot," says Momoshiro with a shaky breath. "It's just a fish." _It's just Kaidoh._ He turns his face away and hopes Kaidoh won't look at him either, to see how entirely red he is.

Kaidoh hisses and stares down at the sand. "You're the one who threw it at me, asshole," he stammers in annoyance. Why won't his hands stop shaking? Blame Momoshiro. Blame the stupid fish. Blame the fact that Kaidoh just ran for three and a half hours without stopping. He stuffs his fists into his pockets. Now if only he could stuff his burning face away somewhere too.

"I didn't throw anything at you!" Momoshiro protests. Good, this is good, words are at least coming out of his mouth. The best way to deal with uncomfortable situations is either 1) run away or 2) act like an arrogant douchebag.

"I think it just likes you," says Momoshiro.

Kaidoh's face crinkles up in disgust and on instinct he raises his head to glare at Momoshiro, like he's done countless times in the past when they've argued. He immediately regrets it now though. He can't look at Momoshiro right now. Can't look at him ever, probably. It's a terrible idea. He needs to stop. He needs to go back to staring at the grains of sand at his feet because they're safe and inanimate and don't make him feel like he's being zapped repeatedly with electricity.

But it's like Momoshiro's face is a magnet and so Kaidoh's stuck there glaring up at him, his eyes narrowed, mouth contorted into a scowl, cheeks flaring up with heat.

"Shut up," he says, but he doesn't really mean it. If they stop talking, if things fall silent, the pretense of normalcy will fizzle away and then Kaidoh's pretty sure he'll have to melt into the sand from embarrassment.

Momoshiro is having pretty much the same thoughts, mixed with some crude fantasies he hopes will never see the light of day again. As long as they keep on bickering like this, like they've always done, then maybe … maybe things don't have to stay changed forever. Maybe he's able to talk to Kaidoh again, insult him … fighting seems like something in the distance though, something way out of his reach. It started with fighting. It started with him being on top of Kaidoh, and that's all it took.

Momoshiro turns bright red again—can't get much redder than he already is! And Kaidoh is _glaring_ at him. God, this is embarrassing. Why can't he dig himself a hole in the sand, and hide in there forever? Become a hermit? Stop looking at him!

"You shut up," retorts Momoshiro in the lamest way possible. "You … owe me a fish."

Without looking at it—gross!—Kaidoh points at the fish which flipped off the hut's steps and is now lying limp, and probably lifeless, on the ground half-covered in sand. "You can still eat that one," he says dismissively, and finally he's able to drag his gaze away from Momoshiro again; he never thought there would be a time when glaring at Momoshiro _didn't_ feel like a good option.

"I don't owe you anything. It's your fault you couldn't hold onto it."

Momoshiro thinks Kaidoh owes him his sanity.

But instead he says, "Asshole, you're the one that ran into me."

"Yeah, dumbass, because it's my hut and I live here." With Momoshiro. Together. Something Kaidoh's been reminded of more times than he can count these past three days. He hasn't even been able to look at Momoshiro's side of the room and not feel something twist in his stomach.

Now that Momoshiro's right in front of him, Kaidoh's stomach is kind of going nuts. His whole body is going nuts. Is he just going to have to get used to it doing that? Is there no off switch?

Momoshiro stays quiet for a little while. "Then I guess I don't live here, too," he says in a cool voice. That embarrassment is slowly turning into resentment, and Momoshiro feels weighted down by a bunch of stone blocks, it feels heavy on his chest. Is he going to have to move out of here as well? Like he did with Echizen?

It had definitely gotten a lot more awkward than with Echizen though …

Maybe he can hang out with Hazue instead, or trade places with him. And hey, didn't that Kirihara bastard totally abandon that lovely shack he made for him? Maybe Momoshiro can live there now instead. Because this right now can't continue, there's no way he can deal living with Kaidoh every day knowing he did that with him. And _he_ did that … that ... disgusting thing. God, it just won't stop coming up. It's something he really can't ignore. Not when Kaidoh is right there, in front of him, like an obnoxious reminder of what they did together. His most embarrassing memory.

Most hottest one too, but that's something Momoshiro doesn't really care about, not when it's making him feel like the most perverted person on earth.

"Fine!" Kaidoh shoots back, and his fists clench in his pockets. Suddenly he feels like what happened between them three days ago really _was_ a fight—a bad one—and now it's all coming to a head. He feels angry, but also disappointed, and also kind of relieved. He isn't sure which is the right way to feel.

Kaidoh's shoulders slump a little and he huffs. "If that's what you want," he adds in a lower, quieter voice. There's a pang in his chest like he's hurt by the notion, but whatever … if Momoshiro doesn't want to live there, then fine, he can do whatever the hell he wants.

Momoshiro is ready to walk away—to walk away from this mess he created, to not be reminded every second of those butterflies swarming around in his stomach causing chaos. He doesn't want to feel them, he doesn't want to feel like this at all. This nervous, dreaded, depressing feeling.

Yeah, he could move out. How is he even able to stay with Kaidoh now? Doesn't Kaidoh hate him for what he did?

After avoiding looking directly at Kaidoh all this time, Momoshiro finally looks down at the man. He regrets it immediately, because the towel that was covering Kaidoh's neck before, has slipped off—probably somewhere in between the fish colliding with his shirt and Momoshiro snorting at him—revealing a row of purple teeth marks dotted on his neck. The marks _he_ caused in the heat of the moment. That moment where he lost all control.

All this nausea settles down in his stomach, and Momoshiro feels dizzy, as if he's about to faint, so instead he crouches down, hanging his one arm between his legs, and the other covers as much of his face as possible. He takes deep breaths to steady himself. Don't look at him right now, just don't look, this is humiliating.

"You …" Momoshiro starts in a small voice, "... does that hurt?" he asks. Now he uses both hands to cover his neck as he hangs his head between his legs, a fiery red. He feels like throwing up.

"Oh," Kaidoh croaks out. His hand snaps from his pocket to cover his neck. The anger he'd felt a second ago instantly shifts back to embarrassment; it's becoming familiar territory for Kaidoh these days.

"It's …" he sighs, like it's the last thing he wants to talk about—well, it is. "No, it's fine," he says finally, in a flat tone like he might as well be talking about the weather. It's almost convincing, until his voice cracks. "I've had worse."

Now Momoshiro's eyes widen. _He's had worse?_ As in, he's done this before? With someone else? As if he wasn't feeling a tornado of emotions already, but suddenly this annoyed, irritated kind of jealousy creeps into him as well. Kaidoh's … done ... stuff like this before? Someone else had driven his body against him, and bit the side of his neck? Disgusting. Terribly disgusting. How dare he. Only _he_ can …

He stops his own thoughts.

Fuck, why is he feeling like this? Thinking like this? Momoshiro can hardly recognize himself anymore.

And he still can't stop himself from saying, "Oh … so you've done … that before." His voice sounds bitter and angry. Momoshiro wants to punch himself.

All the color drains from Kaidoh's face and he stares at Momoshiro in horror. "That's … that's not what I meant! I meant that I've had worse … uh …" He rubs his palm against his neck. What is this exactly? "... bruises." He hangs his head. "Not from …" He trails off. Kaidoh can't finish that sentence. There's no way in hell. His cheeks already feel painfully hot again. He wants to retract his earlier statement, because it's not even true—_this_ is the worst. Momoshiro is the worst. What the hell is wrong with him, saying things like that?!

"Oh," says Momoshiro a bit happier and relieved.

Good, so Kaidoh wasn't off doing dirty perverted things with someone else then. Good.

No—not good. Why is this good? Momoshiro doesn't own Kaidoh, and it's ridiculous that he even feels sort of possessive of him all of the sudden. Maybe Momoshiro is just secretly a vampire, and that's why he did all that weird stuff with Kaidoh, and bit his neck. As if … to mark him as his own. Or something.

That's disgusting.

"Sorry," Momoshiro says in a pipsqueak voice. Sorry for everything. For starting it. For doing all those things. For causing that bruise. For being awkward. For changing things permanently.

Just please don't hate him too.

"Don't—" … What? Apologize? Be sorry? But that would be like admitting Kaidoh didn't hate it. And he did, right? He's mortified by it. Embarrassed. Completely humiliated.

But no, he didn't hate it. Even right now, standing here in front of Momoshiro, having what feels like the most awkward, stilted conversation in the universe—it's making Kaidoh want to hide out in a cave somewhere until his body can stop acting like it's an oven—even now, Kaidoh … doesn't hate it. Because they're talking at least. Momoshiro isn't running off this time. That's something.

And it's Momoshiro, after all. Someone who's impossible, despite his best efforts, for Kaidoh to ever really, truly hate.

He hisses a slow, resigned breath. "I said it was fine."

Momoshiro's head snaps up, and this time he looks directly at Kaidoh—face being red be damned. It's fine? It's okay? "You …" he says. He can't finish it. The possibility that Kaidoh wants to do it again might just kill him on the spot. That he's fine with it … that he … didn't hate it …

And he didn't, did he? No … Kaidoh was into it just as much as he is. And no matter how much Momoshiro denies it, he knows the both of them were into it, they were doing it. It's like they were drunk and didn't know what they were doing, but did it anyway. And even if Momoshiro feels like this is the most embarrassing on earth—several times worse than when his sister caught him masturbating—he wants to do it again, because it also felt like the greatest thing in the world. They're two conflicting feelings, and Momoshiro looks at Kaidoh, gauging whether or not he's thinking the same. Does he want to do it too? Did he enjoy it? Did it feel as right to him as it did for Momoshiro? If he said it was fine then … then …

"Yeah … okay," says Momoshiro. He scratches the back of his neck, which reminds him of the sensations Kaidoh gave him when he was the one doing the scratching, and he's starting to feel lightheaded again.

He wonders; what is going to happen now? Momoshiro can't just _ask_ Kaidoh. He'd rather die. In a volcano. And neither can he be like 'hey, 'sup, wanna kiss?' and then do it. That's weird, and disgusting, and sort of hot, but still just really weird, and Kaidoh would punch him. And then maybe they end up kissing anyway, because now it seems like punching will lead to fighting, which will lead to that day three days ago. Momoshiro is afraid of even touching Kaidoh, he thinks he'll lose control immediately and just … just … do stuff with him again. It's scary. This is so new. He doesn't know what to do with these feelings. They're driving him nuts, but he wants to do it again, and knowing that he does makes him feel disgusted with himself.

Not to mention that right now their conversations are completely awkward and totally stunted. Momoshiro's never had awkward conversations with Kaidoh like this.

Oh wait, no, he did. When he found out Kaidoh liked him in middle school. Oh. Right.

Momoshiro looks up at Kaidoh again, meeting his eyes, and he feels his cheeks burn brighter with his stupid fucking blush. Kaidoh likes him … he's confirmed that much. And knowing this makes all these stupid feelings intensify, and he's sort of happy. Glad knowing that Kaidoh likes him. It's a stupid feeling. There's no reason to be feeling like that. At least for their … 'thing' … he can blame his hormones. But he's got nothing to blame for those butterflies that are jumping off the walls inside of him, and he's grinning a little bit—all because he knows Kaidoh likes him.

So maybe that's why he says it's fine? So Kaidoh really would like … to do this again? Or at least, he doesn't hate Momoshiro for doing it (and he sort of left Kaidoh high and dry). Or maybe he enjoyed it as much as Momoshiro did.

Momoshiro wants to know, he wants to ask—but how in the world do you ask something like that? He used to talk with his fists, but he's sure if he does that, he'll burst into hormones again.

That might not be such a bad idea.

Say something, Momoshiro. Say something to fill in this silence. Say something before Kaidoh leaves.

"You still owe me a fish."

Kaidoh kicks his foot into the sand in front of him, drops Momoshiro's gaze, then looks back up at him a second later, like he's changed his mind. Like he didn't feel like looking away after all. Like looking at Momoshiro doesn't feel quite as horrible as it did a few moments ago. Like it might not feel horrible at all … eventually.

Momoshiro has this strange expression, different from before, better than before. Like he might be a little bit happy, or at the very least, not completely miserable. Kaidoh doesn't know what to make of it. He wants to ask Momoshiro if this means he still wants to stay here, in Kaidoh's hut, in their hut, but he's not sure if things really are as fine or okay as they're both saying they are. Kaidoh wants them to be, but he feels like first he'll have to get rid of all the weird feelings he's having, feelings he wants to act on. He can't keep them and have things be okay … right? That's not how it works.

Unless there's more than one way for them to be okay together. Part of Kaidoh wants to find out if there is, if there's some other way this can go, some other path they can take, some other option that doesn't involve them both forgetting the whole thing ever happened. Because especially now, being here with Momoshiro again, after three days of avoiding him like the plague, Kaidoh feels like that's the last thing he can do. The last thing he wants to do. But … what does Momoshiro want?

He's used to being able to understand Momoshiro, to predict an outcome. Where he'll hit, and how hard. What stupid insult he'll throw at him next. But Kaidoh doesn't have an instruction manual for this. He doesn't know what Momoshiro's going to do, he doesn't even really know what he's going to do himself. But he does know what he _wants_ to do, and it's making him go red in the face and on his ears too, and it's making him feel embarrassed and nervous and annoyed, but Momoshiro's face looks almost the same and somehow that's comforting. They're in a mess, but they're in it together.

He glances at the fish lying in the sand, now very dead, its creepy eyes still staring at the sky like slimy silver coins. Kaidoh's mouth crinkles, revolted, and he looks back up at Momoshiro.

"Fine, whatever," he replies. If it'll help make things less weird between them, then he'll do it. He'll get him his stupid fish. And maybe fishing will keep Kaidoh from thinking about … other things. After all, fish have got to be the world's biggest turn-off. "As long as I don't have to look at it when it's dead."

Momoshiro gets up from his crouched up position, feeling a little bit more confident to stand up straight, and to trust himself not to wobble on his feet. "So you'd rather have a live one …? To eat?"

"No, stupid. I'm saying you can be the one to kill it yourself. You're the one who wants to eat it, after all."

"Well … I don't mind … sharing it ... or whatever." Momoshiro looks at his feet. Running away from Kaidoh seemed like the best course of action these past few days, but right now, he knows he can't keep doing it. He's already ignoring his best friend, he doesn't want this to happen with Kaidoh as well. He doesn't want to move out.

Kaidoh looks at his own feet too, but he feels something lift off his shoulders; he feels relieved. So Momoshiro doesn't hate him enough to want to avoid him forever. He doesn't mind being with Kaidoh, doing normal stuff together. So as long as they just … never touch each other … maybe they'll be okay living under the same roof, eating the same food, sleeping across from each other at night. Maybe. Yeah. Sure.

He shrugs. "If you want," he says, but tries to sound like he doesn't care all that much. Like he'd be fine either way. The last thing he wants is for Momoshiro to think he's … eager or something. Because that would just seem like he wants … and yeah, there's a jumpy feeling in Kaidoh's stomach that's eager for _that_, too, but he's trying his best to repress that feeling.

Momoshiro sucks in a breath, preparing himself. He walks down the steps until he's in the sand just like Kaidoh, but he doesn't look at him, and instead briskly walks past him, then stops right next to him.

"Don't take forever, Mamushi," says Momoshiro. He tries his hardest to sound casual, to sound normal, to sound like he always does, but he can't help feeling nervous and weird still. He doesn't want to outright say it to Kaidoh, since that's embarrassing, and since when are they the type to share _feelings_ with each other? They don't.

They usually _show_ it … which has become a dangerous zone to them.

Despite all that, Momoshiro forces himself to lift up his hand and pat the top of Kaidoh's bandana. "And don't come back empty handed." His fingertips are already tingling with energy, the same kind of energy from three days ago—he's right, touching each other right now really is dangerous—so he quickly withdraws them. Then he starts to walk away, which turns into a sprint as he feels his face heat up with blood again, and he's embarrassed for even doing something stupid like that to Kaidoh.

Momoshiro makes it a point to run in a huge roundabout circle around the area in which he and Kaidoh were … well. Yeah. He feels like it's turned into some kind of holy land, and running over it (or even touching) is forbidden. Blasphemy.

It doesn't matter he's running away from the hut, he just needs to keep a little bit of distance between Kaidoh and him for the next few hours.

For all Momoshiro likes to complain about Kaidoh's running, he's sure doing a hell of a lot of it himself lately. Kaidoh snorts. It's the first non-mortifying thought he's had about Momoshiro in days. Well, at least it's a step in the right direction.


	25. Dirty Secret

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **there's a storm coming up, and it's coming soon. Momo and Kaidoh get over their awkwardness in this log. It's a pretty long log!

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** MA

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- People are still warning that there's a storm  
- Momo offers Kaidoh to help him protect their vegetable garden in case it hits  
- During this conversation (on the journals), Kaidoh says he'll make a punching bag, and Momo makes one for him out of a potato sack filled with sand. He draws a cat on one side, and his own face on the other  
- They both prepare to go protect their garden

**Date:** August 31, 2012

* * *

Kaidoh has been gathering rocks for the past half hour. In Kaidoh's case, these rocks are more like mini-boulders, because he can't really do anything halfway. And because lifting heavy things is a good way to release tension, and Kaidoh has plenty of that lately. Things have gotten a little better, at least there's an open line of communication between him and Momoshiro now. It's just … a very strained and awkward line of communication. They talk when they have to. They insult each other, but it's always a little weak, like they're both afraid to really instigate anything too serious, because they both are painfully aware of what could—and probably would—happen if they were to actually fight again.

So there's a weird appearance of normalcy, like everything's okay between them, but there's still a dangerous undercurrent of imbalance. Kaidoh feels like every time he says anything to Momoshiro, every time they're in the hut together—it suddenly feels like such a small and cramped space—there's a chance that something might happen again, and the thought is both mortifying and also kind of thrilling. But mostly really, really weird.

And now Momoshiro has offered to help Kaidoh cover their garden in case the strange, windy weather turns into something worse. At least they'll be doing something. Maybe they'll be too preoccupied with work to remember to feel embarrassed with each other. Kaidoh isn't sure who he's kidding with that kind of wishful thinking. Even when Momoshiro is asleep in his bed, facing away from Kaidoh with his blanket practically covering his whole head, Kaidoh feels embarrassed to be there with him. He hasn't stopped thinking about it. He can't turn his mind off.

But he doesn't want to stop talking to Momoshiro, doesn't want to stop being around him, and it feels like Momoshiro doesn't want that either, so they're taking tentative steps forward. It feels like they're feeling each other out for the first time, like they're strangers. This all feels so new. He doesn't know how to act around Momoshiro now. He can't pick a fight with him, but it's like an instinct rushing in his bloodstream that can't be ignored, can't be suppressed. It's in his nature. So he keeps having these weird, aborted bursts of anger and annoyance when he's with Momoshiro, when they're doing anything. His emotions flare up over something stupid and then he remembers, and squashes them down again. Because if he doesn't, if he doesn't stop them … Something's going to happen again.

So he's kept himself busy with running, with lifting dumbbells, with catching fish for Momoshiro and doing laundry … and now carrying rocks out from the jungle's edge. He's able to manage two at a time, one under each arm. They're satisfyingly heavy. It's kind of a decent workout all on its own. Kaidoh thinks about adding it to Hazue's training menu when his ankle heals. He's probably overdoing it. It's not like a hurricane is coming—at least, Kaidoh doesn't think a hurricane is coming. He hopes not. But it's a good thing, to have too much rather than too little; if a storm comes, that cover is definitely not going anywhere. He drops the last two rocks back near the garden plot and then starts jogging towards his hut. His finger joints are red from hauling stones around and he wrings his hands out as he runs.

It doesn't take long for him to reach his hut, and just like Momoshiro told him, that stupid punching bag is sitting there in the sand waiting for him. Kaidoh sees Momoshiro's happy face staring back up at him from the ground, drawn crudely in that thick black marker Momoshiro has grown so attached to, almost as if he's welcoming Kaidoh home. Even if it's just a drawing, it makes Kaidoh's cheeks heat up. Why did Momoshiro have to do that? It wasn't like Kaidoh told him to, or even asked, he just … did it all on his own. It was like he wanted to, like he wanted to do something for Kaidoh. It makes Kaidoh feel really jittery and kind of happy, but also even more confused because wait, if Momoshiro wanted to do something for Kaidoh then did that mean he wanted to do … other things, too? Again?

It's really frustrating how much Kaidoh's heart seems to leap every time he considers that possibility. Since when did he even care about doing _that_? Now it's a constant thrum in the back of his mind. It makes Kaidoh feel disgusting. It makes Kaidoh feel obsessed. He needs to stop thinking about it.

He pulls the bag off the ground and holds it up at eye level, like he's having a staring contest with the Momoshiro on the punching bag. Stupid smiley idiot. If only Kaidoh could stop thinking about him. He pulls his fist back, intending to land a punch right in the middle of the drawn-on Momoshiro's stupid face, but for some reason he can't make himself do it. He just looks too … happy. It's ridiculous. It's really annoying. He doesn't want to fight with Momoshiro unless Momoshiro looks like he wants to fight with him, too. And he hasn't lately. Or if he does, he's hiding it well. They're both treading lightly for now, doing weird things like say 'sorry', and 'thanks', like they're too terrified to make waves. It's all completely backwards and upside-down. Kaidoh wants to figure out how to reset everything to the way it was before.

Although he isn't sure how erasing it would prevent it from just happening all over again the same way it did the first time.

Kaidoh gives a glare to the Momoshiro on the punching bag and drops it back onto the ground. It lands with a soft thud. Then he climbs the steps to the hut and steels himself with a deep breath. It's become his routine lately—stop, breathe, shake, breathe again, stop shaking—a series of steps he has to go through every time he enters his hut. The possibility of running into Momoshiro, unprepared, freaks Kaidoh out. He hates it. He's never been this nervous around him before, not even back in middle school. Because now Momoshiro is nervous too, now they both are, now every element of awkward feelings is doubled and magnified. It's awful. Kaidoh hopes it's not going to always be this way. But for now, he copes by dismissing it, by calming himself down, by hoping his face won't explode in shades of red the second Momoshiro opens his mouth.

The problem with his routine is that even with practice, he still hasn't perfected it. It's like there's no real way to stop his racing pulse, his sweaty palms, his frazzled mind. So when he walks inside, he already feels a bit of a mess. At least Momoshiro doesn't look totally cool and collected to see him, either. It's strangely a relief to know Momoshiro feels weird too.

Kaidoh doesn't want to just stand there frozen in the doorway so he says, "I got the rocks," because that's why he's here, right? So he and Momoshiro can go and build a cover for the garden together. That's right. As long as Kaidoh just thinks about that, he'll be fine. See? They can still do things together and be fine. Yeah, they can be totally okay.

Momoshiro is having the same sort of confusion that Kaidoh is going through. Every time he and Kaidoh are in the same room, it feels as if the air has stilled, like there's some big pink elephant in the room that they both acknowledge, that they both are painfully aware of, but they won't look at it. Ignoring it is the only thing they can do, it's the only way Momoshiro can really function anymore. Because if he doesn't try to ignore it, to pretend nothing is wrong, then he'll start thinking, and the awkwardness gets multiplied and shoots through all his nerves, and then he'll look like a fumbling, stumbling moron who can't say anything but blush like an idiot.

"Where?" Momoshiro asks, running his hands through his absurdly long hair, avoiding Kaidoh's gaze. He doesn't see any rocks. Momoshiro himself is folding two bedsheets. He's just finished sort of stitching them together to be big enough to cover the garden. It's a crude job, and he probably should have asked Kaidoh to go do it instead (he's the one with the girly sewing skills) so that it would look neater, and he didn't have a bunch of red little dots in his fingers because he accidentally pricked himself with the needle, but then that would mean Kaidoh would be here. With him. Sitting in their hut. With the elephant.

Or something.

"Got them outside?"

Kaidoh nods, and even that's a little stilted, like he's forgotten how to do anything in a natural, normal manner. "Yeah," he says, and looks back over his shoulder out the doorway. "They're over by the garden."

"Okay. Just … give me a second." Momoshiro wrestles with the bedsheets for a bit, trying to tame them down so he can haul them with him to the garden, until he gives up, squishes it into a wrinkly ball, then stands up with it under his arm. Some rope is already wound around his shoulder, fully prepared.

"Go," says Momoshiro. He huffs away a lock of hair obstructing his view, then stares at the floor, at Kaidoh's feet. But even Kaidoh's smelly feet make him feel weird, so he looks at the splinters sticking up from the wooden planks of the ground instead. It's a good thing he's wearing shoes.

Kaidoh doesn't have to be told twice. He doesn't want to be stuck in the hut with Momoshiro any longer than he has to. He'd told him when he built it that it was only meant for one person, but he never really felt it was true until just recently. Being in the same room as Momoshiro suddenly feels claustrophobic.

He climbs down the stairs and stands there waiting for Momoshiro to follow. When he glances to the left, he can see Momoshiro's makeshift punching bag sitting in the sand where he left it, that smiling face still looking back at him. At least this Momoshiro doesn't blush and look away and make Kaidoh feel like he's done something awful. No, this Momoshiro doesn't really do anything at all. Kaidoh would still rather have the real thing.

Momoshiro is a second behind Kaidoh, feeling way too self-conscious of the fact that they're so close, and if Kaidoh would abruptly stop, Momoshiro would collide into his back. He'd rather avoid any sort of colliding with each other. He climbs down the steps, focused on the placement of his feet, and trying not to be acutely aware of Kaidoh's presence. Trying. It's hard.

The garden is not anywhere near Kaidoh's hut. That's simply because Kaidoh had still been living in Momoshiro's shack—along with Echizen—when they decided a placement for it. They found some fertile soil, not that far from Momoshiro's shack, and planted everything there. Except it's a five minute walk from Kaidoh's own hut. Five minutes of walking in silence is like the death sentence to Momoshiro. With each step he takes, he becomes even more painfully aware of how quiet everything is. Of how not normal things are anymore.

He used to not be able to shut his trap around Kaidoh. Well, around anyone for that matter, but he's always been naturally chatty around the snake. And insulting him used to be fun. Punching him was also fun. Things were not that bad … until that day. Now everything's changed. He can't find any words to say that don't sound like nails scratching down on a chalkboard, that won't make him feel like there's pins and needles stabbing him from the inside out. And maybe that could have been something Momoshiro could deal with, but it's not just the words he can't find to say, but anything else feels strained too.

Simply being together in the same room feels suffocating, like he's drowning in an air of pretense and silence. It doesn't even have to be a room—just seeing Kaidoh in his line of vision is enough to make Momoshiro's throat burn out of words, and his thoughts go haywire, and he starts feeling all sorts of things. He wishes it would stop, like there's an off button.

Then again, he also wishes it wouldn't stop, and that he could … somehow act on these feelings. But everything feels weird and new, and scary and terrifying; Momoshiro isn't quite sure what to do. Or what he even really wants.

As he looks at Kaidoh's back walking away from him, he does know one thing; he can't stay away from Kaidoh.

It's impossible, and every inch of his body will scream in protest if he even so much as thinks of the suggestion to ignore Kaidoh and walk away. He can't walk away from Kaidoh. He's already done it once, those five years ago, and he doesn't want to do it again, because it was a dark time for him after that. Yes, he had completely _missed_ Kaidoh. Bugging him, talking to him, doing things with him, sending him random messages, fighting him, bickering with him, insulting him, or even simply being around him.

Momoshiro never thought he'd really be separated from Kaidoh, and now that he's back again, here, in front of him, despite all this weirdness that's happening between them—he can't get enough of him.

He sighs.

How could he mess it up this badly?

Momoshiro just wants to look up at the sky and hopes an answer falls out of it; because he doesn't know what else to do, he's clueless otherwise. He's never been in this kind of situation before. And damnit—why did Kaidoh have to be a guy? It makes everything ten times worse. Maybe if Kaidoh had been a girl, he'd be a lot more open to the idea of continuing this, of admitting that he liked it and wants to do it again. Then maybe they'd have a cute little romantic confession under the cherry blossoms, and then they start dating each other.

Except there's nothing but palm trees on this damn island, and Kaidoh is anything but cute, and definitely not a girl.

And the fact that back then … when they were … doing … _that_ … he had thought Kaidoh was sort of hot, and attractive, just makes Momoshiro all embarrassed and confused—and it's not helping him talk to Kaidoh like everything is fine! He likes girls. Always has. Yeah sure he's been _fond_ of Kaidoh since middle school—ever since they met, really—but it wasn't like a crush or anything. Not the kind that Kaidoh has on him.

It's just all really confusing. All these conflicting emotions and thoughts. Momoshiro doesn't know what to do with them, he can't make heads or tails out of this mess.

So he should start small. He certainly doesn't want to be awkward around Kaidoh forever, but he also doesn't know how to fix this. Baby steps like at least talking to Kaidoh are a step in the right direction, he thinks. Now if only he can look Kaidoh in the eye without blushing, without seeing the memories of Kaidoh's extremely red face gasping for air flash in front of his eyes. It's a memory he can't get rid of, and more confusingly, _doesn't_ want to get rid of. And annoyingly so, it makes him feel way too hormonal. That's the worst part of it all.

That somehow, for some unknown reason, Kaidoh makes him horny.

And just that alone, is enough to make Momoshiro almost turn back around and walk back to the hut without saying a word. Instead he simply hides his face behind some bedsheets and hopes Kaidoh won't look back at him.

It's insane, it really is. And really disgusting too. He shouldn't be feeling this. Kaidoh shouldn't make him feel like this. But he does. And Momoshiro is at a loss at what to do with it. He's already releasing his frustrations behind a large tree deep within the forest, hoping this will keep his mind off of it, tide him over, hoping it will be enough to make him stop feeling like _this_. But it doesn't help, especially since he's thinking of Kaidoh the entire time he's doing it, and that just makes everything worse and he feels extremely guilty when he's done. Then he starts thinking how it doesn't even compare to the real thing, to that time they were rubbing bodies against each other, and in sync like they get each other like no one else gets them.

It's really disgusting, and yet Momoshiro can't stop thinking about it.

Those five minutes of walking in silence feels like it took forever when they do finally reach their patch of fertile soil, a bunch of green sprouts popping up from the dirt. He even sees some small green strawberries on some of them.

Momoshiro wants to compliment Kaidoh on taking care of it so well, since it seems like he isn't completely incompetent, and actually managed to grow something. But saying anything to Kaidoh, whether it be a compliment or an insult, feels weird, and it'll only remind him of that day. So instead he nudges his foot against one of the big boulders scattered around the plot. What the hell has Kaidoh been doing? Acting like a gorilla and hauling big boulders from the jungle? He asked for rocks, not _big damn rocks._ Freak.

"T-that's not really a rock," says Momoshiro, and he blushes when his voice cracks from nervousness. This is stupid. Kaidoh is stupid. He crouches down and maneuvers the bedsheets so that it's in between him and Kaidoh, hiding most of his face. Luckily his long black hair helps in this department.

Kaidoh scowls. "Whatever. They'll work, won't they?" he retorts. His voice sounds like it's been stretched thin, and he can't hide that familiar edge of annoyance, his need to make everything antagonistic. But he can't do that right now, so he swallows down the desire to argue and adds, "So how should we do this?"

Momoshiro innocently scratches his head. "What's a tarp look like?"

Kaidoh resists the urge to call Momoshiro an idiot, and shrugs. "Kind of like a tent. We need to prop it up with something."

"Like sticks?"

"Yeah. Strong ones."

Momoshiro huffs. "Then why didn't you collect those instead of those stupidly sized rocks?"

"There's nothing wrong with the size of the rocks, moron!" Kaidoh snarls, unable to stop himself. "But _fine_, I'll go get sticks too. It's not hard."

"Ok, shoo."

"Asshole," Kaidoh shoots back, and sprints off into the tree line. He wasn't lying about it not being hard. Kaidoh's training schedule makes this sort of thing kind of a cakewalk for him, and within fifteen minutes he's broken off several sturdy-looking, low hanging branches and is carrying them back over his shoulder to the garden.

He isn't exactly hurrying on his way back though, using this momentary separation as a chance to pull himself together again. Now if only he could take fifteen minute breaks away from Momoshiro every time they had to be together. Then maybe he could get through their interactions without feeling like he's going to die from embarrassment or frustration.

When he reaches the garden plot again, he dumps the sticks on the ground near Momoshiro's feet. "See?" he says. "Not that hard. Now help me prop them up in the ground."

Momoshiro crinkles up his nose when one of the sticks slams into his foot. That sort of hurt. He feels like grabbing one of the branches and poking Kaidoh's ribs with it like a sword. But that's stupid. And that's way inappropriate for this kind of situation they're in; anything Momoshiro used to do to mess around with Kaidoh feels like he's walking on thin ice, and it will break right under his feet. So instead Momoshiro simply huffs again, seemingly annoyed (with the situation), then he gathers a few branches in his arm and he walks around the garden.

"Should we just turn it into a square? Or really like a tent, like a line in the middle? I've got some rope ..." Momoshiro fiddles around with the rope wound around his shoulder. This isn't that hard right now, as long as he focuses on his task, and doesn't look directly at Kaidoh, then he can manage. He can control these weird disgusting feelings.

Kaidoh surveys the garden for a moment and then nods. "That should work. We can weigh down the sides with the rocks and use the sticks and rope to prop it up in the middle." Kaidoh's never really pitched a tent before, let alone one made from bedsheets, but it can't be that difficult. If they just work together it shouldn't take long to find something that works. It's the 'together' part that's a sticking point though, because when Kaidoh looks across the garden at Momoshiro, he thinks that doing anything together with him right now sounds like a bad idea. Or a very good one. It's like Kaidoh's got two opposing impulses in his head and they're constantly fighting it out, tackling each other for dominance.

Luckily, right now logic and self-control win out and Kaidoh is able to temporarily stop thinking about whatever that other part of him is angling to do. He picks up one of the branches, a long, thick one, and starts to twist it into the ground at one end of the garden. As long as he just focuses on building this cover, then he won't be focusing on Momoshiro. He can just pretend Momoshiro isn't even there.

Not quite knowing what he's really doing, but figuring it can't be that hard to prop up a makeshift tent when Momoshiro's build an entire shack before, he simply mimics what Kaidoh is doing. Which is rather annoying, because then that would mean giving attention to the man on the opposite side, and he has to actually _look_ at him. He drives a bunch of sticks inside the dirt, putting down all his weight on them so that they're pretty secure and won't get ripped out as easily (he hopes), and more branches are better than one, right? Momoshiro thinks so.

The rope slung around Momoshiro's shoulder slips off, right into his hand, and he ties it around the lot of them, giving it a bunch of knots to make it extra secure. He's kind of overdoing it, but it's better than to focus on Kaidoh, who is doing nothing but make him feel self conscious. Especially that stupid towel around his neck, signaling like a stupid beacon 'I'm covering something up!' and it's really damn obvious, and Momoshiro knows exactly what it is that he's covering up.

Momoshiro has no idea why he even did something like that. So he might have been grinding against Kaidoh, and doing other horrible stuff to him like pressing their mouths together, and slipping their tongues around each other, but that was … given the circumstances, somewhat normal. Okay no, it wasn't normal at all. Momoshiro shouldn't be thinking any of this is normal. Anyhow, the one thing that drives him nuts is that he sort of bit Kaidoh. On his neck. It's like he was some kind of weird animal, or a vampire, or maybe a combination of both—and he still has no idea why he did it. It's embarrassing, that's what it is, and that mark on Kaidoh's neck (or towel) is simply a constant reminder of it. He wishes he could erase it. Or heal it. Or give Kaidoh some ointment to help speed up the healing process. But that would be weird, and already asking him if it hurt was extremely embarrassing enough.

So he can't do anything but ignore it. Or at least, Momoshiro tries to. That stupid towel though …

Momoshiro punches his own leg when Kaidoh is too busy to notice, then he looks up, not exactly at Kaidoh, but in his direction at least.

"Catch," Momoshiro warns him. He extends the rope in his hand, then tosses it at Kaidoh so he can tie it on the other end. Since he's not looking though, he's pretty sure his aim is off, and half of the rope lands on top of some carrots.

Kaidoh bends over to retrieve the pile of rope which fell in the garden instead of Kaidoh's hand. He grumbles something about Momoshiro being an idiot, but they're both kind of at fault for it, neither one looking at each other, so the throw and catch was bound to be terrible. If only Kaidoh could look Momoshiro in the face and not have such a crazy physical reaction to it. It's stupid. Momoshiro's face is stupid. But at least it's his face that Kaidoh is fixating on and not the rest of his body … thankfully Kaidoh is able to suppress that kind of disgusting and perverted thinking.

He loops the rope around his wrist until he's got all of it off the vegetables and then starts tying it around the remaining sticks on his side of the garden until they're all bound tightly and the rope pulls between his end and Momoshiro's, nice and taut. Kaidoh pounds on each branch with his fist to check how tightly they are held in the ground—with the nice side-effect of releasing some of his frustration—and none of them budge. They looks sturdy. He feels satisfied with it.

"This side's done," Kaidoh calls, without looking up.

"Okay, uhm, let me …" Momoshiro already feels his voice shake and his breath quickening just by thinking that he'll have to go back over to Kaidoh's side. He grumbles something under his breath, and slowly walks around the garden, and stops at the bedsheets lying in a pile on the ground.

Looking at Kaidoh right now is out of the question. Momoshiro is sure if he does, he'll simply die from too much blood rushing to his head. Stupid heart, stop beating so fast.

"Here, grab the other end of this and uhh, I'll walk around to cover it on the other side." Momoshiro brushes the hair out of his eyes, then stuffs his hands into the sheets and grabs hold of it, not caring whether or not he's got an end, and he unravels it from the pile. He stands up straight and starts to take a few steps back to extend the sheet, until it slips through his hands till the edge is near, so he grabs that instead, and without even waiting for Kaidoh, he walks back to the left.

Simply being near Kaidoh is way too much … it's just … _hard._

Momoshiro nearly trips over his own feet and he blushes a deep red. Not _that_ kind of hard. Thank god his back is facing Kaidoh.

Kaidoh grabs the end of the bedsheet and clenches it in his fist. He pulls it until he reaches the corner and then smoothes his other hand along the opposite side to do the same until it billows out, kind of wrinkly, but definitely large enough to cover the whole garden. The two sheets look like they've been sewn together in the middle and it looks so sloppy that Kaidoh has the urge to smile. He almost wants to say something, but stops himself. It's really not the right time.

Instead, he lifts the sheet up so that Momoshiro can do the same on the other side and they can place it over the top of the rope frame. "Got it?" he asks.

"Yeah." Momoshiro flicks his arms, sending a wave of air through the bedsheet, making it float up like there's a huge bubble of air trapped underneath it, enough for them to cover up the vegetation, and spread it over the rope tied between the sticks. He sinks through his knees, keeping his arms spread to both corners of the sheet, and presses it down into the dirt.

Well.

Momoshiro wrinkles his nose again for the second time that day. How's he going to reach any of those rocks when he's holding the sheet like this? Ugh, this sucks. Kaidoh sucks too.

"Don't let go," says Momoshiro. Then he himself, lets go of one corner, and it shoots out into the plants, but at least he can still reach it. He reaches for a rock behind him, at least Kaidoh had the decency to scattered them around the garden, then places it on top of the corner he's still holding onto. Now that one corner is nicely stuck to the ground, Momoshiro stands up, grabs some more rocks, and quickly does the other corner—after grabbing it again—as well.

Momoshiro stands straight and brushes his hair out of his face; there's a couple of rocks in his arms still, and he looks over at Kaidoh, who is still standing there not doing much. He feels those stupid butterflies swarm in his stomach again, but it really can't be helped. He can't just stop doing things such as protecting their garden, just because he wants to turn around, scream like a girl, and hump some stuff. He sighs, and walks over to Kaidoh's side, who surprisingly, listened to him as he's still holding onto the other end of the bedsheet.

"Bend down," says Momoshiro. He feels his cheeks sting as he says it; it sounds like there's a double meaning behind it. He hugs the rocks to his chest as if this will make him stop feeling squirmy.

Kaidoh hisses at Momoshiro, like he's warning him not to get too close—although he already kind of is—but he obediently crouches down on the ground just the same. They have to get this over with. He spreads the corners of the sheet out to the edges of the garden as far as he can reach.

"Okay, do it," he growls, eyeing one of the rocks in Momoshiro's hands.

Momoshiro feels like bashing Kaidoh's head in with one of these rocks. If Kaidoh is dead, then he can stop feeling like he wants something of him, _needs_ him. That's way too mushy and nasty. But if Kaidoh is dead, then Momoshiro will be sad and depressed, and he'll have no one left to punch. Not that he can punch Kaidoh right now …

He places down a rock near Kaidoh's hand, being extremely aware that their skin almost rub against each other. He retreats his hand like the bedsheet is a hot plate and he's got burned. This is really stupid. Momoshiro walks around Kaidoh—eyeing the stupid towel around his neck—and puts down another rock on the other end, leaving much more space between their hands this time. The bedsheet is now at least, stuck in the dirt, and stretched across the garden. They've managed to accomplish something together. He runs his fingers through his long black hair and lets out a relieved sigh.

Momoshiro doesn't waste a second as he skitters back over to his side, gathering up more rocks, and putting them down on the edge of the sheet, as many as it can hold. Better to have a lot, than none, he thinks. He really still does want those strawberries.

Kaidoh rises back to his feet and rolls a few remaining rocks into place along the edge of the sheet on the opposite side of the garden from Momoshiro, staying as far away as he can get. It feels like they're anxiously pacing circles around each other in a boxing ring, and if they don't stay apart, a bell will chime and there's going to be a fight.

He glances over the pitched center of the tarp to the other side. They've used up all the rocks now, and they're evenly spaced along the sides of the sheet, the heaviest ones at the corners. It looks like it'll hold.

Kaidoh lets out a sigh of relief, because somehow his pulse hasn't managed to rip its way out of his neck from nervousness. And he hasn't run off yet. And neither has Momoshiro. And they actually finished this thing.

He looks at Momoshiro until the other man lifts his head too and their eyes are forced to meet. "What do you think?" Kaidoh asks. "I think it looks good."

What does Momoshiro think? He thinks about a lot of things. Things he doesn't want in his head, things he can't stop thinking about, and keep nagging him whenever he sees Kaidoh, whenever they're close together. It just won't stop, and it's driving him nuts—is it going to be like this every day?

He wipes a few locks of hair away from his eyes. "What if there's a tornado?" Momoshiro asks offhandedly. A tornado of feelings that is, which is always spinning around his stomach, making him feel sick, like he's in a car and he needs to pull over before he throws up.

Just what exactly can Momoshiro do to make them both stop acting so weird around each other? He can't go back in time and prevent himself from … doing _that_, so what _is_ there left to do? Punch Kaidoh? But that would lead to … things. Talk about it with Kaidoh? Hah … he'd die. Or kill himself, before that happens. Mentioning this to Kaidoh ever again is out of the question. He'll never mention the elephant by its name.

Kaidoh stuffs his hands into his pockets and shrugs. "I guess we just hope there isn't one," he says flatly. He doesn't know how to protect a garden from that sort of thing. Maybe tornados don't happen on tropical islands like this. Or maybe the shelter they've built will be strong enough to withstand one somehow. Hopefully.

As if to argue with Kaidoh, a gust of wind sweeps over the garden and the bedsheet billows dramatically against the rope. The weather is definitely changing. Everything is changing lately … Now Kaidoh can't even rely on the summer climate to stay consistent. It's annoying. Everything is annoying and frustrating. Momoshiro most of all.

He takes a few steps back from the garden and looks it over, Momoshiro standing at the middle of the other side, looking like he's caught in a sea of swirly white fabric. It's weird, and Kaidoh feels weird for staring, his gaze automatically gravitating to where Momoshiro is, so he turns around and looks back down the beach instead, out to the horizon where there are some thick clouds in the distance.

"Hopefully all the plants will be okay," he says, a bit uncertain.

"They won't die like this, right?" Momoshiro asks. He'll ask anything to keep his mind off of Kaidoh, which is kind of counter productive, since he's talking _to_ Kaidoh. "I mean, plants need sunlight, or something."

"No they'll …" Kaidoh looks at the sheet. It's translucent enough to let some light in. As long as the storm doesn't last for weeks, it should be enough sun to keep things growing and alive. "They'll be fine," he says, more confidently. "This is just temporary anyway."

"Okay, you're the girl, whatever you say." Momoshiro looks skeptically at the sheet, but thinks it'll hold. He hopes there won't be a storm, though getting out of this heat would be nice. Then maybe he won't wake up in sweat.

Or that might just be because of his raunchy dreams. That could be it too.

Though it's mostly because it's hot, and Momoshiro's hair is way too long (it's been how many months since the last time he cut it?). On instinct, he runs his hand through his hair, letting the black locks fall back into his eyes, and annoy him once more. He's got scissors somewhere.

"Just because I know how to keep plants alive doesn't make me a girl, asshole," Kaidoh snaps back. "You're the one with the stupidly long hair." It's a weak comeback, because Kaidoh's pretty sure his own hair is longer, but it's pulled back right now with his bandana whereas Momoshiro's is just falling all over the place and he won't stop touching it. It's making Kaidoh's fingertips feel itchy.

"Shut up—long hair has nothing to do with girliness!" Momoshiro growls at Kaidoh. It's better than being reminded of his disgusting problem, but then he also reminds himself that if he fights with Kaidoh for real, then it'll lead to things. More disgusting things.

He brushes his hair back, smoothing it out against the top of his head. "I'll cut it … somehow. Can't be that hard." All you do is cut away hair, it shouldn't be hard at all. He doesn't care if he ends up with uneven bangs of hair, as long as it's out of his eyes, and away from his neck.

"And your hair is longer than mine!" Momoshiro fires back when he remembers.

"Yeah well, my hair isn't falling in my eyes all the time," Kaidoh argues. His cheeks heat up and he sounds like he's annoyed, because he is. Momoshiro's hair is kind of a problem for him right now, and Kaidoh wants to grab Momoshiro's hands away from it so he'll stop touching, stop taunting Kaidoh with things he knows are totally off-limits. Doesn't he know that it's dangerous? Doesn't he know what he's doing? Kaidoh's not supposed to be thinking about things like that—he sure as hell doesn't _want_ to be thinking about things like that—but it's hard when Momoshiro's there rubbing in it in his face.

"Fine," he says, mouth a hard, dismissive line. "Chop your stupid hair. Just don't cut your ear off, dumbass."

Momoshiro wants to yell back that Kaidoh's the one to tear his bandana off his head, and kept it with him ever since, but that simply makes his heart beat faster as he remembers—remembers everything. Crap. He was doing so well too. Now the images are back in his head, and Momoshiro turns around so he won't have to look at Kaidoh anymore, at that face that's haunting his mind. Stupid face. Stupid Kaidoh. Stupid hormones.

"I won't," Momoshiro bites back. He takes one last look at the garden, then starts walking away, back to their hut, determined to keep a distance between himself and Kaidoh. How else can he function? If he keeps hanging around Kaidoh things will … things are already … it just won't stop. He wants it to go back to normal. He's never had to feel this weird, or think this hard around Kaidoh. It's always been normal to him, to act on his instinct, to not think about his actions at all, yet now it's all he can think about. What he's doing, how it'll come across, how much it'll make him feel weird things, and what Kaidoh might be thinking.

Yes, it's best if they put distance between them.

Kaidoh hangs around the garden for a while after Momoshiro has left, on the pretense of rechecking the rocks and branches and tightening the knots on the rope. It's something he probably would have done anyway, but really, he's just trying to find something simple and safe to occupy his mind with. But Momoshiro is like an obnoxious force that just keeps worming its way back into Kaidoh's mind, refusing to be ignored.

He pulls the towel from around his neck and drapes it over his face. He feels exhausted from them spending time together, even though it wasn't long at all. Is every encounter they have going to feel so draining? Kaidoh feels like he's trying to hold a dam shut with his bare hands, but the pressure keeps building and sooner or later water's going to come crashing over him and he'll be washed away. It happens every time he's with Momoshiro, each time a little harder to hold himself back.

Sand crushes down under Momoshiro's feet as he makes his way back to the hut. He's feeling weird all over, like he's got a returning fever he can't get rid of. Isn't that some kind of disease? Mono something, yeah, that stupid kissing disease, it's supposed to make you feel tired. Momoshiro just feels drained every time he's around Kaidoh, like a bathtub filled with endless water that keeps leaking out. And it _is_ tiring. Kaidoh gave it to him, didn't he? What with … kissing and all.

It's still something Momoshiro tries to ignore, still tries to deny—he doesn't want things to change even more than they already have, he's sure it will change if he thinks about it, and it'll sink in. That he really did it. He and Kaidoh. Kaidoh Kaoru, who used to be a boy, and his rival, and is now a man, and they were humping like bunnies in the sand.

That's a disgusting analogy. He likes bunnies. Kaidoh probably does too.

Momoshiro again simply tries to ignore it, to not think about it, but really, who is he kidding? It's impossible not to, not when he sees the hut in the distance that Kaidoh built, and the punching bag on the ground that he made for Kaidoh.

Why did he make that again? Momoshiro doesn't really know, he just knows that he had finally managed to gather up the courage to post on Kaidoh's journal, and when he replied, he was desperate to keep the conversation going. Because it's been days now, and they had barely said a few words to each other since then, and that's just not right, it's not how they should act. But when Kaidoh isn't in front of him to taunt him with feelings and memories, Momoshiro feels a lot more comfortable talking to Kaidoh, to pretend nothing happened.

That it somehow ended up with him grabbing a potato sack and filling it with sand wasn't part of his plans, but he did it anyway. Momoshiro doesn't mind doing things for Kaidoh, it's a weird urge he has, one he tries to suppress, as much as all the other ones he has for Kaidoh. Maybe he was hoping that if he did this, they'd talk a bit more, maybe they'd feel a little less weird around each other.

Not that Kaidoh had said a word about it when he came to get him half an hour ago. Asshole.

Momoshiro shakes his head to stop his thoughts, then he starts to climb the steps of the hut, until he's inside, where there's some huge lettering on the wall spelling out Kaoru-chan.

Kaidoh is everywhere, it's kind of deafening, kind of suffocating. Momoshiro can't stop being reminded of him, and he really can't stop thinking of it either.

And Momoshiro can't bring himself to hate it all either. He wants to, he really does. He wants to shout, run away, and maybe bash his head in with a few of those boulders at the garden. So that he can forget, forget that he _doesn't_ hate it, and he _doesn't_ want to forget. That's just simply the worst part of it all. That despite the awkwardness it has created, this rift it has torn between them, he doesn't want to forget. Because he sort of wants to do it again. He sort of really wants to do it again, and he hates that he does, and he hates the fact that he hates that he does—and this is getting really confusing!

A distraction would be nice. A distraction from this madness that Momoshiro can't escape. At least when Kaidoh isn't anywhere near him, he can somewhat control these stupid wants and needs and disgusting urges. So he looks around in his backpack for the scissors he knows he keeps in there, intending to finally cut his hair.

Like a symbolic gesture perhaps—don't baseball players do that when they've lost a game? They shave off all their hair. Well, Momo will cut his hair because … because … well, he didn't exactly lose Kaidoh.

Wait, Kaidoh wasn't ever his, what the hell.

Whatever, he's going to cut his hair. It'll be a nice distraction, and then there's at least one thing out of his head. Or something.

Momoshiro pulls the metal scissors out of his bag, then reaches for a bottle filled with water as well.

Kaidoh sighs. It's been fifteen minutes, and Kaidoh is still thinking about Momoshiro's hair. Without wanting to, he starts worrying about the fact that he's left Momoshiro alone with scissors. Momoshiro, the idiot, can't even tie a bandana on his own; the idea of him snipping scissors around his scalp is kind of frightening. He knows he shouldn't worry, he shouldn't be thinking about Momoshiro at all, but he can't help his weird instinct to want to do things for him. It's a really stupid impulse, but it's not something he can help.

So he jogs back toward the hut, running along the treeline so he won't be immediately spotted. He tells himself he's just going to check on Momoshiro, make sure he's not bleeding from the head from some freak scissor wound. It's certainly not that he can't get enough of him or that he wants to be close to him. That's the last thing Kaidoh wants this week. At least, that's the last thing Kaidoh wants to want.

Momoshiro's got a makeshift hair salon propped up right outside the hut, right in the shade. Which really only consists of an upside down bucket he's sitting on, scissors in his hand, and a water bottle sitting right next to him. His black hair is wet, and clings to his forehead and his bare neck. He's also taken off his shirt, so that he won't be stuck with hairs down his shirt (that's one of the most annoying things in the world). Water trails down from his hair over his back, and it feels sort of nice and cool like that, he doesn't hate it, not in this heat.

Now, if only he had a mirror so he could see what he's cutting. Instead, he blindly grabs a bunch of hair right in front of his eyes, and shoves it in between the cool blades of the scissors. He cuts it off in one snap, so that it stops right at his eyebrows. He's sure it's completely uneven. Alright, this wasn't that bad, he can do it like this. He cuts some more off at the front of his face, his long black hair falling down onto his chest and landing in the sand. He probably looks like he's got a really hairy chest, and it was Kaidoh who was supposed to be the gorilla here.

Stupid Kaidoh, of course he won't cut off his ear. He's not dumb.

Kaidoh walks up to the hut from behind so he doesn't run into Momoshiro right away, although once he sees the bucket and Momoshiro sitting there on it shirtless, he immediately regrets this approach, because it makes him seem like a creep, like he's deliberately sneaking up on Momoshiro or something. So before he's too close, before he's crossed the threshold into total stalker territory, Kaidoh clears his throat loudly to announce himself. And also because the sight of so much of Momoshiro's bare skin makes him feel like there's actually something stuck in there.

Momoshiro's snipping away at the bangs of his hair, and he barely notices the grumpy throaty sound Kaidoh makes, but he does look up, scissors still stuck in his hair, and he spots Kaidoh, sneaking around the hut like a stalker. Momoshiro feels exposed; he's got no shirt on, and he's sitting there with scissors in his hair, and now Kaidoh's seen him fumbling around, not knowing what to do.

Now he sort of wishes he didn't cut his bangs, because his cheeks are already flaring up with heat from embarrassment.

"What," Momoshiro says with a huff. He tries to not let it show that there's a change in the atmosphere, a tension in the air as soon as their eyes met, for however brief it was. "I didn't cut my ear off, okay."

"I can see that," Kaidoh replies, voice gruff. He's trying to ignore the persistent tingle in his stomach. He's trying not to look at Momoshiro, but he can't help it. There's a lot of him there to look at right now.

"The front looks terrible," he points out, and not just because it feels easy to make a jab at Momoshiro. The bangs really do look jagged. If this were a week ago, if … things … hadn't happened, it would be funny. Now it just makes Kaidoh feel even weirder.

Momoshiro removes the scissors from his hair, and he wipes his chest clean. He can't see how terrible it looks like, but considering this is Kaidoh, who thinks everything Momoshiro does is terrible, he takes it with a grain of salt.

"Better than what you could do," says Momoshiro. It's still an instinct within him to disagree and fight on every subject with Kaidoh, it's simply part of who he is—and it sucks that he has to keep himself in check. Any more arguing … might lead to a fight. And this time, there's no shirt to grab onto, and there's some dangerous scissors in his hand.

No, they definitely cannot fight.

Kaidoh glares at him. "I'd at least be able to cut it straight." Assuming he could do it without his hands shaking. Did Momoshiro _have_ to take his shirt off for a hair cut? And what's with all the water? It's like he's glistening in the sun. It's totally disgusting. Kaidoh forces himself to look at the shiny scissors instead.

"And how are you going to do the back?" he asks pointedly. "You can't see back there."

Momoshiro runs his fingers through the back. "I don't know, I haven't gotten to that part yet," he says dismissively. Why does Kaidoh have to argue about this with him right now? Can't he just go away? Go running? He's always running. Of all the times Kaidoh is running, this is the one time he isn't, and Momoshiro actually wants him to. It's so backwards from what he's usually saying.

"Why do you care anyway?" He looks up at Kaidoh, through his thick eyelashes covered in droplets.

"I don't care, moron," Kaidoh growls, his face flushing with heat. "I'm just saying it will look stupid."

"Yeah, well. I'm not the one who has to be looking at it." And it's true; there's no mirrors around this island. But then again, Momoshiro had just implied that Kaidoh will be looking at him, a thought that gives him goosebumps.

Kaidoh hisses. "Well, _I_ have to look at it right now and it's pissing me off!" The words snarl out of him before he's really thought them through. Wait … that's not what he meant! Why does he have to look? It's not like Momoshiro is forcing him. No, Kaidoh's doing that all on his own.

He looks down at the sand instead. Since when did he always have to watch what he says around Momoshiro? Why does it feel like so many things are off-limits? Why can't they just rewind a few days and try it again? Do it right this time and fix this. Is he going to have to be stuck living with Momoshiro and all that annoyingly uneven hair? It's kind of offensive to Kaidoh on a basic level in that he likes things ordered and neat, like his carefully folded bandanas. Momoshiro just has to disrupt everything all the time, doesn't he? Slicing jagged edges through Kaidoh's life. Asshole.

"At least let me fix that piece at the front..." Kaidoh says, voice a little quieter now, almost like he doesn't want Momoshiro to hear the offer. "I mean, what the hell, can't you cut a straight line?"

Don't give him the scissors, don't give into what he says, don't even look at him—but Momoshiro is horrible at taking his own advice, and he flips the scissors over, the bladed end in his hand, and the handle pointing towards Kaidoh. He flicks his wrist at Kaidoh, his eyes challenging him, as if he's saying; just go ahead and try it then. And it sucks he's doing this, feeling this, because he knows he shouldn't. Not when he feels so naked out there, stranded on an island with Kaidoh who's making him feel funny things.

Kaidoh lurches forward like he's forgotten how to move and grabs the scissors. "Okay, stay still," he warns, because the last thing he wants to do is accidentally stab Momoshiro in the face. Sure, he feels infuriated with him (and with himself) over what happened, over what is still happening now, but he doesn't actually want to hurt him. In fact, most of his thoughts and urges involving Momoshiro are a lot more … pleasant. Which is disgusting.

He shakes his shoulders to loosen them—they seem to have twisted into a knot along with the rest of his body—and reaches out his hand to pull Momoshiro's hair up between his fingers. Momoshiro doesn't protest, at least not out loud, but he does seem to stiffen a bit in surprise. It makes Kaidoh's heart beat a little faster, or maybe that's because he has Momoshiro's hair between his fingers. It's slick from the water and slides easily against his skin.

He can't help but be reminded of the last time he touched Momoshiro's hair, but he shoves the memory from his mind, because he has a task to complete. He's going to fix Momoshiro's stupidly botched cutting job. He snips a clean line off from the hair and lets it fall back against Momoshiro's forehead. It looks a lot better than before, although it still looks kind of off, now that it's centered between all the remaining long wisps of hair. Kaidoh wants to cut them too, for the sake of balance and all. And maybe just because he wants to touch Momoshiro's hair again. His hands are itchy like they've been waiting for an excuse to all week. And well, Momoshiro isn't telling him to stop.

That's mostly because Momoshiro has lost his voice to say anything at all. He's kind of frozen in place, doing nothing but stare at Kaidoh's tank top. There's a few grains of sand stuck on it, and it's really rather annoying to be looking at that, but it's better than looking straight at Kaidoh, look into his dark eyes, look at his arms and how his muscles tighten as he snips at his hair, taking deliberate movements, slow and careful. Careful not to stab him in the eye, or careful because Kaidoh notices that Momoshiro is very aware of him touching his hair?

And maybe because he's been wanting this ever since that day?

The feeling of his hair moving through Kaidoh's fingers, to feel him press his fingertips against his scalp; it only brings him back to that day. That day when their bodies were a hot sticky mess, moving together in rhythmic thrusts, and Kaidoh's lips devouring him as it seemed at the time, his tongue, hot, wet and terrifyingly good, wrestling with his own—Momoshiro remembers it in the greatest detail possible. As if someone had been recording it in HD, and it keeps playing back. Except it's been enhanced, it's not just in HD, it makes him remember the sensations as well. Those delicious feelings that kept changing and making his head spin.

His head is spinning right now, with Kaidoh's fingers brushing through his hair, and the satisfying sound of the scissors snapping shut. Momoshiro is kind of torn; he wants to enjoy it—he can't even deny this anymore—but he's simply terrified of letting himself enjoy this. Who knows what will happen if he does? Who knows what he'll do if he makes this weird delightful expression on his face, and Kaidoh sees it? Momoshiro closes his eyes, as if somehow this will make Kaidoh go away, or make him not see his expressions. He feels like hiding. But he's frozen on top of a stupid bucket, so he can't do anything but squirm.

Kaidoh finishes with the hair across Momoshiro's forehead—he feels like he's moving in slow-motion, as though, against his will, his body is insisting on taking its time—and moves around to Momoshiro's side. He's not lingering deliberately; he just wants to do a good job. He tries to think of it like folding laundry or washing dishes, just a simple chore, but it's not working. He can't make his brain turn off.

His fingers flick against Momoshiro's ear as he pulls at the hair there, careful so that Momoshiro doesn't think Kaidoh is trying to really cut his ear off or something. Momoshiro is already shifting around enough like he's nervous. Kaidoh's heart races faster—he's feeling nervous too. He snips the hair off, even and quick and the pieces fall on Momoshiro's bare shoulder and even against his neck and ear. Kaidoh starts to brush them off, but then freezes and flinches, pulling his hand back.

That's going too far.

He puts his hand back against Momoshiro's head, like it's an agreed-upon safe zone, and continues cutting, suddenly very aware of how weird this is. How long can this keep up without either of them acknowledging how close they are? At least Kaidoh can use the fact that Momoshiro's hair is already damp with water to hide how sweaty his palms have become. At least Momoshiro isn't looking up at him, isn't seeing Kaidoh's increasingly red face. And maybe the snapping of the scissors is loud enough to hide his weird shaky breathing. Why couldn't he just have let Momoshiro cut his own damn hair? Because it would have ended up all lopsided? If only it were that simple.

Since Momoshiro isn't doing anything but sit there, eyes closed and focused on the sensation and swooping feelings running through him, he's very aware of everything Kaidoh is doing. How when he moves around him and leans over his head, his shirt sticks to Momoshiro's bare arm, or he leans so close, he can feel Kaidoh's abs touch his arm. The abs his hand was running over that time. It's making Momoshiro's breath as shaky as Kaidoh's, and yes, he noticed, of course he has. When he can't do anything else besides focus all his attention on Kaidoh, of course he can tell how nervous he is too. So careful to not do anything out of the ordinary, to not make things go the wrong way, turn into a different direction.

Because it can all change, in a snap, all it needs is a little push, or maybe even a little touch. Kaidoh's touches are driving Momoshiro nuts.

Can't Kaidoh hurry up? Momoshiro wants to call him a slowpoke, to jab at his reluctant movements, as if he's too hesitant touching Momoshiro. And yes, he probably is. It even feels that way, everything feels so forced and careful. Kaidoh's trying his best to not make any weird movements, to not touch him in a certain place. But it doesn't matter to Momoshiro; every inch of his skin reacts to Kaidoh against his own will. If it weren't so terrifying, he'd probably feel relaxed, very zen—but that was before that day. Now it's after, and now he knows it can turn into something much more, and they both know it. That stupid pink elephant in the room still refuses to leave.

Some of the hairs on his shoulder is starting to make Momoshiro feel itchy, so he peers through his eyes and slides his fingers over his bare skin to wipe them off. But since his skin is kind of damp from the water (or sweat?), the hairs stay stuck, and it takes him a few tries to get rid of it. And then it ends up being flung towards Kaidoh's shirt, where it stays stuck, laughing in Momoshiro's face.

Momoshiro quickly reaches out, pats his hand across Kaidoh's shirt to get rid of the hairs, and retreats immediately afterwards. The palm of his hand is throbbing with erratic pulses he can't control. He closes his eyes again, hoping to gain some sort of control.

Kaidoh snips at the hair at the top of Momoshiro's head, seeing it all flutter down in clumps, scattering in the sand at his feet. Then he moves around behind Momoshiro until he's standing directly behind him. He leans down a bit for a better angle, and his sharp breaths blow over the top of Momoshiro's head, through the newly cut hair there, as Kaidoh starts to trim the hair at the back of Momoshiro's head.

Momoshiro sucks in a breath and bites his lip; does Kaidoh really need to be standing that close!?

Kaidoh's hand grazes Momoshiro's neck as he pulls at the hair and snips away at it. Automatically, Kaidoh can see goosebumps raise on Momoshiro's skin, and feels Momoshiro shiver against his touch. It makes Kaidoh's fingertips thrum with excitement. They want to make Momoshiro do that again. But Kaidoh doesn't; his still rational mind knows that would be a terrible idea, so he's more careful next time, trying to keep his hands from pressing too close to Momoshiro's skin, to touch his hair only, to cut quickly and then pull away, to stop lingering. But as the scissors continue to snip away at long hairs, exposing more and more of Momoshiro's neck, Kaidoh feels his willpower slipping. At least it will be over soon. And then maybe his fingers will stop feeling like they're hooked up to electrical buzzers and each touch is another zap.

This haircut is supposed to make Momoshiro feel more refreshed, cool—certainly not hot. Not shivering of _heat_, of feeling Kaidoh's body so close to him once more, behind him, doing things to his head and his neck. Doesn't Kaidoh know by now he's really sensitive there? It's almost like he's doing it on purpose, as if he wants to cause any sort of reaction in Momoshiro, and he's doing a fine good job.

It only serves to remind him of Kaidoh's fingernails scratching the back of his neck, his face burying himself into the nook of his neck, and gasping, and squirming, and then that _tongue_...

Momoshiro lets out a small sigh as he remembers the feelings, the pleasure, the excitement, the thrilling sensations. He wants to experience them again. In fact, he sort of wants to feel them right now, he doesn't want to wait, he's impatient, and now that Kaidoh's making work of his neck and giving him goosebumps, he's sort of losing his rational thoughts again. The thoughts that were supposed to keep him in check, to let him know that he's supposed to be avoiding any physical contact with Kaidoh, and well, he should avoid him altogether, they're simply slipping away. With each cut and snip, Kaidoh leans closer, and the warmth that radiates from his body hits Momoshiro like a tidal wave. He's getting overwhelmed by it again, he's starting to feel good again.

So instead of doing the right thing, like getting up and walking away—walk away from all these weird and mixed up feelings—Momoshiro instead feels like this awkward wall is crumbling away, and he leans back a little into Kaidoh's touch. It just feels too nice, too good, too addicting.

Kaidoh's fingers still and he sighs as he feels Momoshiro relax back against him. The reaction is totally involuntary, the sound of his breath just slipping out of him, easy and relieved. It's just a moment, just a second, and then he starts moving again, continuing his cutting, but it feels more natural now. Just feeling that Momoshiro is less nervous, if only by some small margin, makes Kaidoh feel a little less tense too.

He trims the hair around the other side of Momoshiro's head, over his ear and back towards the front again. Each movement he makes, each time his fingertips brush Momoshiro's skin, he feels Momoshiro react, and it's spurring Kaidoh on to let his fingers linger. Each time, they stay a little longer. He hopes Momoshiro doesn't notice … It's not Kaidoh's fault, it's not like he can help himself. And he has an excuse—he's busy cutting Momoshiro's hair, that's all.

But then suddenly he's finished cutting, having circled completely around Momoshiro, and is standing in front of him once more. He crouches down in the sand so that they're at eye-level, and sets the scissors down next to the bucket. Then he uses his fingers to check that the sides are even and that he hasn't missed any spots. The cut looks okay. Definitely an improvement on Momoshiro's earlier effort. Kaidoh's too focused on making sure the cut is neat to notice how close his face suddenly is to Momoshiro's, to remember how awkward this is supposed to be, but for some reason, at this very moment, isn't.

He pulls his hands back and blinks a couple times too, because it's weird seeing Momoshiro with much shorter hair again. But kind of exciting too.

"That's better," Kaidoh says quietly.

"Are you saying it looked bad before?" Momoshiro asks. He's trying to keep his thoughts off of the fact that they're so close. Within a distance that can be so easily crossed. He doesn't even care Kaidoh cut his hair anymore, leaving him hairy all over, it left him with an aftertaste for more.

Kaidoh snorts. "You mean before when you'd cut it all weird and slanty? Yeah, that looked pretty dumb."

Momoshiro bites his lips and he lowers his eyebrows at Kaidoh. "No it didn't. I look good in anything. Asshole."

"You're so full of it," Kaidoh retorts, and narrows his eyes a bit. "Moron."

"Dumbass." Momoshiro pushes a fist into Kaidoh's chest, that sends him tingling all over. This excitement is back again, and threatening to spiral out of control. "Why don't you—" Momoshiro leans forward, teasingly so, until his chin stops at Kaidoh's shoulder, and he wraps his arms around Kaidoh, sneaking around his back. His hand creeps up, until it grabs the back of Kaidoh's towel and he sits back down again, the towel slipping off Kaidoh's neck. "—give me this, so I can wipe these hairs off of my body."

The towel is clutched in his hands, and he squeezes it against his bare chest; it feels warm and it really does smell like Kaidoh. He feels his eyes refusing to let go of Kaidoh's gaze. That awkwardness, that awful dreaded feeling that he's walking on eggshells has evaporated, and he's feeling like there's nothing wrong anymore. Like this is how it's supposed to go, meant to be. There's even a playful smirk on his lips.

Kaidoh snarls at him. "That's mine, idiot," he fires back, and snatches his towel back out of Momoshiro's hand. Or tries to. Momoshiro's got a pretty firm grip, so Kaidoh only really succeeds in tugging Momoshiro's hand closer to him, the towel in between them like it's some bizarre game of tug of war.

Kaidoh can feel his blood really pumping through him now, he's starting to get that familiar rush, like they're about to get into a fight. It's something he didn't think he'd get to feel again, not after what happened. And right now, what happened doesn't feel like it was such a bad thing at all, not with the way Momoshiro is staring at him with an intensity that makes Kaidoh feel like he might as well be the only person on the whole island, maybe in the entire world.

He tries to match Momoshiro's energy, rise up to his level, and growls at him as he pulls harder on the towel. "You don't get to just take it," he grinds out, but really he's thinking that he wouldn't mind if Momoshiro rubbed the towel all over himself, though Kaidoh would kind of rather do it for Momoshiro himself. Which is unexpected. And a little embarrassing. But suddenly embarrassing thoughts are just giving Kaidoh adrenaline instead of guilty waves of nausea. It's like he forgot this was supposed to be weird. Or maybe he remembered that it isn't.

Momoshiro lets go right as Kaidoh pulls at it again, making him jerk backwards. "Alright then." He can feel his insides buzzing, like that day, which is starting to seem like a very good memory to him now. Things are starting to feel normal once more. "Then you do it. You're the one who cut it up this much in the first place. I mean wow, just look at how much you trimmed!"

To illustrate his point, Momoshiro grabs a lock of long black hair that was simply sitting on his knee and he flings it at Kaidoh's shirt.

Kaidoh scowls and plucks the hair from his chest and drops it on the ground like it's a disgusting bug. It's like Momoshiro is shedding everywhere.

"Fine," he says, and practically punches the towel into Momoshiro's shoulder. The contact feels good, really good. Kaidoh's been wanting to do that since Sunday, to just be able to be like this with Momoshiro again, like it's easy. Then his fingers uncurl and he presses his palm flat against Momoshiro's chest and wipes the towel up over his shoulder, quick and rough, like everything they do. He whips it around the back of Momoshiro's neck and over to his other shoulder, goosebumps are appearing everywhere the towel slips over, and then finally back to the front of his chest again. It's kind of fuzzy now from all of Momoshiro's hair, which kind of grosses Kaidoh out so he shakes the towel out into the sand, then drops it over the pair of scissors next to the bucket.

And because he can, because Kaidoh feels so relieved and a little excited to be able to punch Momoshiro again, Kaidoh jams his fist into Momoshiro's chest. The heat coming off Momoshiro's skin seems to scorch Kaidoh's knuckles. His heart gives a wild, approving thump.

Hair is swirling around in the air, like that obnoxious glitter that was in Momoshiro's hair a week ago, just simply floating around with no aim or goal. Momoshiro looks up at Kaidoh, through the air filled with his own hair, acting like dust motes, like it's some sort of confetti, and this is a scene out of a movie, with everything playing out in slow motion. Maybe it's that HD movie he'd been thinking about earlier, because suddenly all those feelings are rushing back, and he feels that excitement again, simply coursing through his entire body, pumping out from the spot where Kaidoh's fist is pushing against him. It's humming with elation.

Momoshiro puts his hand on top of Kaidoh's, twisting it around until his fingers wrap around Kaidoh's palm, and he pulls it away from his chest. He leans his entire body forward once more, and tugs at Kaidoh's arm to pull him in closer as well. He's not thinking anymore, he's acting on these feelings that he's been trying so hard to keep under control for the past few days. Feelings that are screaming for attention, and Momoshiro is helpless as he can't do anything but listen to them, to act on them.

The feelings are telling him to touch Kaidoh, to pull him closer, to feel him against his own body, to smash their lips together—he wants to do all the things he did with him before, to feel the same intoxication from back then. And right now, there's no pretense in the air, he's not forced to be normal, because Kaidoh's staring right back at him, with a glint in his eyes, and he looks as if he wants it too. He wants to do anything Momoshiro wants to do. It's enough to make him shiver and a red flush spreads across his entire face, his heart thumping loudly in his chest.

Ah, he's been wanting this again ever since that day.

The hair settles down between them, lingering in the sand. Momoshiro's hand travels away from Kaidoh's, riding up his arm, to his shoulders, until he clutches Kaidoh's neck. The teeth marks are still there, fading away very slowly. They stopped looking embarrassing to him, and now simply makes him feel pumped, as if he wants to do it again. He slides forward towards the edge of the bucket to lean in close enough to … to …

Wanting to part from him again is the last thing Momoshiro wants to do; the thrilling thumps in his body won't stop, it's like he's meant to do this. Everything clicks and is falling into place again. Momoshiro licks his lips to moisten them, and he flicks his eyes down at Kaidoh's red ones. Those plump lips that felt like fire dancing on his skin. He wants to feel it again. He wants everything. He breathes out a ragged short breath, still staring right at Kaidoh.

Momoshiro stops, he can feel his heart stop as well; he's so close to Kaidoh right now. Their faces are literally centimeters apart, and for a second, he has doubt cross his mind, that maybe Momoshiro wasn't reading the situation all that clearly, that maybe he misunderstood. That maybe Kaidoh doesn't want to do this with him at all … so he stays like that, close enough to do something, but stares at Kaidoh with bedroom eyes, his fingers fluttering around at the small of Kaidoh's neck.

When Momoshiro touches Kaidoh's hand, his shoulder, his neck, Kaidoh feels his whole body seize up and shudder. He's been waiting for it, trying to deny and suppress it, but the truth is, he never stopped wanting it. And now he doesn't have to pretend anymore. He responds to Momoshiro's touches like they're electrical wires and he's the socket; the moment they connect, all the power switches on. His chest rises and falls, rhythmic and tidal. He can feel it coming—that tenuous moment where the cord between them is fraying and about to snap. They don't even need scissors to cut it.

_What are you waiting for?_

What is _Kaidoh_ waiting for?

They're so close that he can feel warm air puff against his lips, wet and hot. Kaidoh parts his lips as if to speak, but all he can manage is a short, small murmur. He can't just say it.

His hand that was between them raises to press against Momoshiro's cheek, and it's warm. He's blushing, and Kaidoh's sure he is too, but there's no lingering embarrassment there this time, just anticipation. There's a feeling of excitement buzzing in Kaidoh's fingers as they slide against Momoshiro's skin, curling behind his ear and then roughly dragging forward again, back to Kaidoh like an invitation, like a challenge.

Kaidoh's parted mouth still isn't doing anything but hang there waiting, unable to form sounds, let alone words. He can't take his eyes off Momoshiro, mesmerized by his stare. His eyes look like every time they fight, only it's magnified now, they're brimming with fiery intensity. Kaidoh narrows his eyes to try and match him.

_C'mon_, he thinks, wants to growl. He can't wait any longer, and something about the way Momoshiro is looking at him, with his eyes like a taunt, is making Kaidoh feel heady and a little crazy. But it emboldens him too. It feels right, like this, and any hesitation Kaidoh might have been feeling is quickly vanishing with each press of Momoshiro's fingers against his neck, each breath quavering out of Momoshiro's mouth.

The cord snaps and Kaidoh takes the plunge, leaning forward until the space between them is swallowed up by his lips against Momoshiro's wet mouth.

Momoshiro lets out a deep and quick breath, and he immediately reacts to Kaidoh's lips, eyes automatically closing. His brain is wired up again with all sorts of sensations, flickering on and off, and making his body react on instinct, against his will. But then again, Momoshiro wants this. He wants it so badly, so he presses his lips against Kaidoh's hard. There's nothing gentle about it, and there's no trace of that hesitation he was feeling earlier.

He can't see that pink elephant anymore.

It's gone, replaced by Kaidoh's touch, his lips, and Momoshiro's other hand reaches for his shirt, and he yanks at it to pull him closer. Because that's all he wants; Kaidoh, closer, to him—he doesn't want to lose that experience again, so he's savouring every minute of this, every second. There's chaos swarming around in his stomach, and his heart is thumping in his throat, in his lips, sending small vibrations against Kaidoh's own. He slides his wet lips across Kaidoh's, hard, quick, urgent. It's making his head spin again.

The hand on Momoshiro's cheek feels warm and soft, like Kaidoh's simply entrapping him. It feels strong and sturdy, like a support, that Kaidoh is really there, that he's doing this too, with him. That's all that matters, he doesn't care about anything else anymore. The consequences, the awkwardness that might happen afterwards—Kaidoh's moving his lips against him, so what else can he do but respond? Respond and react, to every touch, to every movement, to Momoshiro roughly sucking at Kaidoh's lips, and once more pulling him closer, until he's almost toppling over the bucket with Kaidoh pressed against his bare chest.

Kaidoh smashes his mouth against Momoshiro's, their lips making smacking noises as they part and press together again, over and over like they're trying to bruise. He's got nearly a week's worth of pent-up frustration rushing into the kiss, all of it pouring out of him. He didn't realize just how much he'd missed this, how much he'd been hungry for it, but now he's attacking Momoshiro's mouth like he's starving. He doesn't even care if it's clumsy and desperate because Momoshiro is reeling him in with the same energy, the same eagerness. He wants it too, every bit as much.

Kaidoh keeps drawing in sharp, hitched inhalations through his nose as he tries to shove himself closer against Momoshiro, wanting to feel every inch of his skin against him again, just like before. He's completely forgotten that he's supposed to hate this, hate himself for doing it. All he can think about is how good it feels.

The hand on Momoshiro's face scrapes back over his head, fingernails digging into his short hair. He shivers his other arm up Momoshiro's side, his fingertips scratching along Momoshiro's bare skin. It feels like he's doing something forbidden, but the way Momoshiro is squirming against him urges him on and his hand travels north until it's at Momoshiro's neck where he feels Momoshiro's pulse throbbing wildly.

Momoshiro feels like he's cheering Kaidoh on, with the way his body eagerly responds to that hand at his neck, to those lips hungry for action, it's like he's throwing pompoms in the air. It didn't feel this intense the last time, those burning lips on his, moving, sucking and releasing. Or maybe it did, it's just that everything feels so great right now, nothing can compare to the rumbling vibrations he gets, shooting up all through his limbs, throughout his entire body, this need to fulfill, this urge to keep moving like this with Kaidoh. Keep moving forever.

When Kaidoh's fingernails scratch against his neck, Momoshiro can't help but groan at the sensation; it gives him goosebumps all over, makes his toes curl up, and his own fingers scratch back at Kaidoh's neck, like payback. Payback for throwing his mind into a tizzy, for making him feel so good he's losing himself again. His other hand is busy trying to sneak underneath Kaidoh's shirt. It's not fair he's the only one without one on, so exposed and vulnerable in front of Kaidoh, with red patches appearing on his skin and spreading like a disease.

And if this is a disease, then Kaidoh's mouth is his medicine. His drug.

But it's not like Momoshiro wants to be cured of this. He might have thought differently a few minutes ago, but every part of his body is disagreeing with him, especially Kaidoh's hands, which are all over him, and his mouth is just attacking his own lips as if it's the last day on earth, and they need to do it _now_. Momoshiro finally has access to Kaidoh's bare skin underneath his shirt, and he strokes his hand across his entire chest. It feels like Kaidoh's skin is on fire, it's burning against his fingers.

Unlike last time, it's Momoshiro who pushes his tongue against Kaidoh's lips, wanting inside, wanting to feel that disgusting piece of muscle again because it doesn't really feel disgusting. Not at all. Kaidoh is surprisingly willing, parting his lips against Momoshiro's, and Momoshiro quickly dips his tongue inside. It brushes up against Kaidoh's, and it makes a lightning bolt shoot through Momoshiro's body. He's left feeling like he's shaking all over, but it's thrilling, his heart is thumping against his chest, and that disease keeps rushing through him over and over. He swirls his tongue around Kaidoh's, who is moving on his own accord, like they're in a fighting cage, and they're fighting to win. To gain that dominance over each other. It's the kind of feeling Momoshiro has always had with Kaidoh, when they were still young, like eternal rivals. Except he didn't know it could escalate into this, didn't know it could be this good. It's like he's thrown into a land of unexplained mysteries, and he's just finding out about them, one by one, exploring it all with Kaidoh. Each discovery more exciting than the other.

One more scratch on his neck makes Momoshiro hiss out a sharp breath, and he bites down on Kaidoh's tongue in return—not because it hurts, but because it's just involuntary, since everything is feeling so good he needs something to hold onto. Kaidoh shoves his body against Momoshiro in response, and suddenly the balance is tipped, and Momoshiro falls over. The bucket shoots out underneath him, and he lands in the sand with a muffled yelp, his back hitting one of the strong pillars underneath the hut, keeping it up, and splinters dig into his back. Kaidoh's right on top of him, and the brief disruption severed the connection between their mouths, Momoshiro's hand no longer underneath Kaidoh's shirt.

Momoshiro looks at Kaidoh, a bit fazed, and everything is throbbing inside of him. He kicks the bucket away with his feet, reaches for Kaidoh's shirt and grips it tightly, then pulls him up to his face, until he smacks his lips against Kaidoh's again. He can never get enough of this, nothing will stop him anymore. Not even a hurricane.

Kaidoh squirms against Momoshiro, crawling forward until he's straddling him, and then his hands are back at Momoshiro's neck, and on his bare shoulders, and down against his chest. They don't linger anywhere long; he's grabbing and scratching everywhere he can, like he can't get enough. Kaidoh gets a kick out of it, a high that's better than running, from each little gasp Momoshiro makes against his mouth as Kaidoh finds a new place to touch, a new way to drive Momoshiro nuts. But it's not like Kaidoh is himself immune. He feels his heart racing too, his breath growing sharper. The way he's acting is foreign to him, but feels like an instinct he's always had and just never allowed himself to indulge. And now that he is, he's totally out of control. It's like he's not himself, or maybe right now, with Momoshiro, he's more himself than he ever was before.

He drags his lips over Momoshiro's, sucking at his mouth like he's inhaling him, like he's drinking him down, and then he bites at Momoshiro's lower lip, dragging his teeth over it. Momoshiro makes a noise Kaidoh isn't sure is a protest or a sound of encouragement, and he bites a little harder. He tugs Momoshiro's lip towards him, into his mouth, and then lets go and attacks Momoshiro's mouth with his tongue instead, shoving it between Momoshiro's lips and driving it against Momoshiro's tongue again.

This is literally making Momoshiro breathless, not to mention his lips feel raw and abused. Kaidoh's tongue inside of his mouth is plugging him up, he can't breathe anymore, not when Kaidoh's hands are everywhere on his torso. Rubbing along the skin, heating it up, making him lean in and shudder, and it's all going up to his head. An aggressive Kaidoh is always something he liked, riling him up, getting into a proper fight with him—but it's never been like _this_. Kaidoh feels so much more different from before, but still so very much like him. Instead of punches, they're eager strokes, instead of a kick, he's biting at his lips, and instead of insults, they're rushed gasps. This side of Kaidoh is something Momoshiro can get used to, or maybe he already has, but one thing's for sure; he can never get enough of it.

The hands exploring all over his body are taking their toll on Momoshiro. He grows hotter every second, sweating like crazy from the friction, the heat, this unbearable urge. It's like Kaidoh's taken the reins, and he's doing whatever he pleases to Momoshiro, and he can't do anything but take it as it comes. He feels dizzy, he feels so high.

But then he does finally move again; he can't let Kaidoh just make him feel all these amazing things. That's like, not right, and either way, it feels just as good when Momoshiro's hands are running across Kaidoh's back as well. He really is muscular, and for once, Momoshiro can't complain about his training, because it definitely paid off. The skin feels so secure under his fingers, and Kaidoh's mouth just won't stop moving on his, biting him whenever he feels like it, and Momoshiro returns the favour. Teeth sinking into his bottom lip, and he doesn't do it lightly. They never do things half assed, do they?

The closer Kaidoh leans against him, the more Momoshiro's back is pressed up against the pillar, and there are definitely some hard pieces of wood stabbing him in the back. But it's not something he notices, or really cares about. Kaidoh's on top of him, and he's hungrily kissing him, like it's all he ever wanted. It's all Momoshiro wants.

And right now, he wants to feel skin on skin. He's so annoyed with Kaidoh's tank top, it isn't fair he's sitting there with no shirt on. So his hands travel from Kaidoh's shoulder blades to the bottom of his back, and stop at the hem of his shorts. He licks at Kaidoh's tongue, distracting him a little bit longer, or well, enjoying this while he still can, before his hands grab his shirt, and he pulls it up, across his chest, towards his shoulders. Momoshiro pulls back, breaking their sloppy kiss. He takes in a deep breath and looks at Kaidoh, waiting for him.

Kaidoh glares at Momoshiro, annoyed at having to stop, even for a second. He looks down at where Momoshiro's hands are gripping his shirt, then back at Momoshiro's eyes, which are narrowed with a challenge. Well, Kaidoh's not going to back down from that. He's always willing to match Momoshiro, point for point, hit for hit. This is no different, only now it feels like the stakes are higher. There's a tingle of excitement at the prospect of his bare chest sliding against Momoshiro's own, skin against skin with no barrier between them.

It's a little scary too, but excitement outweighs the fear and Kaidoh sits back a bit on Momoshiro's thighs and covers Momoshiro's hands with his own, guiding them to tug the shirt up over Kaidoh's head. He shivers at the sensation of Momoshiro's fingers uncovering his bare skin as they move. Once it's off, Kaidoh flings it away from him into the sand and then lets out an impatient hiss before lunging against Momoshiro for more.

The sweaty collision of skin, of muscle, of Momoshiro under Kaidoh, is immediately sending Kaidoh into a weird, lightheaded daze. He feels like what they were doing before doesn't even count because it doesn't measure up to what's happening now, to the sensations he's feeling everywhere. Every touch is acute and penetrating, every part of Kaidoh's body hypersensitive. Momoshiro needs only to brush against him and it sends heated chills coursing through him, all over him. And he's doing more than just brush against him, their movements violent and frenzied. Kaidoh's mouth covers Momoshiro's own and it's like he's assaulting it with his lips, and tongue, and teeth.

Now _this_ is more like it. Momoshiro lets his hands do all the wandering over Kaidoh's body, one hand stroking Kaidoh's chest, making circles, before going down and brushing over his stomach, over those flexed abs. The other hand is trailing over Kaidoh's arched spine, tracing his fingers over the elaborate muscles on his back. And thinking this is getting in the way as well, he yanks off Kaidoh's bandana so his hair is free to be touched. He can't stop moving his hands, and neither can Momoshiro stop from kissing Kaidoh back just as much.

It's like a fight with their mouths, their teeth click against each other every once in a while because both are eager, both want it now, and it's making Momoshiro's breathing louder and harsher, until he's gasping for air each time they briefly part just to return again, tongues fiercely swirling around each other.

Momoshiro's hand on Kaidoh's back drops down, onto his own lap, and he rests it against Kaidoh's ass, which is sitting there, jerking away from his touch every once in a while. He uses his other hand as well to snake it around Kaidoh, and with both this time, he helps Kaidoh push himself closer against Momoshiro, at the same time he straightens up his own back, away from the pillar, until they collide their naked chests against each other. Now Kaidoh is really straddling him, sitting right on top his crotch, which makes Momoshiro feel all sorts of things. He leaves Kaidoh's butt alone this time, having accomplished what he set out to do—which is to get their bodies to touch as much as possible—and lets his hands roam free over Kaidoh's back. Kaidoh wraps his own arms around Momoshiro's neck, touching him exactly where he likes it. Momoshiro's fingernails scratch into Kaidoh's skin, because this is what he likes when Kaidoh does it, and thinks whatever he likes, Kaidoh does too.

Or, well, he better like it.

But there's not much thought put into each of Momoshiro's actions. He just does it, without thinking at all, because it feels good, because he wants to, he's never wanted anything this badly before. Never wanted Kaidoh this much. And instead of feeling weird, surprised, or disgusted—it simply feels right, how it's supposed to be. With Kaidoh right here on top of him, with his tongue inside of Momoshiro's mouth, eliciting sounds Momoshiro would rather not be making, but he can't help it.

Can't help but be driven completely crazy by Kaidoh.

Momoshiro slurps up Kaidoh's tongue, pushes against it, sucks on it, doing all kinds of things to it, when he pulls his head back, Kaidoh's slippery tongue slides across his tight lips. But he stops right before it's pulled out completely, and Momoshiro leans back again, sliding his lips over Kaidoh's tongue, like he's licking a popsicle, a very, very good and warm popsicle. He can feel Kaidoh pull him closer, his nails leaving a very pleasurable mark on the side of his neck, and it's making Momoshiro shudder and all his muscles twitch at the sensation. So he does it again, sliding his lips over Kaidoh's tongue; it's just so moist and hot, and Kaidoh keeps moving his body against his, so it seems they both like it. Momoshiro sure does. The next time he retracts his mouth, he makes sure to lower his teeth so they graze over Kaidoh's tongue.

It's getting harder for Kaidoh to suppress the weird, strained noises bubbling up out of his throat, and at the feeling of Momoshiro's teeth scraping over his tongue, a low, rumble of a moan rips its way out of Kaidoh's mouth and against Momoshiro's. He doesn't want to give Momoshiro the satisfaction of knowing just what he's doing to him, so Kaidoh tries to mask the sound with a growl. Not that it's much of a secret; his whole body is betraying him, so blatant that it might as well be sending up fiery red flares into the air every time Momoshiro does _anything_.

So Kaidoh retaliates by scratching his fingernails along the back of Momoshiro's neck, all the way over to the tip of his shoulder. He can feel Momoshiro's entire body react against him. His mouth parts and Kaidoh takes it as an opportunity to reclaim control of it, biting at Momoshiro's mouth, sloppy and urgent.

His thighs clench around Momoshiro's hips as he shifts in Momoshiro's lap. Even the tiniest movement feels explosive, and the toes of Kaidoh's sneakers dig into the sand, like he's looking for traction to push himself forward, closer to Momoshiro. One hand grips Momoshiro's shoulder to steady himself as Kaidoh grinds his hips forward into Momoshiro's body, seeking friction. He gasps against Momoshiro's mouth, his mind momentarily fuzzy, like all the synapses are firing at once. There's too much to focus on all at the same time and Kaidoh feels overwhelmed with crazy sensations.

_Shit._ Momoshiro gasps as Kaidoh's body moves against his, and it feels even better than last time. All of it does.

Momoshiro rolls his head back, leaving Kaidoh's lips alone for a bit. He holds Kaidoh tightly against him, arching his back into Kaidoh's chest, it feels sticky and incredibly warm. Kaidoh continues to push himself into Momoshiro, and it's just the kind of stimulation Momoshiro is craving. He tries to move with Kaidoh, but finds it's a bit difficult when Kaidoh's on top of him, basically immobilizing him, but he tries anyway, even if they're little tiny movements and thrusts of his hips into Kaidoh. It's kind of ragged like this, each of them moving in a different rhythm, but it's exciting, and it just feels so good, Momoshiro really can't hide the way he's so excited. So aroused. Not like he can even if he tried; Kaidoh's rubbing against it, there's no way he can't notice, and it's obvious he does, because he is rubbing himself right on top of it, it's making Momoshiro want to stop doing anything at all, and just let Kaidoh go at it.

But it's better if he moves too, and his hands are itching to touch Kaidoh everywhere he can, and he is. From stroking over his back, to his shoulders, up and down his arms, his torso, and yes, even rubbing his butt. Momoshiro thinks the shape is kind of cute. But thoughts like that are knocked out of him when Kaidoh's urgent grinding prevents him from doing anything but try to take in as much oxygen as possible.

Momoshiro finally pulls his head back, looks at Kaidoh's neck, then decides to lick his tongue over the teethmarks he left there before, wetting the entire surface. Then he hovers his lips right above the moist skin, not touching it, but he sucks in a very sharp and cold breath; Kaidoh's gotta feel that one.

He does. It makes Kaidoh's whole body tremble and a sharp hiss escapes from his lips. How the hell did Momoshiro have the ability to do that to him? Why is such a simple thing driving Kaidoh so crazy. It's stupid. Kaidoh wonders how to get Momoshiro to do it again.

He claws his fingernails into Momoshiro's shoulders, pulling himself closer, pushing his face against Momoshiro's neck and just breathing, or trying his best to, as he moves against Momoshiro like it's all he knows how to do. The jerk of his hips is becoming more urgent, more heated. His skin's temperature feels like it's rising by a degree each second.

Momoshiro's neck tingles all over, blood rushing to the areas Kaidoh is pressing his face against. He sort of wishes Kaidoh would always put his face against his neck there, it feels wonderful, like that's where he's meant to be.

The moving of their hips continues, straining to go up, and then fall back down, and repeating this over and over again, making Momoshiro's head spin faster. He wraps his other arm around Kaidoh's back, keeping him securely in place against him, so that their bodies can move together, to create the best friction. Something is brewing between Momoshiro's legs, it's simply getting hotter and faster, and he's losing track of anything else.

Since Kaidoh's neck is right there, Momoshiro pushes his lips against the bruise this time. He kisses it lightly, thinking it might actually hurt otherwise, and when he gets a nice accurate pushful shove against his groin, Momoshiro sucks harder in return. He leaves the bruise alone, simply kisses lightly everywhere around his neck, pausing every once in a while to suck harder and feel Kaidoh writhe against him. It's amazing, he wants to keep doing this, and keep rocking their bodies like this.

Momoshiro switches sides, going over to the left side of Kaidoh's neck, where there are no marks, and Momoshiro feels tempted to leave one there again. Temptation is turned into fruition, because Kaidoh manages to move his hips in just the _right_ way, and Momoshiro's mind is back to spinning again. A hand shoots up to the back of Kaidoh's head, and he shoves his fingers into that long hair, before grabbing hold of it, and yanking it to the right, exposing his neck. He first kisses it, once, twice, then grazes his teeth over it, from his collarbone, up to his ear, where he pulls away and licks Kaidoh's earlobe. He's breathing harshly himself, feeling like he's gliding through some clouds, he feels that high, that good, nothing can bring him down. With his tongue, he pulls Kaidoh's earlobe closer, until his lips are sucking on it, before he softly bites this as well. It feels soft and squishy, something which he never thought Kaidoh's body could be.

But Kaidoh's body is surprising him each time he explores it further; he wants to keep doing this, to get to know every detail. To feel everything there is to feel.

Kaidoh lets out a thick groan against the side of Momoshiro's face, too wrapped up in things now to remember to be embarrassed about the sounds he's making, sounds Momoshiro is making him make. He arches his neck back and sucks in air, eyes squeezed tightly shut. It's getting harder to breathe.

Every part of him is alert and reacting on instinct, from his fingertips to his toes to the angry erection straining at his shorts. It seems to twitch and pulse in reaction to each sound Momoshiro makes, and Kaidoh can't help but drive himself harder against Momoshiro's body, against the matching hardness there, wanting to draw the same reactions out of Momoshiro. It's not something Kaidoh ever imagined himself doing; those kind of thoughts were always far too embarrassing, but now he's not thinking about it at all. If he were, he'd probably feel gross. Instead he just feels good. Really good. He wants to be able to feel Momoshiro like this all the time, whenever he wants. He stopped thinking about what he was doing a while ago. Now he's just doing it, like his brain has short-circuited and all he can do is let his body ride it out, feeling everything all at once.

He drops his head against Momoshiro's shoulder, panting out shallow breaths. His hands cling and scratch at Momoshiro's neck, like he's trying to hold on, keep this going for as long as he can stand it. One hand pulls up through Momoshiro's hair, damp and sweaty—Kaidoh can't get over how different it feels now that there's so much less of it to grab, but he still manages to tug his fingers through it and pull, dragging Momoshiro's head closer to him.

Momoshiro rolls his head along with Kaidoh's tugging, leaning into it and it's drawing out moans from him; it's like Kaidoh knows just where to rub, just where to touch.

Knowing that Kaidoh is making the same sort of sounds, sounds that give him chills and thrills, keeps Momoshiro from thinking too much. From realizing what he's doing. He gets a kick out of Kaidoh's groaning and thrashing around, and moving on instinct like he is. Like nothing else matters, except them, and this moment, and trying to keep themselves as close as they can get. It's all so rough and fast, like everything else they do, it's never refined, but it's real, and they both want it. If Momoshiro had the time to spare to think rationally, he'd probably think he's crazy for wanting Kaidoh this much, for enjoying the hell out of it.

Luckily he can't do much else besides keeping Kaidoh right on top of him, in his place, moving and rubbing their hard erections against each other. It feels too good and mind blowing to have the energy to do anything else, like thinking. Thinking is evil.

Momoshiro licks around the cartilage of Kaidoh's ear, it tastes a bit like earwax, but this doesn't seem to deter him, as Kaidoh is shivering and responding to every lick and touch he makes. Momoshiro pulls away from Kaidoh's ear, then kisses his cheek, before putting his lips on Kaidoh's mouth again. It feels hot and sore, like it's taken a beating, but Kaidoh can always take it, and Momoshiro can too. He wants to do this all the time, to see Kaidoh like this, to have him against him; there's nothing else he wants more.

Except maybe some extra friction.

Momoshiro feels a slight annoying movement in his shorts. Their frantic humps aren't precise or delicate, and Kaidoh's grinding against him has shifted something in his shorts, more to the side, and he's not getting the same enjoyment out of this as before since it's in the wrong position. Momoshiro presses his mouth hard against Kaidoh, sucking and gnawing at his lips, while one of his hands pulls away from Kaidoh's back, and it wanders down the front of their chests. He intends to shift his package back to the middle and continue this electrical pleasure fest, but when he reaches his own shorts, Kaidoh moves forwards and _his_ package hits Momoshiro's knuckles.

Suddenly the decision is flipped over in his mind, and Momoshiro turns his hand over, until he presses his palm against the bulge in Kaidoh's shorts. It's extremely warm, and sticky because of all the sweat, and there's a certain wet spot on his shorts that's getting bigger the longer they do this. He encloses his shaky fingers around it, and for some reason, it makes Momoshiro feel really good as well.

Kaidoh's body freezes for a second and he breathes out against Momoshiro's mouth like he's choking. Everything seems to pause for a split second and then he's able to process what is happening and an electrical current snaps through him at the speed of light. This is new. This is _weird_. Shit, he's really touching him there, isn't he? Kaidoh's face flushes hot and red with embarrassment and surprise.

His hand traces down from Momoshiro's neck to his chest, and for a moment his fingers flinch like they're about to form a fist and he's going to punch Momoshiro for being a disgusting pervert. But they don't, and he doesn't, just presses his palm against Momoshiro's sweaty skin. He likes this. He doesn't want it to stop. Doesn't that make him a pervert too?

Fuck that, Kaidoh thinks, and then stops thinking entirely and rocks forward against Momoshiro's hand. The sensation is incredible. Everything Momoshiro is doing to him feels unreal. Why would Kaidoh second-guess any of this? Why would he even want to try? Not when Momoshiro feels like he's burning a fever clear through him.

Momoshiro hums in a pleasant tone against Kaidoh's mouth, enjoying the way Kaidoh's reacting to everything he does to him. He's not just enjoying this, he's taking immense pleasure in the fact that Kaidoh pushes closer against his hand, rubbing himself there for friction. Momoshiro's hand feels like it's burning, his lungs feel like they're burning, and he takes in sharp gasps whenever he can during the small breaks between their hungry lips. This is turning him on so much.

There are all sorts of impulses running through Momoshiro's body. Thinking things through is really the last thing on his mind, and he simply goes with the flow. He pushes his palm up against Kaidoh's hard penis, making it shift in his shorts so that it's pointing upwards. He can feel the outline of it through the shorts, it's not leaving much to the imagination, and Kaidoh seems to be really into it, what with his frenzied humps. Momoshiro thinks Kaidoh doesn't need to move that much if he's aching for the stimulation he wants, _needs_—he can rub Kaidoh himself, and he does.

He'll do anything right about now to urge Kaidoh on to continue making those sounds, and keep his hot mouth on top of his. Thoughts such as how weird this is supposed to be never even cross his mind. Momoshiro simply stops thinking.

They just need to keep going like this. Exactly like this.

The palm of Momoshiro's hand smoothes out against Kaidoh's shorts, and he feels the hardness throb and pulse against him. He digs his fingers into the fabric so that he can grab hold of it, as much as he can anyway, it feels warm, hard and soft—not much different from his own, but this is _Kaidoh's_, so it's very different. And he's just as hard as Momoshiro is, and that makes him feel all fuzzy and excited inside. He pushes his tongue against Kaidoh's before he starts to stroke it up and down. He's temporarily forgotten about his own situation, though every time he strokes down, his hand touches the base of his own erection, so Momoshiro is not about to complain.

Kaidoh squirms in Momoshiro's lap. It's a little embarrassing just how much this is driving him crazy, how he can't control the way his fingers clench around Momoshiro's shoulder, so hard it's driving his fingernails into the skin, how he keeps exhaling sharp, eager little sounds against Momoshiro's lips, sounds he swears he's never heard himself make before. Fights with Momoshiro have always been tempered chaos; they know how to push each other but also know where the limits are. But now it feels like there _are_ no limits. There are no rules or boundaries. Kaidoh hadn't realized it was possible to push things this far. Even crazier is the fact that Momoshiro is just as into it as he is, touching Kaidoh everywhere, exactly where he needs it. And that's weird too. Rather abruptly, this … thing … changed from something Kaidoh never let himself even think about, to something he wants, to something he now needs desperately. It's making it hard for Kaidoh to remember to breathe, and his lips swipe off Momoshiro's mouth, dragging across his cheek as Kaidoh sucks in air like he's surfacing from deep water.

He pants against the side of Momoshiro's face and reels at the sensation of Momoshiro's hand stroking against him. The glide of fingertips over the front of his shorts is dizzying, it's driving Kaidoh into a daze. He's arching against him still, but feels like he doesn't even need to, not with the way Momoshiro is touching him. Kaidoh doesn't want it to ever stop. With each breath he exhales, the air around them seems to thicken, warm and humid. Everything is getting slick and sticky.

He pulls away from Momoshiro's face for a moment and just watches him, looks at his mouth, swollen and damp and his eyes shut like this is the only thing he's thinking about, the only thing he's focused on. It makes Kaidoh's cheeks heat up, just when he thought it wasn't possible for his face to get any warmer. But seeing Momoshiro like this, like this because of _him_ is embarrassing, but also beyond exhilarating. Kaidoh shudders and drops his face into the crook of Momoshiro's neck, squeezing his eyes shut again and pressing his mouth against the skin there with the force of a punch.

The hand at Momoshiro's chest scratches down his torso, and Kaidoh feels it start to shake as it creeps lower, sliding between their bodies, getting nearly trapped between their sweaty skin, until he's at the front of Momoshiro's shorts. He slides his palm against Momoshiro's erection, making Momoshiro jerk towards him, and Kaidoh's breath quickens. His pulse feels like it's about to leap out of his neck. It's a little scary, but it's also a rush, and Momoshiro's doing it too; they're doing it together. Kaidoh's fingers get a little more daring, the touch becoming less tentative, and he tries to match what Momoshiro is doing, to stroke him in the same rhythm. He wants to make him feel just as good.

Shit, shit, shit, shit—_yes._

Momoshiro is getting overloaded by all these sensations, these thumping and pumping, and fizzly feelings that are erupting everywhere inside of him. He leans right into Kaidoh's hand, and he's pressing them against each other, barely leaving them any room to move, but it just feels so damn good, he can't help himself. Can't do anything but moan right into Kaidoh's ear, every fiber of embarrassment and shame has left his body. He doesn't care anymore, he only cares how good this feels, how good Kaidoh feels against his own hand, and how Kaidoh is matching the same pace. This is something he never thought would ever happen, but it is.

This definitely beats fantasizing and masturbating on his own. It can't even be compared. Kaidoh's hand is just so different and satisfies him in ways he's never achieved on his own. Though he certainly has gathered new masturbation material ...

Momoshiro slings his other free arm around Kaidoh's back, to keep them close together, but not that he really needs to, Kaidoh's doing this fine on his own, leaning against Momoshiro for support. He looks and sounds so out of it. Momoshiro can't say much himself, as he's hissing and groaning with each stroke Kaidoh makes, it makes him stroke Kaidoh faster in return. Harder, rougher. He leans his head against the side of Kaidoh's head, and keeps him there, as if he's something precious that needs to be protected, something he shouldn't ever let go.

Not that he even wants to, he feels glued to Kaidoh. Leaving him isn't even an option. Stopping isn't either. So they continue like this, pressed against each other, and rubbing through their shorts.

Damn shorts are in the way, Momoshiro thinks. He kisses Kaidoh wherever his lips can reach, on his neck, his collarbone, his temple, his cheek, his ear, everywhere really. The hand on Kaidoh's back is having fun pulling at his hair, but he's mostly focused on the action below, the furious rubbing that's going on. His shorts feel stained and sticky, and the fierce friction from his cotton shorts are beginning to wear him down.

They really are in the way.

Momoshiro doesn't take them off, of course not—he can't, not with Kaidoh on top of him. And stopping isn't an option. So he raises his hand across Kaidoh's lump, finds the hem, and wedges his fingers underneath it, making sure to go down his boxer shorts too. His fingers make contact with the scorching skin of the glans; it's completely wet. Then quickly, he wraps his entire hand around it, skin on skin, it feels like such a burning fizzle. He worms it out of Kaidoh's shorts, until it's out in the open air between them. Momoshiro takes a moment to get used to the feeling of it in his hands, then continues his stroking, this time being able to feel the skin rub up and down against the blood vessels underneath it. It's so different from his own, and it's so exciting. Kaidoh's hand against him feels exciting too. It's the greatest rush on earth.

It's not like he's secretly measuring the length of Kaidoh's penis, but when it's in his hand like that, throbbing and twitching, he can't help himself. Momoshiro has seen it before, years ago when they showered together, but it was nothing like this. Not when it's fully upright and thick with blood—all because of him. He shudders and his shoulders tremble against Kaidoh's chest.

Momoshiro arches his hips forwards against Kaidoh's hand, urgent and needy, hoping he'll get the hint, because he sure as hell isn't going to ask for it.

Kaidoh jerks against Momoshiro's hand and hisses hard into his neck. The blood pounding against his eardrums seems to be screaming at him, but the words are incoherent. Kaidoh can't make sense of them. He can't make sense of anything. All remnants of logic, among other things, have traveled south and his head feels like it's empty, or simply full of fluff. It's like he knows what's happening—he can feel Momoshiro's hand stroking him, fingers curled around his erection, the warm pressure building inside of it—he knows it's there, knows Momoshiro is there, but at the same time it feels totally surreal. It feels like it can't be actually happening.

At least Kaidoh's body still seems able to make sense of what's going on. His fingers move against Momoshiro like instinct, curling around the bulge in his shorts and stroking upwards. Each reaction he draws out of Momoshiro, each gasp and moan, urges Kaidoh on, because he's controlling them. No, they're controlling each other. It feels competitive, Momoshiro keeps trying to drive the pace faster, and Kaidoh isn't about to lose. Each thing Momoshiro is doing feels like it's pushing things a little further, like he's taunting Kaidoh, waiting to see if Kaidoh will back down or be up for the challenge. Just how far can he take this? How far are they both willing to go? Whatever it is, Kaidoh's not going to back down. He won't let Momoshiro have the satisfaction of having beaten him at something. Even if that something is … whatever this is.

So Kaidoh slides his hand up, slipping against Momoshiro's own as he does—it's really cramped down there between their bodies, not to mention sweaty—until he finds the band on Momoshiro's shorts and shoves his fingers down under it to where Momoshiro's penis is already twitching, eager for attention.

Momoshiro immediately jerks his entire body and bangs his head against Kaidoh's, taking in a sharp breath. This definitely feels better, Kaidoh's bony fingers around his own hard flesh, it's just what he's craving.

If someone had told Kaidoh yesterday that he was going to be sticking his hand down Momoshiro's shorts and that he'd _like_ doing it, he would have punched them in the face. But here he is, fingers easily slipping around Momoshiro's hard length and pulling at it with ragged strokes as he tries to fall into a steady rhythm. With each movement he makes, with each movement Momoshiro makes, Kaidoh's breathing grows a little more strained. He knows Momoshiro can hear it. He knows Momoshiro can feel it too.

Momoshiro's hearing leaves a little more to be desired, he feels like he's turning deaf with his heartbeat pounding at his ear drums. With blood rushing through his entire head; he can't hear anything clearly anymore. He's just so focused on the friction of their hands, stroking up and down, it feels fucking amazing, and Momoshiro feels like taking his time to enjoy this, but on the other hand, he feels like he won't last long at all. No, everything is just one big turn on for him, and it's making him creep closer to the edge. Or more accurately; he's speeding towards the finish line.

Since this is Kaidoh, who is sitting on him, naked chests bumping into each other every once in a while, hands furiously rubbing up and down, and Kaidoh's lips leaning against his collarbone, making noises Momoshiro has only heard in adult videos. This is much better than that, it's probably the best thing he's felt before in his life. Even winning the nationals with Kaidoh doesn't compare, because now he's here with Kaidoh, wanting the same thing, doing the same thing—they're on the same wavelength, and it's a connection Momoshiro gets high off, like he's getting drunk.

Momoshiro's breathing is so unsteady and irregular, sometimes he sucks in a breath and holds it in, it magnifies all the feelings as he's so focused on it, completely engrossed with the pleasure Kaidoh is giving him. He wants to do the same, he hopes he's doing the same, and if Kaidoh's face is any indication, he thinks he's doing the same.

He bumps his forehead against Kaidoh's, looking right into his half open eyes for a second, before he shifts his head down, looking at their hands, looking at the skin going up and down. Momoshiro never thought he'd see the day where the sight of Kaidoh's hand rubbing his penis would give him the best chills in the world. Nor would he think he'd enjoy stroking Kaidoh as well, he likes it just as much as he receives it, because this is what they do; they give and take.

It had once started out with fighting, and now it's turned into one bizarre dream where their almost naked bodies are simply together, running towards the same goal.

At least it's not _really_ running, Momoshiro would prefer he stay put, with Kaidoh on top of him, not going anywhere.

But he _is_ getting somewhere. Something is steadily building up inside of Momoshiro, something which makes him twitch and jerk, and gasp and moan, and then he's back to pushing his lips against Kaidoh again. He can't stop, he just wants to touch him as much as possible, everywhere he can. He tightens his grip on Kaidoh's penis, and makes long deep strokes, moving the skin over the glans, and rubbing his thumb over it before he pulls it back down. He's amazed with himself that he's able to do this while his head is spinning mind blowingly fast. It's out of control. They're out of control.

When Kaidoh screws his eyes shut, his other senses all seem to leap into heightened sensitivity. He can hear every sound Momoshiro's making, from his shallow breathing, to the louder, more desperate noises that make Kaidoh's ears burn with embarrassment, because fuck, _he's_ the one causing them. He can hear himself, too, just as unhinged, just as frantic. He doesn't even recognize his voice; Momoshiro's drawing sounds out of him he's never made before, never had a use for until this moment.

He can hear their hands too, the slick sound of skin against skin, an ever accelerating, repetitive rhythm that they're both riding out for as long as they can sustain it. It's really strange to listen to, it should be disgusting, but it's just making Kaidoh even more aroused, because he can feel what those sounds are doing to him, feel in the shudder of Momoshiro's shoulders against his body what they're doing to Momoshiro as well. Every touch seems like _just_ what he's craving, and Kaidoh didn't realize he was even the sort of person to get cravings … not like this. But that's exactly what it is, a very deep and heavy need pounding within him. And he can't think of anything except … _More_.

He clutches at Momoshiro's shoulder like his palm is glued to it; he doesn't want to stop holding onto him. He's not sure what would happen if he did. He nudges his face against Momoshiro's head, rubbing his cheek against his sweaty hair and then drops his head and inhales sharply. Everything smells thick and heady. He presses his mouth onto the whorl of Momoshiro's ear and shallow breaths pant out against it. He skims his mouth down along Momoshiro's neck, and tastes nothing but sweat and heat, which should be gross, but he just can't get enough of it. He can't get enough of any of this.

He can't seem to stop putting his mouth against Momoshiro, wherever he can reach, always wanting to come back to his lips, which now seem impossibly red and full now. But it's getting hard to do anything but just try and remember to breathe. His mind is whirling from sensory overload. His body feels like it's becoming overloaded too; he doesn't know how long he'll be able to hold it together. Not long, he knows, not if Momoshiro keeps going like this. Kaidoh sure hopes he keeps going like this. As with anything they do, he's intent on seeing it through to the end.

For a bit, Momoshiro's stroking becomes sloppy, the rhythm thrown off, all because he's so concentrated on what Kaidoh is doing to him. Everything he does hits just the right spot, makes him feel just the right thing, and he's left shuddering all over, the vibrations of Kaidoh's touches each keep getting more and more intensified.

Like he's a machine humming with electricity, being overloaded and static crackles everywhere.

It's everywhere; Kaidoh can't seem to stop kissing Momoshiro wherever he wants. And Momoshiro isn't about to complain, the only sounds that are coming out of his mouth are short and shallow moans. Moans he should be embarrassed about making, but it's hard to stop them, and it's hard to give a shit with Kaidoh's hand down his shorts, and his own hand rubbing and jerking as well.

If Momoshiro had any sense of shame, could take a moment to think, then maybe he wouldn't be doing this. But he is, they're both doing this as if they're under the influence of something that's preventing them from thinking too much, it's making them unable to act on their rational thoughts.

It's all instincts right now. Needs, wants, movements, a common goal of continuing this for as long as they can, striving towards that finish line. And enjoy the hell out of it.

Momoshiro throws his head back as he bites down his lips and shoves his hips against Kaidoh's hand. It's all getting so intense and so tight; Kaidoh's hand around his penis is the most pleasurable thing on earth. And even though his strokes are different from what he usually does, different from what he usually likes alone, it's all steadily building up, it's all tightening around him. He tries to do the same thing for Kaidoh, but his movements are off, and sometimes he just focuses on the feelings Kaidoh is giving him instead, being out of order for a second or so, before he remembers that Kaidoh's just as needy as he is, and wants this just as much—and Momoshiro eagerly rubs him again; he is not going to deny him this. Not like last time.

A certain pull of his skin makes Momoshiro gasp harshly because of all the tingling sensations he gets from it. _So close_. "Nghh." He rolls his head back to face Kaidoh again, then swiftly tilts it to the left, and his mouth is back on Kaidoh's attractive neck. On that soft area of red and hot flesh. He kisses it, sucks hard on it; the inhalation makes everything buzz inside of him, and his own sensations are enlarged and magnified—he sucks even harder, getting a satisfied reaction out of a squirmy Kaidoh.

He loves making Kaidoh act like this, if he's not busy enjoying the same feelings Kaidoh is making _him_ experience. More, he thinks, more squirming, more sucking.

Another jerk with Kaidoh's magic hands has Momoshiro gasping against Kaidoh's neck once more in ecstasy. He can't take this anymore, so he does what he did the last time; his teeth bite down on the side of Kaidoh's neck. It helps him stay connected to Kaidoh, stay focused, and simply feel what he's feeling. Even his teeth feel sensitive. Momoshiro picks up his pace and rubs Kaidoh faster, hoping he'll match the speed, because he's getting so close. He puts more force into his bite, Kaidoh's skin satisfactorily shivering against him. Then his lips purse together and he starts to suck on it as well—just like last time. If he doesn't, he feels like he might fall off the end of the earth.

Kaidoh's sweet smelling sweat has Momoshiro reeling around lightheaded; his focus is slipping.

Kaidoh growls against Momoshiro's neck. The sting of Momoshiro's teeth against his skin is maddening, making Kaidoh feel like he's shivering all over. He realizes that he is, his entire body alert to Momoshiro's touch like it's a strong wind gusting clear through him, chilling and burning him at the same time. The sharp suction of Momoshiro's idiotic mouth feels like it's leaving scorching marks against his neck. Kaidoh thought he was so familiar with that mouth, having watched it open countless times to pour out idiotic ramblings, but now every time it opens against Kaidoh's skin, he feels something new and different and _incredible_, things he didn't know a person could feel.

He rocks forward in Momoshiro's lap, against his hand, against his own hand so their knuckles are pinned together for a moment and he can feel Momoshiro's hand moving along the back of his own as they both slide up and down. Kaidoh speeds up and feels Momoshiro's body tense up, and then his hand starts moving again to match him, and then it's Momoshiro speeding up and Kaidoh jerking to catch up. Kaidoh's fingers tighten around Momoshiro's erection, feeling it throb against his hand as he twists his wrist and works his hand up and down, faster and faster. The straining heat is starting to make his fingertips feel numb, simply overwhelmed with sensation.

His growl turns into a groan and he nuzzles his face against Momoshiro's dark hair, against his sweaty neck, against his bare shoulder, almost like his hiding himself there, burrowing against Momoshiro's body as he rapidly feels control slip away from him. It's not unfamiliar territory for him, to be this unrestrained. Their fights have always been like this, with both of them caught up in the moment so much they both don't hold themselves back. But now it's different. Now Kaidoh feels like he _can't_ hold back, not even if he tried.

Momoshiro can't hold back either, in fact, it feels like he's going to burst soon. Not to mention his arm is getting tired from moving up and down so much; who knew that something like this could make him tired. But everything is giving him weird and mixed feelings. He feels exhausted, yet pumped up with all the energy in the world. His mind is hazy, but very clearly focused on only one goal; to continue.

His jaw finally relaxes, and Momoshiro pulls his teeth away from Kaidoh's skin, having bitten it raw and red. He closes his eyes and leans his head against Kaidoh's, who's buried into his own neck like he belongs there, like he owns that spot. Momoshiro isn't going to push him away though, he _likes_ Kaidoh depending on him like this. Needing him like this. And that feeling is probably even better than the skin of his penis being rubbed up and down. Together? They make his insides scream and are tearing him down, fast and rough.

The muscles in his arm feel strained and tired, but Momoshiro doesn't want to stop, not when Kaidoh is still nuzzling against him and gasping out the most sensational sounds Momoshiro has ever heard. He doesn't want to switch hands either, since that would be an uncomfortable position, so he just sucks it up, and keeps stroking Kaidoh.

And Kaidoh keeps doing him too. They try to match each other's rhythms, and it's not that hard at all, though a bit difficult with their bodies pressed up against each other like this.

Momoshiro takes his hand away from Kaidoh's back, and slides it against his cheek, cupping it so he can gently pull him away from his neck, facing him again. Then he places his lips against Kaidoh's; hungry and hot for them. They're just so thick and moist, and glowing with warmth, Momoshiro sort of feels like a fish gaping for air the way he kisses Kaidoh; like he's his oxygen. He's all he needs.

There's a growing urge within Momoshiro, and it's speeding up. Each time Kaidoh jerks at him, he can feel his penis eagerly twitch in response. It's not going to last much longer, and Momoshiro can't do anything but suck at Kaidoh's lips, and hope he won't die from not breathing enough. He squeezes Kaidoh's penis harder, and accidentally scrapes his nails against the flesh as he pulls up.

The sudden sharp, scratching feeling against Kaidoh's penis makes him hiss out a harsh puff of air against Momoshiro's mouth and his hips snap on their own accord. His skin is so sensitive that anything Momoshiro does, even by accident, is sending sparks shooting through Kaidoh's bloodstream. He strokes Momoshiro faster, his movements becoming jerky and a lot less fluid. It's like he's losing focus on his own actions, like everything in the periphery is starting to shut down from circuit overload and he's simply zeroing in on a single goal.

Kaidoh's able to do little more than gasp against Momoshiro's lips and press his mouth hard against him like he's angry, all the while still making sounds like he's anything but. And he really isn't. He's feeling better than he has in a long time, maybe ever.

He pulls Momoshiro's bottom lip between his lips and teeth and pants hot breaths out against it before releasing and smacking his whole mouth against him, and inhaling like he's trying to suck Momoshiro inside out.

Momoshiro tries to match him, pulling away, and reeling back in, pushing his lips up against Kaidoh's. The experience is making him dizzy and exhausted, but he can't stop. He bites down on Kaidoh's bottom lip, prying it open and then he shoves his tongue in there, having a fierce wet battle with Kaidoh's tongue. It's creating sparks and they shock him each time they move—and they've moving _all the time_.

It's starting to get too much for Momoshiro, it's hard to sit there with Kaidoh straddling his lap, jerking him off, and tongues swirling around each other, and then not stop functioning completely from the overload of explosive feelings. But he keeps on going, because Kaidoh still is, even if both of them are becoming sloppy, unrefined, rough like they always are.

There's nothing graceful about what they're doing. But god does it feel amazing.

Momoshiro can feel the palm of Kaidoh's hand run up against him, the friction is burning, and it's making all his blood rush faster and faster. Kaidoh's tongue plays up against him, and they both keep pulling back a bit to take in a quick breath; Momoshiro is sure he's going to pass out if he doesn't breathe enough. This doesn't stop him from sucking in another deep breath, and he holds it, while all his muscles get zapped with electricity, and Kaidoh just keeps on pulling the skin up and down, over his most sensitive parts.

It starts to go down a bit in slow motion for Momoshiro. Kaidoh moves his hand just _so_, moans in _just_ the right voice, and Momoshiro bites down on Kaidoh's tongue as he feels something pull through him. His hand tightens around Kaidoh's penis, and his movements have become unpredictable, he's just extremely focused on Kaidoh's hand, on his tongue, on everything he's doing to him. With just one more stroke, Momoshiro feels that incredible urge that's been building up all this time burst out of him.

He lets out a very loud and deep moan against Kaidoh's mouth with the breath he'd been holding in all this time, and he moves his hips roughly against Kaidoh's hands. A chilling rush pumps through his entire body, making his muscles twitch as he feels his penis throb with each contraction. He stops rubbing Kaidoh, leaving his mouth alone, eyes closed and face pulled into pure bliss. The warm liquid seeps over Kaidoh's hand, and onto his own stomach. He shudders and shivers; he's never felt this tired and good before.

Momoshiro sighs as all his muscles relax. He's feeling way too good to do anything but slump against Kaidoh's hot body.

Except Kaidoh is still there, still in that moment, and Momoshiro can feel his stare burning through his closed eyelids. He jerks at Momoshiro's still hard penis to get his attention, and Momoshiro finally opens his eyes again. Right.

The hand around Kaidoh's penis slips off—he's way too tired to use that arm again—and wraps his other hand around it. Momoshiro's grip is tight and fast; he wants Kaidoh to come as well. Momoshiro is still riding the waves of his orgasm, and it's only heightened by seeing Kaidoh's face screw up again as he gasps for air when he starts moving up and down.

With Momoshiro's mind more clear, and being able to focus on something else besides his throbbing penis, he looks at Kaidoh as he jerks him off faster and faster. It's a sight to behold, Momoshiro wants to keep looking at him. But he also wants to kiss him, so he does, smacking his lips against him again, while one hand runs through Kaidoh's hair and pulls at it, yanking it really. He loves seeing Kaidoh's reactions. And seeing his reaction from before, Momoshiro smirks against his lips then grazes his nails against the length of Kaidoh's penis as he pulls up again.

Kaidoh's whole body shudders and vibrates against Momoshiro when he touches him like that. Momoshiro keeps doing all these things to him that Kaidoh never knew he'd like so much. It's like Momoshiro is figuring out his secrets at the same time Kaidoh is. And now he knows just how to rile him up. Well, Momoshiro always did.

Kaidoh's hand slips down Momoshiro's shoulder onto his arm, his fingers digging deeply into his bicep, like it's all that's keeping him from tumbling over the edge. He feels Momoshiro's arm moving, stroking him faster and faster, and the touch is sending heat coursing through him each time. It just keeps building. Kaidoh feels like he's aching for release and it's close; he can feel it. Momoshiro's grip is determined. There's something about it that feels familiar, like every time Momoshiro has Kaidoh pinned to the ground during a fight and is waiting for Kaidoh's move, eager for him to react.

It's hard _not_ to react, not when everything Momoshiro is doing seems to be pushing every one of Kaidoh's buttons. He pulls back from Momoshiro's mouth, because it's overwhelming him, because he can't breathe. His lips feel like they're tingling with anticipation. His whole body feels like it's fluttery, trembling. It's all building, and Momoshiro isn't stopping, and Momoshiro is _watching_, waiting, he just keeps pushing those buttons …

Momoshiro seems to feel it coming too, because he's speeding up, and he does that thing with his fingernails again, and when Kaidoh opens his eyes, he sees Momoshiro staring right at him with this weird, indiscernible look, and it's enough. No, it's _too much_. Kaidoh's breath speeds up into tiny, hitched gasps of air, and then stops entirely as his whole face scrunches up, lips slightly parted and wordless. His hips arch and his whole body seems to go tense and rigid for several seconds as his penis pumps against Momoshiro's fingers, emptying what feels like all of his energy into Momoshiro's hand.

Momoshiro seems to be pulling everything out of him and finally, after what feels like the longest moment in the world, Kaidoh starts breathing again, air rushing out of him in a long, aspirated sound, almost like a low whimper. And then suddenly all his muscles feel like jelly. His body feels boneless, like he's been running for days. He feels really good, and really sticky. His mind hasn't clicked back on yet. It's like he's waking up from a very good dream, and is still lingering in the hazy few minutes before his eyes open. As though he doesn't want it to end, he slumps his head forward against Momoshiro's shoulder and just sits there against him, breathing in and out.

They can only hear each other breathe at the moment, their bodies slumped against each other, and their hands covered in white stickiness. Momoshiro thinks it's kind of gross. But the moment feels too good to move, it's like it'll get ruined if either of them move an inch. And it's not like Momoshiro wants to anyway; he's still buzzing with a fluttery and exciting feeling.

So they stay like that, their hands resting in each other's laps, and their chests moving from their breathing.

Momoshiro takes his non-sticky hand out of Kaidoh's hair, then slides down his back, stroking it, lightly, comforting. Grazing over his spine, and going all the way back up to his head, where he pushes his palm against it to keep Kaidoh seated against his shoulder. Then he places one small kiss against the temple of Kaidoh's head. He doesn't know why he does it, it's just that everything is feeling so relaxing and good and comfortable and it's like he's seeing the world through rose coloured glasses. He sighs against Kaidoh's hair, his heart beat is finally slowing down.

Momoshiro could stay in this moment forever, not moving at all.

But he wipes his sticky hand off against Kaidoh's shorts anyway. That stuff is gross. He also pushes his own flaccid penis back inside of his boxers, it's kind of weird having it sit out there, a sticky sweaty mess. And because he's feeling nice, he does the same for Kaidoh's as well.

Then wipes his hand on Kaidoh's shorts some more.

Kaidoh squirms a bit in Momoshiro's lap. His whole crotch feels damp and his fingers are sticky and tingly and it's kind of disgusting. And it's suddenly weird that he's sitting on Momoshiro, pressed up against him, cheek pushed against his shoulder and face burrowing into his neck. They're so … close. It feels wrong now that they have no excuse. He should move.

Kaidoh takes a deep breath against Momoshiro's neck, smelling his sweaty hair and skin. He can hear Momoshiro breathe in, and out, and then in again. His fingers on Momoshiro's arm can feel the pulse running under Momoshiro's skin gradually slow. It doesn't feel wrong at all. In fact, it's making Kaidoh's chest feel like it's pinching, which should be painful, but isn't. It's confusing.

He raises his head and it brushes against Momoshiro's hair as he moves and looks down between them, like he's surveying the damage. Well. That's. Uh. Kaidoh feels embarrassed. He feels really embarrassed. He wipes his hand off on the leg of his shorts and pulls back from Momoshiro, his face a weird mix of emotions. Mostly nerves. He feels like he should say something, but his voice seems to be caught in his throat. The sounds that were coming out of his mouth earlier are sort of mortifying for him to think about now. What the hell do you even say after that?

_Wanna do it again?_ Momoshiro is a bit too dizzy to think straight, but he does know that it felt incredible, and despite reality slowly sinking into him, making him aware of the situation, he wants to do it again.

Which really does make him this disgusting pervert that Kaidoh probably thinks he is.

Momoshiro dares to look at Kaidoh, perhaps to shove him off, or to pull him closer—he's not yet ready to face the consequences, can't he stay in this moment a little while longer? He sees Kaidoh looking down at the mess between them, and Momoshiro follows his gaze, until it stops at a certain fuzzy part on Kaidoh's face.

Wait—fuzzy?

There, right above Kaidoh's upper lip, is a patch of Momoshiro's freshly cut hair. Somehow it had gotten stuck on Kaidoh's face. It looks like a dumb mustache … it looks like …

"You look like fucking Hitler," is the first thing Momoshiro says after jerking eachother off and humping together against the side of the hut. But the moment is broken, the magic time is over, and now Momoshiro just thinks Kaidoh looks hilariously funny, what with his hair stuck to his lip.

So he just laughs, a heartfelt bellowing laugh erupting from his stomach.

"What the hell?" Kaidoh growls back at him, his eyebrows knitting together in a mix of irritation and confusion and his mouth pulling into tight scowl. His arm is ready before he even needs to think about it, and he throws his fist into Momoshiro's stomach, causing Momoshiro's laugh to turn into more of a choking sound. "You asshole," he says grumpily. Stupid Momoshiro. It feels like his annoying laugh is making Kaidoh's whole face tickle. It's never done that before. It's sort of weird.

Actually …

Kaidoh swipes the back of his hand over his lip and when he pulls it away there's hair clinging to his knuckles. His whole face goes red. "Oh …" he says, but the embarrassment doesn't last for long and soon he's glaring again and doing what comes naturally. Which is to argue over something stupid.

"What the fuck? What are you laughing at _me_ for? It's _your_ stupid hair, idiot!" he snarls, and flings the hair at Momoshiro's face, then knocks his fist into Momoshiro's chin for good measure. But this time not hard enough to really hurt.

"Asshole!" Momoshiro squeaks out. His stomach hurts, and his jaw hurts too, so he growls at Kaidoh and finally pushes him off of him, giving one forceful shove against his naked sweaty chest. Kaidoh topples off of him, and Momoshiro quickly wipes away the hair stuck on his cheek that Kaidoh flung at him.

Having no more weight on top of him, Momoshiro is able to move freely, so he finally pulls away from the log underneath the hut. He can feel his skin sticking to it, but he can also feel something else … something's stuck in his back. He gets up and tries to crane his neck around so he can look at his own back, but Momoshiro is an idiot, not an owl, so he sees nothing. But it stings like a bitch.

"Did you do something weird to me?" Momoshiro asks as he's still busy trying to look at his own back. He doesn't realize how his own words sound like, but his stomach is hurting, his back hurts, and his shorts are a mess—he doesn't really care at the moment what he sounds like.

Momoshiro finally stops looking at his own back (he's been spinning around in circles), stops since he's a bit lightheaded (and that punch still hurt!), and looks down at Kaidoh sitting down in the sand. The gravity of the situation finally kicks in as his eyes flicker over Kaidoh, whose body is sweaty everywhere, red in random places, but mostly his face, and he's snarling at Momoshiro, but that snarl doesn't look dangerous at all. It almost looks endearing when he's got two bitemarks on both sides of his neck, his hair is unkempt, and his lips look like they've been through one hell of a time. Oh, and there's stains on his white shorts. Not that his are clean … or his stomach. Momoshiro inconspicuously tries to wipe it off with the back of his hand, looking indignantly at Kaidoh.

And there's still a bit of hair left above his upper lip, which is kind of funny, but Momoshiro tries to keep his laughs to himself.

Kaidoh stops snarling and pulls himself to his feet, grimacing at the sticky state of his shorts. It's really embarrassing. He wants to wash his clothes, and himself. He wipes his hand over his face again, managing to swipe away the last of Momoshiro's stupid clingy bits of hair, and unconsciously rubbing at his lips as he does. They're still really tingly, and feel kind of raw from Momoshiro's relentless mouth. That's also kind of embarrassing, but kind of … nice, too.

Kaidoh has to force himself to stop touching his mouth, and drops his hand and looks at Momoshiro, who's just finished spinning around like an idiot. Kaidoh gives him a questioning look. What's he doing? What's he talking about? Did Kaidoh _do something weird_ to him? The question makes Kaidoh shiver, but Momoshiro doesn't seem to be talking about … that. After all, he wouldn't need to ask about that. He was there when it happened just now. He knows exactly what Kaidoh did to him.

So … what does he mean? What was with the spinning?

"Let me see," Kaidoh says, and puts his hands on Momoshiro's shoulders to turn him around, trying to figure out what Momoshiro was looking for. It doesn't take long. It's kind of hard to miss. There's a splinter of wood from the pillar wedged into his back, just below his shoulder blades. It's pretty big, kind of long and narrow. Kaidoh inhales a sharp, sympathetic hiss, because that must hurt.

"It's a splinter," he explains, and his hands leave Momoshiro's shoulders to trail down toward the center of his back. "Hold still," he warns. "I'll try and pull it out."

"Wait—what?" Momoshiro squeaks out. But he can't protest anything else because in one swift moment, Kaidoh's pulled the thing out of his back, and Momoshiro squirms and screams out loud from the stinging pain.

"Fuck! Geez! Whatever happened to counting!?" he yells at Kaidoh. His back is throbbing in pain right now, and that sort of pain didn't feel as good as when Kaidoh caused it, scratching him all over. Actually, now that he's got a good look at his own chest, it's not that he's red from blushing … they're red trail marks from scratching. It's everywhere. And now _that_ makes him blush. His arm looks very bruised too; Kaidoh's been keeping a firm grip on it all this time.

Momoshiro can't believe what they just did.

But it _did_, and it really did feel good. And by god does he want this to happen again, but this is Kaidoh. What if … What if he … Well, at least he didn't run off like last time, so that's an improvement. Momoshiro stares at the sand below him, seeing the rough prints their bodies left behind as they … did _that_, the bucket kicked over, hair scattered all over the place, and Kaidoh's shirt and bandana lying near his feet. He bends down to grab the black tank top; it's sweaty and crinkled. He clutches it in his hand a bit, before he turns around to Kaidoh and hands it over to him.

"Uhh, here. It's a bit hairy though," says Momoshiro. He spots a few locks of his own hair stuck on it. It's a bit embarrassing, but he can't show that to Kaidoh, not when they're facing each other, with sticky shorts, and both know exactly what they just did. He looks at Kaidoh, eyes determined and slightly narrowed, as if he's waiting for Kaidoh to look back at him with the same eyes, to have that same look of approval and agreement that this shall never be mentioned out loud.

But hopefully they may do it again. Momoshiro sure hopes it will. Which is also really confusing to him, but at the moment, any sort of doubt or weirdness from this situation is pushed to the back of his mind; he doesn't want to run off again like last time.

Kaidoh grabs his shirt out of Momoshiro's hand and holds it limply in front of him. He looks up for a moment, at Momoshiro, and then back down at the sand.

"Thanks," he says quietly. What a dumb thing to say. He shakes the tank top off, sending bits of hair flying into the air, then he picks up his bandana from the ground as well. He doesn't put it back on his head though, even though his hair is a complete mess. Instead he just unties the knot and absentmindedly starts folding the cloth up again. It gives him something to do with his hands. And it keeps him from looking back up at Momoshiro's chest where he can see all the other things he's done with his hands, because that's kind of—no, not kind of, _very_—embarrassing. Shit. Did he really do all that?

He looks back at Momoshiro and hisses. He's definitely not about to acknowledge that. His eyes flick to Momoshiro's mouth. Or that. Then his gaze drifts a bit lower. Or … He sucks in a breath. Yeah. No, definitely not that. At least not out loud. He'd rather die.

Stop being so awkward, Momoshiro wants to tell him, but he's feeling kind of embarrassed too. Way too exposed. He's got nothing to cover up with; nothing but his white shorts which are stained embarrassingly. Then he spots the bucket kicked over in the sand, and hops over to it, lifting it up to …

… cover it in front of his crotch.

It's lame. It's stupid. Momoshiro's cheeks flush with red.

"So …" Momoshiro says in a tiny squeaky voice. "That was a good haircut." Oh god he wants to punch himself.

Kaidoh snorts, if only to distract from how much he's blushing, how awkward he feels. He wants to punch Momoshiro too. He wants him to shut up. Or maybe just keep talking, because at least Momoshiro is able to, which is more than Kaidoh can say for himself. All he can manage to do is make weird hissing and grumbling sounds. It's annoying. He should say something. Things shouldn't be this quiet.

"Idiot," he huffs. Surprisingly, it does make him feel a little better.

"Dumbass." Momoshiro looks up at him with puffed out cheeks.

Kaidoh narrows his eyes at him, but he's having a hard time looking angry because Momoshiro just looks really ridiculous right now. Which makes Kaidoh feel a little relieved. It takes his mind off all the more embarrassing thoughts he could be having, because it reminds him that Momoshiro's an idiot and he's still an idiot even after all that.

"Moron," Kaidoh says, but this time in a tone almost like he's giving a compliment rather than an insult.

Momoshiro sticks out his tongue at Kaidoh. A childish act, but what else can he do? He throws the bucket down into the sand, before promptly turning around, taking steps towards the hut.

"I'm gonna get changed," he says. "You should too."

"Yeah," Kaidoh agrees, his voice sounding automatic and mechanical, because it's a little awkward to talk so casually about changing out of their disgusting, sticky shorts. But Kaidoh's not about to call attention to it. Hell no. He'll just act like everything's totally normal, like this is just a usual thing for them …

Kaidoh blinks.

Could this be a usual thing for them? Is that … something that could happen? The thought makes Kaidoh's skin prickle.

Momoshiro tries to look confident in his walk, and not like he's got spaghetti noodles as his legs, and he's wobbling, walking with them spread apart, so that his stickiness doesn't touch his skin. He looks like a stupid spider. But he holds his head up high as he enters back inside of the hut. He can do this. They can do this.

It'll be fine. Even if it's forceful and still embarrassing, as long as neither of them are running away, or not talking, then it should be fine. Momoshiro watches Kaidoh enter in the hut as well. It's an awkward five minutes of staring at the wall as they both clean into new boxers and shorts, ones that aren't stained. Momoshiro shoves the dirty ones underneath his blanket so it can't ever be found again, like it's his dirty little secret.

Kaidoh is his dirty little secret.

Momoshiro looks at Kaidoh, who is tying on his bandana. It's all so frighteningly normal. Maybe normal enough for them to do this again. Because that's all what's on Momoshiro's mind right now.

It can be _their_ dirty little secret.


	26. Come Home

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **just a cute filler log.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- People are preparing for the storm  
- Momo and Kaidoh can talk normally again  
- Momo gets bored as Kaidoh goes out running, and he comes up with some quiz questions he wants everyone to fill out  
- Right before this log happens, Hiyoshi convinced Momo to go look for Kaidoh if he was bored

**Date:** September 3, 2012

* * *

The weather is really getting dreary, and a bit windy too. Momoshiro is pretty sure it will start to rain sometime, and he has to get off his ass and actually start looking for Kaidoh. He sort of made a weird deal with Hiyoshi, and told him he'd find Kaidoh, if he filled out a few questions on the meme form.

And it's not like Momoshiro is really against the idea, except he remembers what happened last time Kaidoh asked him to go running.

The thought is both thrilling and terrifying, but in a good way.

He does finally get off from his comfy spot in their hut, he's got his blanket sprawled out across the floor, pillows are scattered everywhere, and he's taking over Kaidoh's side of the hut (it's not a very big hut). He might have done it a little bit on purpose. He shoves his phone into his shorts, then finally goes outside.

Yup, it really is rather grey looking in the sky. Momoshiro wonders if Kaidoh is unfazed by the weather, and would even go running in a storm. That'd be stupid. Hopefully he hasn't run too far. But it seems he has, because Momoshiro is walking down the shoreline for about fifteen minutes already before he spots Kaidoh in the distance. He's either running or lifting dumbnuts, or maybe both; Momoshiro wouldn't put it past him.

"Hey—Hey Kaidoh!" Momoshiro yells loudly and starts waving his arms at him. He stops walking and hugs his sides; it's a bit chilly. But there's a warm sensation flowing through him at the prospect of seeing Kaidoh again, talking to him. Maybe do some other things …

Kaidoh, who's been running with his head down, fists swinging at his sides, stops at the sound of Momoshiro's voice. It's easy to recognize, even from a distance—it's just got a very distinctive, annoying tone. He looks up and sees Momoshiro waving to him like an idiot from down the beach, and his face crinkles up in confusion. What the hell is he doing? Kaidoh picks up his pace until he's a bit closer and then stops, giving Momoshiro an annoyed glare.

"What do you want?" he grumbles, looking at Momoshiro like he's some kind of roadblock. It's not like he had much further to run—he's already been out for a couple hours now—but Kaidoh still hates interruptions. Well, okay, so maybe he doesn't hate them outright if they're in the form of Momoshiro. Which might be why he can't bring himself to sound truly irritated.

"I'm taking you back home," says Momoshiro while grinning. Despite the depressing weather, he's feeling rather good. It's nice that he's not awkwardly fumbling around with his words anymore.

In fact, he even feels brave enough to take a step forwards, turn 180 degrees so he's right next to Kaidoh, and slips an arm around Kaidoh's shoulder. Instantly he's warmed up; Kaidoh's body is pretty warm from all that running, it's comforting. He lifts up his other arm and points into the direction he came from.

"Home is that way. Just wanted you to get back before it started raining. Haven't you noticed the weather?"

Kaidoh shrugs, not because he's reacting to Momoshiro's arm around him or anything, although that does make his shoulders feel a bit tingly. But that's just because he stopped running and is all sweaty and there's cool wind blowing against him. Part of the reason he doesn't like interruptions.

"Yeah, I noticed," he says flatly. He's not stupid, he can see the weather's changing. But a little wind isn't going to halt his training routine. Very few things do. "But it's not so bad today. It's not hot out so I can run for longer."

Momoshiro frowns; he doesn't want Kaidoh to run _longer_. He already runs too much. He'd rather have him at the hut, at home, with him. That sounds like a much better option than running, and not being with Momoshiro. Because he likes that they're not awkward anymore.

He also really likes the other things they do, and Momoshiro is a little hopeful that it might happen again. Okay, he's _really_ hoping it will.

"Don't do that," Momoshiro whines. "This is the kind of weather you need to spend inside. And play cards or something. Or take a nap. Or perhaps both. Both could work. You hungry? I'm hungry, I haven't eaten anything in over an hour." Momoshiro slowly pushes the palm of his hand against the back of Kaidoh's shoulder blade, gently encouraging him to start walking. "I've got some bread again, we could like, roast it or something. If only some of the vegetables were done, then we could have a real sandwich. Sounds nice. And butter too, I miss butter. Oh, I think someone might actually be trying to make butter right now—who was it again? Oh right, Tachibana. He's got a goat or something, and it just had uhh ... what do you call baby goats?"

"Kids," Kaidoh replies gruffly, but he's not glaring this time. Momoshiro's whining, Momoshiro's rambling, it all has a certain effect on Kaidoh. He just can't stay grumpy with him. He can't ignore him either. And the idea of spending time with Momoshiro—doing anything, even if it's really dumb—makes something flutter in Kaidoh's stomach like an automatic conditioned response. Like he can't help but feel excited about it.

Not that he's about to say as much. Playing games, or napping, or eating (does he really eat every hour?!) … Kaidoh's not about to agree that, add Momoshiro to the equation and any of those things sound really nice. Maybe better than running. _Maybe_. No, that's stupid. Running's the best.

Instead he just sighs and says, "Fine. I guess I can be done for today."

He better be. "Great! Oh, I got bored and found some of those quiz questions again. You have to fill it out again, Mamushi. They're only fifteen questions instead of twenty this time." Rather embarrassing and invasive questions he knows Kaidoh won't answer, but it's worth a shot. After all, Momoshiro sort of likes reading anything Kaidoh posts. He doesn't do it often.

They continue to steadily walk down the beach, back to the hut, and Momoshiro is feeling quite happy. There's something fluttery inside of his stomach that he kind of likes. It feels warm and hopeful too. His hand rests on top of Kaidoh's shoulder, and his fingers are itching to tighten his hold on it, and pull Kaidoh closer.

Oh, he actually already _is_ doing it subconsciously. Well. Momoshiro tilts his head away from Kaidoh and hopes he won't notice that suddenly he's got a pink hue on his cheeks. He also hopes Kaidoh won't punch him and push him away. That'd be less than ideal.

"I'll make you some food after you're finished, sound good?" Momoshiro asks. Bribery with food is always a good idea to him.

"I can cook food for myself, you know," Kaidoh replies, scowling. He's too distracted with arguing to register that Momoshiro's kind of tugging on him. Well, maybe a part of him does notice and just doesn't mind. It's Momoshiro, after all. Kaidoh just likes being close to him. Which is kind of embarrassing when Kaidoh actually spends time thinking about it, but that doesn't make it any less true.

He nudges Momoshiro in the side with his elbow. "Besides, you're the one who's hungry right now, not me."

"Well … if you're offering …" Momoshiro nudges him back with his other hand, poking him in his side. "I won't say no to some cooked food."

"What the hell, that's not what I meant," Kaidoh growls. He crosses his arms over his chest as he continues walking. "I wasn't offering anything, idiot."

"And I _was_, but since you said you'd rather cook it yourself …" Momoshiro taps his fingers on Kaidoh's shoulders, one by one, from his index finger to his pinky, trying to annoy him.

Kaidoh flinches. "Stop that." It's making him feel funny. Why can't Momoshiro just walk like a normal person?

"Hmm, what's that you said—I can't hear you, I think you were just about to say you were going to cook food for me," says Momoshiro in a sing song voice.

"Asshole."

"That's a yes?"

Kaidoh lets out a reluctant hiss. "Fine, what do you want to eat?" he asks.

"Hehe." Momoshiro leans his head against Kaidoh's shoulder. "Take one good guess."

"I can't make you a hamburger," Kaidoh replies flatly.

"I know …" Momoshiro sighs. He really does want one though. Anything fast food sounds delicious to him, like his holy grail. "Well, whatever you can make that won't burn, I'm fine. Are we still making that cake together? I wonder when I'll get that chocolate … hmm, how do you make a cake without any eggs. Do you substitute it for something? I wonder what."

"I don't know. I'm no cake expert."

"Really."

Kaidoh narrows his eyes at him. "Really, idiot," he says. "You can probably bake without eggs though. I'm sure there's some way."

"Yeah, I think so. I should ask Tachibana later, if he's not busy with his uhh, kids. Right. Why the hell do they call it kids? I thought he was talking about actual babies when he mentioned it to me." Momoshiro rolls his eyes. He steers Kaidoh away from a branch washed up on the shore so they can walk around it without splitting up. It's a bit cramped and weird to walk like this, being pressed up against Kaidoh, but Momoshiro doesn't want to let go anytime soon.

"But that couldn't be possible, haha. I mean, there are no kids on this island. Unless you want to count Hazue-chan."

"He's not really much of a kid anymore," Kaidoh points out. "Lives on his own out here and everything." Which can be kind of worrying for Kaidoh, especially now, with Hazue's bad ankle, but at least he's close enough that Kaidoh can get to him easily if he needs to. Even though Kaidoh knows his brother is strong and independent—he's _his_ brother, after all—sometimes his protective instinct still kicks in.

"True, and isn't he like almost seventeen? Or eighteen?" Momoshiro pulls his head away from Kaidoh's shoulder as he ponders. He doesn't remember asking Hazue how old he was, but it had to be somewhere around that age, since he wasn't in Seigaku when Momoshiro was in his third year.

"Too bad we couldn't coach him together, huh. I'm sure we'd have turned him into a good regular, maybe even run the tennis club as captain in his third year!"

Yeah, maybe if they'd been there to mentor and train Hazue during his first year at Seigaku he'd have made the team, something Kaidoh had wanted for him and was sure Hazue wanted for himself, too.

"Too bad," he agrees, a wistful edge to his voice. What's worse is that his brother is missing his final year in high school now, and the main tennis season has come and gone. Kaidoh had been helping him train and run so he'd really be able to shine and finally grab a regular spot. That'd always been Kaidoh's main focus and goal throughout high school after all, so he assumes it's Hazue's as well. Kaidoh will just keep doing what he can to help him become stronger.

"But he probably wouldn't have been able to handle it." Momoshiro's eyes shift to the side, glancing at Kaidoh. "He's nothing like you, you know."

Aside from their similar looks, and their tendency to lie sometimes, the two are very different. Hazue is very polite and nice, whereas Kaidoh's mouth needs to be washed with soap sometimes, and his idea of 'nice' is not punching Momoshiro right away if he does something he doesn't like. And Momoshiro is always doing things Kaidoh doesn't like. Hazue is also always smiling, an expression that seems foreign on Kaidoh's face, he's usually grumpy and irritated.

The memory of Kaidoh's face screwed up in pleasure flashes by in Momoshiro's mind. He gulps loudly and hopes the image goes away; he can't think of this _now_. But as if he can't help himself, his fingers sneak from Kaidoh's shoulder towards the towel around his neck, and he pulls it down a little bit, revealing a purple patch of teethmarks.

"Definitely nothing like you," Momoshiro repeats in a mumble. His fingers fall out of the towel and rest back on Kaidoh's shoulder, pressing them closer together. He's been feeling elated and jumpy ever since that day, and now there's a constant flutter in his stomach that has nothing to do with his urge to eat food, and Momoshiro doesn't hate it at all. He tries not to think about it, because if he does, he's sure the awkwardness is back, and then they'll stop talking to each other again.

Momoshiro doesn't want to stop talking to Kaidoh. Neither does he want to stop touching him.

On instinct, Kaidoh's fingers tug the ends of his towel tighter around his neck and against his chest, because that's still embarrassing. He doesn't pull away though.

"I guess you're not much like your sister either," he says and his mouth scrunches into a weird, sour expression. That's gross to think about.

"Huh, what do you mean. You've never met her," says Momoshiro.

Kaidoh's cheeks go pink. "Yeah, I _know_," he says, eyes narrowing. "I just meant, uh, because you're not a girl, obviously."

Then suddenly, it does become awkward for Momoshiro. Something about the way Kaidoh said it reminded him that they are both guys. They're not a boy and girl, there's nothing normal about the way they're acting towards each other, or the things they do, or the things Momoshiro feels. Kaidoh is most definitely a guy, no matter how many times Momoshiro will say he's a girl; he won't magically turn into one.

It's really confusing.

"Obviously," Momoshiro echoes. He can feel his fingers clutch Kaidoh's shoulder in annoyance. He doesn't want to think about this, not now, not when they're like this. He doesn't want to feel that weird nauseous weight inside of his stomach.

So Momoshiro changes the subject, to take his mind off of it. "So, you gonna answer those questions? I'll show you when we get back."

"They'd better not be stupid questions..." Kaidoh replies with a grimace.

"Define 'stupid'."

Kaidoh jabs his finger against Momoshiro's cheek. "Well, you are, for one thing."

Something flips and bounces around in Momoshiro's stomach. He grins widely. Then he pinches Kaidoh's cheek in return. "So are you, dumbass. I guess that makes you a perfect candidate for answering these questions."

Kaidoh huffs. "What if I don't want to?" he says defensively. Because he doesn't, really. He thinks survey questions are, almost universally, really dumb, and they're always about weird, embarrassing topics that Kaidoh thinks no one needs to know about anyway. If he wanted to tell people that kind of stuff, he'd have said it already. But it's hard to deny Momoshiro anything when he's smiling like that. Momoshiro can be so annoying.

"Well, I'll uhh … I'll do laundry for a day! And wasn't I cooking you something? Oh, wait, no, you were. Never mind. So yeah, laundry. I can do that. You'll fill out fifteen questions. Shouldn't take long." Then Momoshiro pinches Kaidoh's cheek again, since he's feeling a little bit fuzzy and affectionate. It's a bit weird.

"Okay…" Kaidoh says slowly, after a long moment of consideration. "Fine, whatever." He hisses and, because it still feels weird to agree to things Momoshiro suggests, adds, "Idiot."

Momoshiro fistpumps the air. "Alright! But make food first, 'kay? I'm starving." The hut is already coming into view by now, and the memories associated with that view make everything crawl inside of Momoshiro's stomach. It makes him feel embarrassed again, but he also cannot stop thinking about it, and hopes they'll do it again.

At least he's not avoiding Kaidoh. This is the opposite of avoiding, which is good, Momoshiro thinks. And he's touching him, which is really good.

Momoshiro looks over at Kaidoh, and surveys him a little bit. His hair is long, and Momoshiro thinks Kaidoh needs a haircut as well, but saying that out loud is a bit … well … he remembers what happened last time.

So what does he have to lose? "I'll cut your hair too. It's gotten longer than mine."

Self-consciously, Kaidoh tugs at the hair poking out from under his bandana and then drops his arm again and gives Momoshiro a narrow look. But it's a little hard to look serious when his cheeks have gone kind of red.

"I don't know about that," he says. "I've seen you with scissors."

"On _myself_, okay. I'd do a much better job if I can actually look at it," says Momoshiro defensively. "And I won't cut off your ear." He might do other stuff though.

"How long do you want it?" he asks, as his fingers leave Kaidoh's shoulders, and presses them up against the towel, slipping it around some dark hair. He tugs at it a little bit; it really is long.

Kaidoh shrugs dismissively. "Uh … how long it normally is," he says, sounding a little uncertain. He's never really given much thought to his hair. It's just hair—he's never done anything stupid to it like put gel in it—and it's been pretty much the same length for years now. He just cuts it when it starts to get in the way. Which, admittedly, it kind of has been for a couple months now.

"Hmm, so right up here?" Momoshiro slides his fingers up against the hair, until he's half-way poking it in Kaidoh's ear.

Kaidoh scowls. Momoshiro's fingers kind of tickle. "Yeah, I guess," he says. "I don't care. Just don't do anything weird to it."

"What ever would I do with it?" asks Momoshiro completely innocently.

"I don't know, dumbass," Kaidoh grumbles. "Something annoying."

"Well maybe not to your hair …" Momoshiro is feeling mischievous, so he sticks his finger into Kaidoh's ear, before pushing himself away and then running the last few steps towards the hut like a total spaz.


	27. The Storm

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **the storm log!

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo, Hazue), Happiestwhen (Kaidoh) & Gottis (Ryoma)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Kaidoh gets his haircut from Momo sometime before this log  
- They have another make-out again  
- The storm finally hits and Momo and Kaidoh hide it out in their hut  
- Momo has been ignoring Ryoma point blank up till this log

**Date:** September 5, 2012

Wind howls through the cracks of the wood and straw of Kaidoh's hut, it's making everything feel so ominous and kind of cold too. It's raining pretty hard outside at the moment. It had been since last night (thankfully Momoshiro managed to get Kaidoh inside by then), and it simply started to get worst the next day. Momoshiro did some of his daily tasks, but soon gave up after the weather got worse. He's managed to convince Kaidoh to stay inside, and not go running out into the rain like an idiot. So Kaidoh stays an idiot on the inside, lifting his stupid dumbnuts instead. Momoshiro's been counting how many times he's lifted them, in a loud and obnoxious voice, but soon gave up after he hit forty, and Kaidoh was giving him death glares.

"Don't you think it's getting worse?" Momoshiro asks. He's hugging his knees to his chest and leaning against his side of the wall. The rain outside just sounds more like golf balls raining down on them. At least Kaidoh built the hut to be pretty sturdy (and he also secretly helped on it!), so it wasn't going to come down, and surprisingly there were no leaks in them.

Kaidoh stops what he's doing to listen to the steady downpour outside. "Doesn't sound like it's letting up anyway," he says flatly. It's an understatement; the weather sounds completely miserable. It has Kaidoh a bit on edge. Maybe because he didn't get in his usual run this morning, or the night before. He'd complained a bit yesterday about how he would have been fine still running—it was just a little bit of rain after all and Kaidoh isn't the sort to get easily deterred, but that little bit of rain grew heavier and heavier and within an hour had turned pretty disgusting. And today's even worse. So Kaidoh's stuck inside with Momoshiro, who's already managed to get under his skin and annoy him, but it could be worse.

"Do you hear thunder? I think I hear thunder. Maybe I hear thunder. I don't know, it's kind of loud outside. Do you think we'll be fine in here? What if a lightning bolt shots right through your stupid roof and burns the entire hut down to the ground? What if the wind gets too strong and blows the hut away? Like that wolf from that stupid red riding hood fairytale? I don't want a wolf to come over and eat me. It'll be your fault, since you didn't build a strong enough hut. What if we get washed away if a big tidal wave comes by? We'd be screwed! Or a tornado! Or, or—"

"None of that stuff's going to happen, moron," Kaidoh interjects sharply, cutting Momoshiro off mid-ramble. He gives Momoshiro a pointed look like he thinks he's being paranoid, but Momoshiro's train of thought is always unpredictable like that. Maybe the storm's making him kind of stir crazy too.

Kaidoh hisses. "And what the hell, nothing's going to come and _eat_ you. Stop saying stupid things and find something to keep yourself busy."

Momoshiro crosses his arms, then looks away from Kaidoh. "Well, I know _something_ that we can do that'll keep us busy." His cheeks are pink just from the suggestion, but at least Kaidoh can't see.

Kaidoh blushes too. "Dumbass," he says with a huff and flings his towel across the room at Momoshiro's head.

Right as the towel hits Momoshiro's head and covers his vision, there's bright flash, and a loud boom right above them, it crackles and sizzles and echoes into the distance.

"Whoa—that was right above our heads!" Momoshiro says, a bit freaked out. He wonders if they'll really be save in here. He yanks the towel off from his head and looks at Kaidoh.

… But he's not where he was standing before. "Kaidoh?" Momoshiro calls for him, whipping his head around to see where he went off to.

Kaidoh is crouched on the ground next to his bed, both hands covering his head like he's practicing for an earthquake drill. He's gone all tense and frozen, a prickle of goosebumps raised down the back of his neck. His shoulders shake a little and then stop and he glances over at Momoshiro and gives him an annoyed scowl. As though it's somehow his fault.

"I was just ..." he starts to say, pulling out of the position and standing up, when another massive boom of thunder ripples through the air outside and Kaidoh drops and pulls himself into a ball on the floor again. "Fuck," he curses. "That's really loud."

It's almost pathetic the way Kaidoh can be so scared of everything, but right now, Momoshiro doesn't really feel the need to poke fun at it. The thunder _is_ dangerous, and it's right above them—it could seriously make an impact and connect with the hut, and then they'd be fried noodles.

"Yeah, it is," Momoshiro agrees. He looks through the cracks of the entrance, seeing the rain dance around wildly and without direction. He rolls his head back over at Kaidoh, who is making himself as tiny as possible on his bed. Momoshiro almost wants to crawl over and poke him.

"... You okay?" Momoshiro asks instead. He runs his fingers through his short hair and wonders how to comfort someone who's scared of thunder. Especially someone who's scared of even his own shadow. Which is kind of funny.

Kaidoh lifts his head and glares at Momoshiro, though not super successfully since it's hard to look angry when his eyes just look like frightened little pin-points. "I'm _fine_," he protests. He just doesn't like thunder. Thunder is stupid.

"Sure you are … but what about—" Momoshiro swallows his words. "Hey, hey, Hazue—he's sleeping out there in a hammock, isn't he?"

Kaidoh sits bolt upright at that and his eyes go wide. Oh. Oh _shit_.

"He ..." Kaidoh trails off and listens to the rain pound angrily against the roof and blow against the walls of the hut. Hazue doesn't have walls ... Is his roof sturdy enough to withstand this? Is he even under the roof now? Why hadn't Kaidoh gone to check on him? Suddenly Kaidoh's skin feels clammy with worry. He looks toward the entrance of the hut.

"I should ..." he says, his voice sounding very uncertain, "... make sure he's okay." As if to add to Kaidoh's sudden worries, the thunder lets out another cacophonous clap, and Kaidoh's hands instinctively shoot to cover his head and ears once more.

It's Momoshiro who stands up, and takes out his cellphone from his pants. He quickly punches in Hazue's number—which the younger boy had given to him a week ago in case anything happened—and puts it against his ear. He'd be lucky getting any sort of signal out in this storm at all, but Momoshiro wants to try out calling first before they'd run out into the storm like headless chickens. He doesn't even noticed he's climbed over to Kaidoh's side of the hut, and he's sitting down next to him, shoulders pressed up against each other.

The phone doesn't ring.

"I'm not getting a signal," says Momoshiro. Now he is starting to worry as well; Hazue can't just be left alone out there. He stands up after nudging Kaidoh's shoulder. "Come on, let's go look for him."

"Yeah," Kaidoh agrees. He gathers himself to his feet and tries to make himself stop shivering. It's just thunder. It's just a bad storm. Much as Kaidoh would be more comfortable staying put in the safety of the hut, he feels his insides tug with responsibility. He has to make sure his brother is all right, stupid fear be damned. Hazue's shelter isn't that far. And he's probably fine. It's probably fine.

Another bright flash blinds them both, followed by a bellowing thunder echoing into the distance—it made the entire hut shake upon impact. Momoshiro clutches the wall, and his eyes turn wide.

"Kaidoh …" he starts slowly. "I didn't build mine as sturdy as yours." He looks back at Kaidoh, who looks frightened, and suddenly he feels frightened too. His shack, the one Echizen is supposed to be staying in, what if something happened to him right now? But Hazue is in danger too …

"I need to go check on that brat—I didn't expect a storm would take over this island, much less that we'd be staying on here for months." Momoshiro turns to Kaidoh and puts his hands on top of his shoulders. "Look, you'll be fine. Look for Hazue, he shouldn't be too far off. Don't get scared, call me if anything goes wrong—but I gotta get to Echizen. That shack is dangerous to stay in. I'll bring him back here, okay?"

Kaidoh nods. "I won't get scared," he grumbles, facial expression betraying his words. He's actually terrified of the prospect of going out into the storm, but he's also determined, and with Kaidoh, determination always wins out in the end. And for some reason Momoshiro's encouragement is making him feel a little less worried, like he trusts that he's telling the truth when he says it'll be fine. He looks like he believes it, at least. So Kaidoh wants to believe it too.

"Guess we'll meet back here, then," he says, trying to sound more confident. Whatever. It's just another challenge. It's something he has to do. He can do it. He really hopes Hazue is okay.

"Yeah." Momoshiro slightly squeezes Kaidoh's shoulders before he slips them off, and hangs his hands by his side. He turns towards the entrance.

No big deal. Just go out into the storm and thunder and get fried like a fish.

"Just … don't be stupid," he warns Kaidoh. "Make yourself small, and run like hell." He throws his head back at Kaidoh and grins at him. "Aren't you good at that anyway?"

"Idiot," Kaidoh replies gruffly, which is his way of saying, _Yeah, you be careful, too_.

Momoshiro dashes out of the entrance, and into the sea of rain. It's going to be a long run towards his old shack. He hopes Kaidoh will make it through alive. He better be alright, it'd be stupid to get hurt in this storm, especially for Kaidoh.

Momoshiro seems to disappear into the storm within seconds. It's really hard to see much of anything in that rain. But Kaidoh knows the beach well by now, he could probably run its length with his eyes closed. He can certainly find his way to Hazue's shelter. He just hopes he can make it there and back before there's another explosion of thunder and lightning. He can't really control his body's reaction to it, the immediate instinct to freeze and duck for cover wherever possible.

Now is not the time for that. He waits a few moments, trying to steel together all his courage, before taking in a deep breath and running off into the rain. It drenches him immediately, like he's running through a never-ending waterfall. He's endured freezing winter weather and sudden summer showers but he's never tried running through something as extreme as this, and it doesn't help that the sand has turned to mud. But there's nothing to do but keep going. He avoids the shoreline—the waves are angry white-caps—and runs closer to the jungle instead, a different route from the usual, and less direct, but Kaidoh doesn't want to end up in the ocean in the middle of a storm.

It still doesn't take long to reach the place where Hazue had built his hammock—it really isn't far—but Kaidoh still feels drained when he reaches it and takes shelter under the roof. It's still not that dry underneath it. The wind is so strong that it seems to be blowing rain against him from all directions.

Hazue isn't there.

Kaidoh should be relieved; maybe he took shelter elsewhere, like the caves. But Hazue's ankle is still sprained. Could he really get that far? What if he tried and … Kaidoh swallows hard. Don't think things like that. He's probably … Kaidoh tries to fill in the blank with something that will ease his mind, but all he keeps coming back to is the terrifying thought that his brother is stuck out in the storm somewhere, soaked through from wind and rain and unable to find shelter.

Kaidoh's starting to panic a little, but he tries to focus. He knows the beach as well as anyone, better than anyone. He knows where the trees are thickest, knows how long it would take to cover the whole beach on foot. He'll just keep running until he finds his brother. He couldn't have gone far with his ankle in the state it is. Kaidoh doesn't know if he should find that comforting or not. He starts running off into the storm again, his eyes steely with determination and fists swinging at his sides.

Meanwhile, Hazue quickly runs inside of Kaidoh's hut, dry and fine, and no sprained ankle whatsoever. He's been holding a piece of plywood above his head to keep himself dry. Once it started getting really bad, he already started making his way over to Kaidoh's hut to seek shelter.

"Kaoru-nii-chan I—oh, that's no one here." Hazue looks around for a bit; it seems Kaidoh and Momoshiro were out for the moment. He wonders if they are okay. But they were adults, and his brother is a very capable guy, of course they'd be fine. Hazue sits on Kaidoh's bed and throws a blanket over him, waiting patiently for their return.

A bit further on the beach, is a very drenched and very grumpy Momoshiro. He's been running his way back to his old shack, and he's already slipped once on the damn muddy beach and fallen face-first into it—so now he looks like a very nice swamp monster. At least Kaidoh can't see him, he'd probably be scared out of his mind if he comes across Momoshiro likes this. But this is no time to be thinking about funny thing; Echizen _could_ be in danger. And that's the last thing Momoshiro wants right now.

Thunder is still roaring above him, sounding dangerously close, but this doesn't deter Momoshiro. He's focused, albeit dirty from his previous fall, and his vision is clouded by the thick dense rain around him. Will Echizen be okay? He never intended the shack he built to stay upright for a long time. He didn't think they'd be there for so long, nor did he think a storm would pass by.

How long has he been running? Is he close? Is he half-way there? Is he even going the right way? Momoshiro doesn't recognize his surroundings anymore; it's all blocked by the rain and the wind, and all the random dirt and twigs flying in the wind, hitting him with a loud _twap_ against his face. Damnit. Echizen better be alright.

He isn't. Not quite.

As the storm hit, what had annoyed Ryoma the most had been the fact that the storm disturbed his naptimes. Soon enough the roof had started to leak. And gusts of wind had hit the suddenly fragile seeming shack relentlessly, coupled with the thunders that rolled across the skies, like Fujin and Raijin themselves were having one hell of a party. Ryoma hadn't liked the idea of their party, hadn't had any desire to be invited.

And he most definitely didn't like it when that loud lightning and far too soon following thunderclap made the shack shake so much that it actually _started to fall apart_. "What," he had whined then. "No, no, come _on_...!" He had been forced to his feet then, trying his best to keep the rickety planks in place, but the storm gods were merciless.

And finally, the inevitable had happened. Blinded by the rain and long, wet hair that had slapped him in the face, Ryoma hadn't been able to see even half a meter in front of him. The ground had been slippery and heavy—wet, wet sand—and then another thunderclap that made him jump... And a strong wind, strong enough to topple him over. And he had fallen to the ground in a rather awkward position, and debris from the ruined shack followed suit, most of it landing on his left ankle.

If you were to ask him later about it, he'd say that he lost consciousness for a moment, given how much water had gathered around his head when he woke up.

No matter, probably, because it doesn't change the fact that he's here right now, locked down by the debris and heavy rain beating down on him. His ankle hurts but it isn't the biggest of his worries. He's very, very wet, water everywhere... And the lightning is frightenly close. Should it hit...

Momoshiro is going as fast as he can, slipping once more and fallen down to his knees, but he quickly picks himself up and runs straight ahead. It's all he can do, he's just so worried something has happened, and he's also worried about Kaidoh and Hazue—what if something happens to them too? He knows he told Kaidoh to call him if something went wrong … but it's not likely they'll get a signal in this storm. It's a stupid thing to say, and Momoshiro feels stupid too.

He's getting closer to the shack, Momoshiro recognizes a few of the palm tree formations. It's been a while since he's been there; he'd been so deadset on avoiding Echizen, he hadn't seen him in over a month. Talking was also out of the question. It just makes Momoshiro feel more guilty right now, like he _has_ to go see him now, in case something happens … and he could never say sorry.

Which is a frightening thought, but he can't help but have this anxious feeling tug at the back of his mind. _What if …_

Momoshiro doesn't need to think about what ifs, since it's right in front of him. What used to be his shack, is now a place of nothing but ruins, debris; it's all in shambles. Momoshiro feels his heart stop beating and his eyes widen in shock.

"E—" he starts, but his voice feels like it's stuck in his throat. This can't be true, right? His shack can't literally have fallen apart … "Echizen!" Momoshiro yells. He starts to run towards the fallen bamboo plates, hastily climbing over some debris and looking all over the place for Echizen.

The wind swallows up most of Momoshiro's voice, but Ryoma in general has good hearing. Good hearing, good eyes... His senses are sharp, and they hone themselves even more during critical moments, and what is this, if not critical? He easily hears him, and opens his mouth to reply... Only to stop himself. He hasn't spoken to Momoshiro for over a month. Why does it have to take something like _this_ for the other man to come see him? Maybe he should simply ignore him. Any stubborn pride is however wiped clean away as another lightning lights up the sky, and Ryoma is certain it probably hit somewhere in the jungle, if the deafening thunder boom that follows immediately after is any indicator. Nearly panicking, Ryoma gasps—and inhales a good deal of water, so he's coughing and spluttering as he tries to form Momoshiro's name. It sounds more like a pathetic squeak than anything.

"Echizen!" Momoshiro rushes over to the coughing man piled underneath some of the fallen walls; he's been caught in between them, unable to get free. Panic settles inside of Momoshiro's stomach, and he quickly—frantically really—starts to lift up the rubble and free Echizen from its hold.

"You okay!?" he asks in a loud voice, bending down to Echizen's body and grabbed his arms so he can half pull him out, and half pull him up.

"Yeah, just we—" He catches himself as pain shoots through his leg and it gives out underneath him so he falls onto Momoshiro with all his weight, face ashen.

Momoshiro wobbles back onto his own feet, catching Echizen against him and keeping him steady. "What's wrong? Where did you get hurt?" he asks in a worried voice. He's starting to feel like Oishi again, but what can he do? He already feels bad enough for being so childishly stubborn that he ignored his best friend for over a month, and now his shack had to go and collapse right on top of him. As if some of those thunder gods up there hated him. He scans Echizen's drenched and dirty body, looking for anything that's bleeding, or has wood sticking out of it, or something at least.

"I..." Well, most of his body hurts, uncomfortable position and all, but the sharp pain that causes black dots to dance in front of his eyes again, is very easily located. But his mouth dry, he can't really speak. Only makes a small, vague nod downwards.

Momoshiro follows Echizen's gaze, then he sees it; a thick stream of blood pouring out of Echizen's ankle, mixing in with the rain water below his feet. Momoshiro's face pales, he's immediately reminded of the time on the ship, when the blood pooled underneath Echizen's head.

Not again. _Not again._

"Shit," Momoshiro curses. He lets go of Echizen's body to take off his own soaked and dirty t-shirt. He bends down to Echizen's ankle and quickly starts to wrap the shirt around it to stop the bleeding at least. It looks ghastly, it looks really bad; Momoshiro isn't a doctor, what should he do? What should he do? Can anyone besides Kaidoh's hut even be reached in this weather? He feels his fingers shake as he ties a sloppy knot around Echizen's ankle, he hopes it'll hold. The rain is crashing down on his back and it's making him feel numb, seeing all that blood again makes him feel numb. It's all his fault again.

"Cursing isn't going to help," Ryoma croaks; it's difficult to use his voice, difficult to speak. "Le—let's just get out of here, okay? Where's Hazue? And... Well, you know." Being so close to Momoshiro, no matter the injury, makes it far too difficult for him to take Kaidoh's name into his mouth. Stupid heart, it should have healed already. Stupid, stupid heart. This isn't even the time and place for that. "Uh. … Nice first-aid. Thanks."

"Whatever, let's get out of this mess. Back to Kaidoh, his hut is alright." Momoshiro stays crouched down, but turns around so that Echizen can climb on his back. "Come on, get on so we can get the hell out of here."

Ryoma isn't sure how he manages to climb onto that bony back, and later he'll chalk it up to pure survival instincts, but somehow he makes it and he drapes his arms over Momoshiro's shoulders and locks them with his hands resting somewhere across Momoshiro's heart. His face rests against Momoshiro's neck, and he idly registers that there really isn't much hair in the way. "Hey, you... Look good." Which is a completely mundane thing to say, given the circumstances.

Momoshiro stands upright, arms hooked under Echizen's legs. He's a bit confused at what Echizen is saying. Is he really alright …? Or is he trying to make light of the situation. He can never tell what he's thinking.

"And you look like something caved in on you," says Momoshiro in a deadpan voice. He starts to walk away from the debris, leaving it behind. He's not running, but he is walking in a very steady pace, hoping he won't slip up again what with Echizen on his back. He's so worried something will happen again, or Echizen's ankle won't be able to get cleaned up enough, or maybe it's already too late and the damage has already been done. The thought is frightening to him.

"Kaidoh's looking for Hazue right now," explains Momoshiro. Talking about something else will take his mind off of it. "They should both be there when we return … hopefully. Fucking weather." He takes one giant step over a slight puddle of rainwater pooled into the sand. He keeps his head down, so he can see where he's walking, and to keep the rain out of his eyes. Another flash of lightning spirals down out of the sky above them, flickering over the ocean like blood veins.

"Did you get hurt anywhere else?" Momoshiro asks. Like maybe his ribs again …

"Uh-uh. Well..." Ryoma gives a half-hearted shrug. "Just scrapes and bumps. Don't think it's serious, it's just that everything hurts like a fucking bitch. It'll pass."

Momoshiro stays quiet for the longest time, doing nothing but focusing his attention to where he's putting his feet, and keeping his balance in check, and making sure he's got a good grip on Echizen so he won't suddenly fall off. The storm is getting worse, the wind is heavy, the rain is thick and cold and hurts his eyes, but he's sure Echizen is hurting more. Lots more. He feels pretty much helpless.

They almost slip up when Momoshiro's foot gets stuck behind a branch lying down on the sand, but luckily he catches himself in time and he keeps marching forwards.

Then, in a small voice, that Momoshiro's probably been keeping inside of him for months, he says, "Sorry." The rain swallows up his voice.

At the almost slip-up, of course Ryoma's injured ankle bumps against Momoshiro's body. Of course it hurts so much he's afraid he'll drop his grip and simply fall off the other's back... But stubbornness prevails and Ryoma remains where he is, not a sound escaping him.

And then he thinks he might have fainted again anyway. But you're not supposed to dream when you're unconscious, right? Because he can't have heard that. That has to be a dream. Because what else can it be? The rolling thunder echoes in his ears and maybe it isn't a dream anyway. He doesn't know what to say. He really doesn't know what to say. But his hands tighten around Momo's chest, pressing closer to it. (He's awfully dirty, almost like the Swampthing. It's some sort of comic book monster, Ryoma thinks. Something Nanjiroh used to read to him when he was little, and then he'd never sleep that night. No matter.) "... Mm." Because he has to say _something_.

After that, nothing else is said between them anymore. Momoshiro is focused on bringing Echizen to safety, it's the least he can do for acting like such an asshole, and for building such an unsafe shack, and being an asshole enough to let Echizen live in it alone. So he just keeps his head low, Echizen on his back, and trenches through the muddy beach sand.

It's about ten minutes later of wading through the thick rain and the bellowing thunder in the background, when Momoshiro spots Kaidoh's hut on the horizon. He speeds up, happy to have found shelter, and happy that the thing is still standing up. He hopes Kaidoh's found Hazue as well. He runs up the steps from the hut and barges inside.

"Momo-nii-chan!" Hazue squeaks out, startled out of his mind. He scrambles up to come and greet the man, when he notices something else. "Echizen-san?"

Momoshiro blinks for a second, before he rushes to his own bed and bends down through his knees.

"Hazue, give me some dry towels and a bottle of water in that corner over there," says Momoshiro. He unhooks his arms around Echizen, and slips the man off of his back, so that he's on the fluffy pile of blankets.

"W-what happened?" Hazue asks as he comes and brings Momoshiro the towels and water he requested.

"Where's Kaidoh?" Momoshiro asks, ignoring his question. He props up Echizen's leg and starts to untie the shirt tied around his ankle.

"I … I thought he was with you," replies Hazue. "Are you okay, Echizen-san?"

"... As you can see." Ryoma doesn't have the energy to say much more; he feels completely drained, and yes, faint because of the pain, so he rests heavily against the pile of blankets. "... Your brother isn't here?" That isn't good. That isn't good at all. "Momo, go find him. Hazue can look after me. It's okay with you, right?" He turns to the younger Kaidoh; it's still easier to talk to him than with Momoshiro.

"What—no, I can't just leave you here right now." But Momoshiro is worried where the hell Kaidoh is. He's supposed to be finding Hazue, but Hazue is already here.

"You sure you didn't see him pass you by or something?" asks Momoshiro.

"N-no, I came here about half an hour ago, it was empty," says Hazue. "Momo-nii-chan … did Kaoru-nii-chan go look for me?"

"Yeah … he still thinks you have a sprained ankle." The mention of the word ankle makes Momoshiro focus his attention back on Echizen. "Sorry, we don't really have any meds over here … in fact, they were in our shack, probably buried by now. Shit. I can only clean it and wrap it up."

Hazue sits down next to Echizen to look over the ankle; it looks really banged up, and it's bleeding. "I can take care of this. W-why don't you go look for my brother, please? He's looking for me … thinking I'm out there with a bad ankle, but it's Echizen-san who has a bad ankle …"

Momoshiro takes the water bottle and unscrews the cap. He looks with wide eyes at the dirt wound; is that even going to clean off? "But …" But Kaidoh is still out there too. He looks up at Echizen, as if he's searching for some answers.

Ryoma wants to ask what Momoshiro wants him to say? Why would he prioritize him now, when he's been occupied with Kaidoh for over a month, when he hasn't spoken to Ryoma himself during that extended period of time? Irrationally, he feels almost angry for a moment, but even anger drains away energy he isn't entirely certain he has. His reply becomes the contrary to his initial thoughts for some reason... He smiles. "Go. Or don't you trust Hazue? Trust me, the kid adores me. He'll take good care of me." A beat. "You will, won't you?"

Hazue's face flashes red. "O-of course I will!"

Momoshiro sighs. "Fine. Hazue, there's some bandages around here … somewhere … look inside of our backpacks, maybe it's in there. Clean the wound thoroughly, okay? And don't come outside, and please don't …" Let anything else happen to Echizen, but Momoshiro swallows his words. He gives one hard look at Echizen, who is clearly still in pain, and probably on the brink of fainting, before he turns around and runs out of the hut again, a towel slung over his body since he doesn't have a shirt.

Hazue watches Momoshiro run out, before he takes the bottle of water and looks sympathetically at Echizen. "Uhm, this is going to hurt." He tips the bottle over and water flushes out, onto the wound.

"It's fine," Ryoma barely has time to croak out, before the water pours into his wounds. Yes, it hurts, all right. He distantly hears a scream, raw and ugly, and he almost absentmindedly have time to register that it comes from himself, before the red and black dots cover just about everything. A quick, uncomfortable wave of nausea and vertigo... And then there's nothing else. His body relaxes as he sinks back against the blankets, momentarily dead to the world.

Hazue throws a little freak-out fit.

Meanwhile, Momoshiro is out in the open weather again, the towel he brought with him instantly soaked in water. His back hurts from being rained upon for so long, and he can feel his heart thump painfully in his chest. He hopes Echizen will be alright, maybe he shouldn't have left him, maybe he should have sent Hazue to go look for Kaidoh. But Hazue isn't exactly world's greatest hero, and he'd probably need saving himself if he went after Kaidoh alone. Is Kaidoh alright? He must have seen that Hazue wasn't at his place, and went to go look for him further.

So where does Momoshiro start?

Uhh. _Uhh._

He running around aimlessly towards Hazue's hut, hoping an idea will pop in later. A flying twig hits him on his back and Momoshiro hisses in annoyance. Fucking storm. Then another thunderbolt comes crashing down, illuminating the surrounding for a split second. Momoshiro stops running, panting hard to slow his heart down. Come on, think Momoshiro—where would Kaidoh look for Hazue? Where would Hazue go? Obviously he went back to the hut, but if he couldn't, what would he do?

Seek shelter.

Right. Shelter. Shelter from the rain and thunder underneath the densely popular trees of the jungle.

Momoshiro turns on his heel in the slippery mud, then dashes towards the treeline. He has to find Kaidoh, that stupid idiot will be looking for Hazue until he's found him. Not to mention the thunder scares the crap out of him.

"Kaidoh!" Momoshiro hollers out, but the rain is so dense, and the thunder is so loud, it simply get drowned out.

Kaidoh had _intended_ to run along the beach looking for his brother, and he'd done a pretty good job of managing to do just that. For about ten minutes. Then a loud and frighteningly close boom of thunder shook him to the core and he froze in his tracks as lightning crackled across the sky. He heard a voice—his own—let out a strangled shriek, which would probably have embarrassed him if he weren't so busy being terrified. He stood there for a moment and then the thunder crashed against his eardrums again. It shouldn't be possible but it sounded like it was getting louder.

It made a switch flip inside of Kaidoh. His self-preservation instinct kicked in and the whole idea of running was immediately scrapped and Kaidoh dashed into the thick jungle forest and ducked under the nearest cover he could find, which happened to be a large, hollowed-out tree trunk right at the edge of the beach. It wasn't big enough to keep him dry, but at least he wasn't out in the open getting the worst of the rain.

So here he is, trapped by fear and hiding out in a tree. Shivering. He's shivering all over actually, but not from the cold—although with the wind, the rain does feel quite chilly. He crouches low, knees hugged to his chest and arms up, trying to block out the sound. But it's just not helping. It's too damn loud.

Momoshiro isn't really fazed by the loud threatening thunderbolts roaring from above. As long as they don't get too close, he should be fine. Besides, lightning searching for tall metal thingies, he's not tall and he's not made out of metal. That logic was good enough for him, good enough to keep him going without much fear. The only kind of fear he was having right now, was the fear of losing two people he actually cared a lot about. One had a busted ankle, and the other one was god knows where.

He really needed to find Kaidoh.

But the rain is dense, and the storm is loud—even if he calls for Kaidoh's name, no one would really hear it unless Kaidoh happened to be standing right next to him. And he's not. Where the hell _is_ Kaidoh? Momoshiro zigs and zags through the trees, feeling slightly less bombarded by rain what with the trees catching most of it. It's still muddy though, and his shoes are slippery and dirty, and somehow the one lone towel he was carrying had gotten stuck on a low hanging branch and slipped right off his back. Momoshiro will be lucky if he doesn't catch something from running around topless in a storm.

But it that means he can find Kaidoh, then he'll take all the fevers in the world.

And Echizen needed to be okay as well.

Fuck. This really sucks.

"Kaidoh!" Momoshiro calls out again. He stops to rest at a nice large tree to catch his breath, his hand digging into the bark of the trunk. The rain is still going, the thunder is still … well, thundering, and the wind is just being a bitch right now. "Where the hell are you!?"

Kaidoh suddenly hears a new sound rising above the deafening loudness of the storm. It kind of sounds like a voice, but the wind is distorting and swallowing half the words. Kaidoh can only hear his name and then 'hell', and well, that's all he needs to hear to convince him not to say anything back. Because it can't be his brother—he's far too polite for that—and Momoshiro should be back at the hut by now with Echizen. And no one else would be this far down the beach in the middle of the storm. Right?

Maybe Kaidoh is simply hearing things. Maybe he's been out so long the storm is playing tricks on him and has taken on a weird life of its own. And now it's yelling angrily at him from somewhere nearby; the voice sounded close.

Kaidoh doesn't budge from his spot, but his fingers ball into fists against the side of his face, like he's ready to defend himself in case the storm spirit decides to come take a swing at him. Although if it really _were_ a storm spirit, it would probably be able to attack him with lightning or something, and punches aren't really going to be much good then. Kaidoh punches himself in the thigh instead. He's being stupid. It probably isn't anything. Kaidoh must be imagining it.

Momoshiro is unaware of Kaidoh's inner paranoia, and thinks that he's still looking for his lost younger brother, like a good older brother should do. So he's sure he's still running out there, being brave enough to fight his fear for the sound of thunder, and hopelessly chasing after someone who is already safe and sound back at his hut.

"Kaidoh! Damnit!" Momoshiro passes through a bunch of trees again but stops. He looks up at the tree foliage, the dim sky that was supposed to be sunny, but is covered in ominous clouds. There's no trace of civilization, much less a trace of an idiot like Kaidoh. Fuck. Momoshiro balls his hand into a fist and punches the tree next to him.

Only it isn't a tree. Sure, Kaidoh may be wet and muddy and crouched in a the dark shadow of a tree trunk, but he isn't a fucking tree.

He doesn't even register a fist is flying towards him until it connects with his shoulder. At least it wasn't right in his face. Suddenly his fear is replaced with annoyance. What the hell, why was someone punching him?

"What the hell?!" Kaidoh growls at the fist, his voice seeming to roar along with the pounding rain. He grabs onto it to shove it away from him and glares out of the tree's hollow and sees a very wet and shirtless figure standing in front of him. Even though he's being drenched in sheets of rain, Kaidoh's able to recognize him. _Oh_. Wait. What the hell? Why is _Momoshiro_ punching him?

"Asshole!" Kaidoh huffs. And what happened to his shirt?

Momoshiro stumbles backwards a few paces, letting out a squeak from his throat. "K-Kaidoh?" he asks to confirm. He was sure that was a tree, but trees don't really try to hit him back. So he takes the same steps again, closer to the trunk, and it's hollowed out—something which he didn't notice when he was looking up at the sky—and inside is a muddy grumpy monster.

"Kaidoh!" Momoshiro hands shoot out to grab him by the shoulders and yank him out of his hiding place. "Hazue is already back at the hut—apparently he got there right before we left … can't believe you missed him—and then I went to go find Echizen, but ugh, it was terrible. The shack is … in ruins, it caved in on him, it busted his ankle and he was bleeding all over the place, so I took my shirt off and tied it around his ankle to stop the bleeding, then yanked him up on my back and took him to your hut, where Hazue was waiting for me, and he said he didn't see you at all, and I was like—how could that be when you were supposed to be finding out where he was and take him back so he'd be safe and dry, but instead—"

Momoshiro pauses.

"Were you hiding?"

Kaidoh shrugs Momoshiro's hands off of him and crosses his arms over his chest, looking back at him grouchily. "No," he lies. "Obviously not. That would be stupid."

"You were." Deadpan.

"Shut up."

"Fucking idiot."

Kaidoh glares at him and hisses.

Momoshiro rolls his eyes at him; he can't believe he was worried over this scaredy cat, who would rather run with his tails between his legs and find the scariest tree in the surroundings to hide in, than to find his brother who might have actually needed his help. Right. He _is_ a fucking idiot. He sighs, a relieved kind of sigh, then flicks his finger against Kaidoh's forehead.

"Come on, let's go home."


	28. Coming Clean

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **cute brother log, because Hazue needs to stop lying.

**Authors:** Celianna (Hazue) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** K+

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Set a day after the last log  
- Ryoma has gotten a fever from his infected ankle

**Date:** September 6, 2012

* * *

Hazue hadn't meant for it to come this far … for his little white lie to turn into something that could have harmed his brother. The brother he admires so much. He'd simply been trying to get out of having to run a marathon he knew he'd die trying with Kaidoh, so he made up an excuse; his sprained his ankle. It seemed fine and all, Kaidoh would never know.

Until the storm hit.

Yesterday Kaidoh had been frantically searching for his younger brother as it was thundering and pouring rain outside.

Hazue has never felt so guilty and loved before in his entire life.

He feels his heart clench tight with shame; Kaidoh was searching for him because he thought Hazue couldn't walk with his sprained ankle. Whereas the truth was, Hazue was fine, and he was safe and dry at their hut, while Kaidoh was risking his life out there. Which is why Hazue needs to come clean, he needs to tell Kaidoh that he lied, otherwise this guilt will eat him up from the inside out.

He's waiting for Kaidoh to return from his morning run, standing outside the hut in the slight drizzle of rain. It's cloudy outside, but at least the storm has passed. When he spots Kaidoh running back, he feels his stomach twist into knots.

"G-g-good m-morning, Kaoru-nii-ii-chan," Hazue greets him with a very nervous voice. He can't help but stutter; he feels so bad, everything could have gone so wrong. Luckily Momoshiro had gone to look for Kaidoh and he came back unharmed. But he could have just as well returned with a broken leg. Or a bleeding head. Or a missing arm. Or … or …

Kaidoh jogs to a stop in front of the hut. On seeing his brother's facial expression, Kaidoh's own face twists into a look of concern. Did something happen to Echizen while he was out running? Or maybe Hazue is still shaken up from the storm. Kaidoh admittedly feels a little on edge himself. He didn't sleep much the night before, what with the thunder continuing long into the night and making him jolt with fear each time.

But now the thunder has stopped, and the sky still looks a bit dark and melancholy but at least it's not pouring down sheets of rain anymore. Kaidoh decided it was fine to run in—it takes a lot to deter him—and even with his lack of sleep, he feels pumped up from the familiar routine. Maybe Hazue is upset that he's still not able to come running with Kaidoh as usual. Kaidoh doesn't know. He's not always the best at reading people.

"What's wrong?" he asks, his mouth curling into a frown. Kaidoh wipes his forehead with his towel and studies his brother's face. He looks worried about something.

"I … uhh …I …" Hazue looks frightened all of the sudden; what will Kaidoh do if he knows he lies? What if the punishment is running around the island ten times? He'd die! He looks down at his feet, unable to look Kaidoh in the eye.

"I have to …" Go to the bathroom. No. Hazue. Stop it. "... t-tell you …something."

"Oh…" says Kaidoh. He looks at his brother a bit warily. It's like Hazue's nerves are contagious and Kaidoh can't help but fidget with the corners of his towel. "What is it?"

Hazue fiddles around with his thumbs, getting more nervous by the second. "I … did something bad."

Kaidoh's eyes narrow in confusion. "You did…?" He can't really imagine what his brother could have done that would be bad enough for him to be getting all stressed about it. He's Hazue after all.

"I … I …" Hazue sniffs; he can't bring himself to say it. It's so humiliating that he lied in the first place, lied to his brother. Why did he ever think this was a good thing to do? He's so ashamed of himself. "I …"

And then the younger boy breaks down, he crouches down with his hands above his head, as if to protect himself from any incoming blows (not that Kaidoh would ever hit him). He starts sniffing, and tears are welling up in his eyes.

"I'm so sooorryyyy," he whines out loud. He sniffs some more to prevent himself from looking so pathetic, but Hazue can't help it. He did something bad indeed; lied to his brother and almost got him killed. "I'm sorry … sorry … I didn't mean to!" he says in a frenetic voice.

Kaidoh's expression only grows more puzzled. He lowers his hand to rest on Hazue's shoulder, which is shaking. He doesn't really know what else to do. "Didn't mean to what?" he asks. "What happened?"

Hazue looks up at Kaidoh with swollen eyes and snot coming out of his nose. "I lied." Then he whines some more, unable to control his own pathetic state. He wipes his snot away with the sleeve of his shirt.

"Oh." Kaidoh gives Hazue's shoulder a soft pat. "Um. What did you lie about?" Whatever it is, it can't be bad enough to justify all this crying... It's kind of weirding Kaidoh out. He really doesn't know what to do, but Hazue is his brother, and if he's upset about something then Kaidoh wants to do his best to … comfort him … however people usually do.

Hazue wipes away his streaming tears with the back of his hands. "I lied … my ankle … it was never sprained. I'm so sorry!" Hazue clings himself to Kaidoh's leg, hoping he won't abandon him because he's been a bad little brother. He hiccups right into Kaidoh's knee.

Kaidoh looks down at his brother, whose face is a wet mess. He … what? So his ankle is fine? But then … Kaidoh shakes his head, still kind of confused. "Why?"

"D-didn't wananrunanymore," Hazue mumbles against his brother's leg.

Oh ... Wait, what? Hazue didn't want to run? He doesn't like it? But Kaidoh always thought ... Well, he thought his brother liked it just as much as he did. He looks down at Hazue's whimpering, crumpled shape clinging to his leg, and suddenly Kaidoh is feeling guilty too. That he pushed his brother to do something like this ... all because he didn't want to go running.

"You should have just told me..." Kaidoh says after a long moment. It's an odd statement, coming from Kaidoh who is himself no stranger to being unable to voice his feelings out loud. "C'mon, you don't need to cry about it ... I'm not ... I'm not angry."

He isn't. He's mostly still kind of confused, because how could running be such a bad thing? Sure Momoshiro thinks it's stupid and tries to avoid it, but Momoshiro's a lazy dumbass. Kaidoh always thought his brother, on the other hand, was fine with it. He never protested. But seeing the expression on Hazue's face is like a dawning realization for Kaidoh; it says it all. His brother doesn't like all the training. And Kaidoh's been making him do it for years. Has he been making his brother miserable for years? The idea horrifies him.

He squeezes Hazue's shoulder. "I'm, uh … I'm sorry, too," he says quietly. "I didn't realize."

Hazue stops hiccuping and taking in irregulars breaths long enough to look back up at Kaidoh, a bit hopeful. "Y-you... you're not angry?" He was sure his brother was going to hate him forever if he knew. "But I made you … look for me … so sorry … didn't mean to … I just, I just didn't want to run a marathon in that Olympic stuff …" Hazue finally lets go of Kaidoh's leg and sits there in front of him, a bit of a mess, and still sniffing a tiny little bit. He feels exhausted.

"You don't …" Hazue puts a hand on top of Kaidoh's which is clutching his shoulder. "... Hate me?"

Kaidoh sighs. "Of course not." He offers Hazue a small smile, because his brother looks like he could use the reassurance. "You're my brother, after all."

Hazue finally rushes to stand up straight, though he doesn't exactly face his brother, what with his short height. "I am really sorry!" He just didn't want to run and die … it's okay if he runs a little to make his brother happy. As long as he doesn't perish while doing it. "I can do a little bit of running with you …" says Hazue as he looks awkwardly at his hands again. "Just not a whole lot. Kaoru-nii-chan has stamina no one else has, no one can keep up with you."

"You … you don't have to run if you don't want to," Kaidoh says, his voice low and even. He doesn't mean to, but he frowns a bit as he speaks. He doesn't want to force Hazue to do anything he doesn't like, but Kaidoh can't really understand why anyone wouldn't enjoy running. Maybe Hazue is right though—few people can handle his training schedule, maybe it's too much even for his own brother.

"Well, I _want_ to do things with you …" Thing that don't involve dying or pulling out his lungs from taken in too much oxygen. "I'm just … not you. I can't run that much. I'm sorry, I know you are always expecting me to … but I'm … sorry …" He starts sniffing again, tears appearing at the corner of his eyes, which he quickly wipes away.

Kaidoh hisses and looks down at the ground. "I guess I shouldn't have been pushing you so hard," he says simply. The thought that he's been putting too much pressure on his brother all these years is making Kaidoh's stomach feel a bit funny, and not in a good way.

"It's not … Don't cry. It's not your fault." The crying is making Kaidoh feel too weird. Should he pat Hazue on the back or something? Maybe he can offer him his towel.

"But I made you go look for me yesterday." Hazue takes a step forward and clings to Kaidoh's shirt with his small hands. "What if, what if something happened to you? I'd never forgive myself!" Hazue wanted to go look for his brother and take him back home, where he's safe, and he can enjoy his running again and all his other training.

He didn't want to end up being a burden to his brother instead, it was just backwards. He didn't come here for that. He wishes he could have escaped this island with Kaidoh, and return him home just like he wanted to in this first place.

Hazue digs his face into Kaidoh's chest, to prevent anymore tears from falling. "I just want to go home."

Kaidoh pats Hazue's back comfortingly. "We will," he says, trying to sound much more confident than he feels—because really, it's been months and months and no rescue has come—but he's Hazue's big brother so he has to sound like he believes it. "Don't worry."

"I miss mom and dad too. They're probably so worried about us … and I don't want anything to happen to us before we see them again. So I'm sorry … for making you go out in that storm to look for me." Hazue sighs, feeling a bit of tension resolve in his shoulders. "I promise I won't lie again!"

"Yeah, um …" Kaidoh starts. He almost feels like he should explain to Hazue that really him being out in the storm mostly just consisted of him running around for a few minutes and then hiding in a tree, so he didn't need to worry so much, but he doesn't want his brother to think less of him. "Just tell me next time. I won't get mad."

"I will! And I won't! Lie, that is. Sorry. Forgive me?" Hazue looks at Kaidoh with his tearful red eyes.

Kaidoh pats Hazue on the back again. "Sure. Of course."

"Thank you." Hazue hugs Kaidoh tightly.

Kaidoh just shrugs against him. "Don't worry about it," he says. "Really."

"Lub you," he mumbles against Kaidoh's chest.

"Yeah."

Hazue knows what his brother means with that articulate 'yeah', and he snuggles closer. His brother is the best.


	29. Dumbnuts Fish

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **with all four of them now living together (temporarily), sexual tensions are on the rise.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** M

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Yagyuu, a med student in training, has looked after Ryoma and made sure his fever went down, but he's still out and sick  
- Hazue looks after Ryoma most of the time  
- Momo asks Kaidoh to help him build a new shack, a sturdier one, for both Ryoma and Hazue. Kaidoh agrees to do this and together they start building it

**Date:** September 9, 2012

* * *

Momoshiro stares down at Kaidoh panting for air in front of him.

"Let's fish," is all Momoshiro says, before he briskly walks past Kaidoh, towards Dumbnuts Cove. He's got a bucket and a fishing net with him; Kaidoh won't have much of a choice to continue his run, he's going with him whether he likes it or not.

Kaidoh huffs. He doesn't protest, because he wouldn't mind the distraction. The hut has felt crowded the past few days, so Kaidoh's been avoiding hanging around in it for too long. He doesn't know what to do for Echizen that isn't already being done by someone more capable, so he ends up just standing there stiffly in a corner. Which is awkward. The whole situation is kind of weird.

At least he and Momoshiro have been keeping busy building a new shelter for Echizen and Hazue to share. It's slow going because Momoshiro is really intent on making sure everything is sturdy, and nothing leaks. But it gives Kaidoh something to do, and keeps him from spending all his free time running, because despite what he'd like to believe of himself, he can't exactly go running forever.

"Whatever," he says, and jogs after Momoshiro, easily catching up with him.

It might not look like it, but there's one thing that's been keeping Momoshiro sane these past few days. He's had to deal with Echizen being hurt—yet again—through something of his own fault, and he's been sleeping on the wooden floor because Echizen is occupying his bed, and Hazue is hogging his blankets, then he's been really damn busy building a new (sturdier) home for Echizen, as well as Hazue. Can't leave those two alone anymore. Momoshiro simply feels like a father, protecting his family, and it's exhausting. Especially since Echizen's ankle doesn't look that great, and he's burning up a fever.

All in all, there's a lot on Momoshiro's mind, and he would have gone completely insane and experienced a mental breakdown, if Kaidoh hadn't been there with him. He doesn't do much, offers no comforting words or awkward pats on the back, but Kaidoh is there. Being grumpy, and hissing, and does what he's told. He calls Momoshiro an idiot, a dumbass and a moron every once in a while, but he's there. A bit stiff, a bit awkward, a bit clueless on what to do, but Momoshiro doesn't ask for much. He just needs someone with him who is not hurt, not incapable of doing things, and doesn't put up much of a fuss.

And Kaidoh really hasn't kicked up much of a fuss. Which is good.

They have both been spending most of their time building the new hut, while Hazue looked after Echizen (if Momoshiro was out that is, he'd never leave him alone), who was still out. But someone had to make sure food was coming in (how do you feed an unconscious person? Stuff a fish down their throat?), and that someone was Momoshiro.

And Momoshiro didn't go anywhere without Kaidoh lately, so that meant Kaidoh had to come too.

They walk mostly in silence, the bucket hitting Momoshiro's thigh as he walks, bumping into his skin like an annoying fly that keeps bugging him. He ignores it. He's just glad that Kaidoh won't ask him anything, that he keeps his trap shut. Because it's already weird enough to have the four of them underneath the same roof, he didn't want to hear it coming from Kaidoh as well. So he's a bit grateful for that, even though Kaidoh isn't doing it consciously (he's probably feeling too much like an awkward tree to speak up), but that's alright with him.

"Did you check on the garden like I asked?" Momoshiro finally asks after a few minutes of silent walking.

Kaidoh nods. "Yeah." He stuffs his hands into his pockets. "Everything survived okay."

Then he turns to Momoshiro and adds dryly, "Except the sheet. It ripped right down the middle." Kaidoh is kind of impressed that Momoshiro even tried to sew anything in the first place, but he sort of sucked at it. Well, not everyone has Kaidoh's skillset.

"Well I didn't expect a storm _this_ big," Momoshiro fires back with a roll of his eyes. "But it's nice to know everything is okay … at least that didn't get damaged." His old shack must have really sucked if his garden was okay, but something made out of wood wasn't.

"I think there's someone else with a garden on this island too. Yuki-something, I don't remember—I wonder what he did to keep it safe. And how'd he get one in the first place?" Momoshiro ponders for a bit on that question; he's sure he and Kaidoh scavenged for the seeds on the ship, and got all there was to get.

Maybe that person is just growing island-vegetables stuff. Probably. If someone else is growing strawberries other than him, Momoshiro will throw a fit.

"How the hell should I know?" Kaidoh grumbles. He still hasn't met half the people living on the island anyway, and based on the few interactions he's had, he thinks maybe it's better to keep it that way.

"I don't know—you're always running, don't you see some stuff?"

Kaidoh gives Momoshiro a flat look. "I don't go stalking other people..."

"Oh, _others_ huh." Momoshiro grins.

"Asshole," Kaidoh hisses, his mouth pulling into a frown. "I don't stalk _anyone_."

Momoshiro knocks the bucket into Kaidoh's knee. He whistles.

Kaidoh glares at him. "Stop that."

"Hehe." Momoshiro pulls his arms behind his head, and hangs the bucket against his back, looking nonchalant. "So Kaidoh—you still got that fish phobia?"

"W-what? I never had a phobia, moron," Kaidoh growls.

"Yeah you do, you've got tons! You're scared of ghosts, spirits, dark places, loud noises, lightning, dirty things, unorganized rooms, and well, fish."

"Dumbass." Kaidoh socks his fist against Momoshiro's arm. "I just don't _like_ those things. There's a difference. I'm not scared." Even as he says it, his cheeks are turning kind of pink.

Momoshiro sways and bumps his hip into Kaidoh. "Nope, you're definitely scared. You've always been, you're not very good at hiding your secrets, you know." Nor is Kaidoh a very good liar. "It was like that the day we met! I think I remember you yelling at me for dirtying your bandana. See? You've got a germphobia."

"That's—shut up!" Kaidoh snarls. "There's nothing wrong with liking clean things."

"Except I was _trying_ to clean it," Momoshiro mumbles irritated.

"Huh?" Kaidoh gives him a puzzled look. "No you weren't, you messed it up."

"Well—blame Oishi! He switched out all the cleaning stuff. I thought it was soap …"

"Oh," Kaidoh says, a blank expression on his face. "I thought you were just trying to piss me off."

Momoshiro chuckles. "Piss you off? No. Far from it … I was just … sort of …" Telling Kaidoh outright that Momoshiro wanted to do something nice for Kaidoh so that they could be friends seemed really weird, and Kaidoh would probably call him a liar. And his stomach feels fuzzy. He lowers his arms and hangs the bucket in front of his knees. "I don't know, we barely knew each other, and didn't know anyone else either … it was just a friendly gesture." And he wanted to try out wearing Kaidoh's bandana, but he's not going to tell him that.

"Oh," Kaidoh repeats. His face feels warm, and he feels sort of strange, like he has something to feel guilty about. Well, he does remember kind of flying into a rage over his bandana almost immediately. Maybe he shouldn't have done that … But no, that's not his fault. Momoshiro shouldn't have been touching his stuff to begin with. And like he said, they didn't even know each other. Back then, he was just some kid with weird hair messing with Kaidoh's things. Yeah. Stupid moron.

It doesn't really help Kaidoh stop feeling embarrassed about the misunderstanding, but he deflects it away from himself and back at Momoshiro, elbowing him in the side. "Idiot," he grumbles.

"Asshole." Momoshiro looks up at the sky. It's sunny, there's no more trace of the hideous storm they were in a few days ago.

"If you hadn't flown off the handle, we might have actually been friends back then." Which is a weird concept to think about; Kaidoh and him as _friends_. They had always been rivals, someone to beat, someone to hate, someone to yell at, someone to pull pranks on. It had never been 'friends'. Lately, it still hasn't even been 'friend-like', as they've been doing things that go way beyond that line.

But still, Momoshiro wonders how much his school life would have changed if he and Kaidoh started out as friends. No insults, no fights … actually, he doesn't want to think about it. He likes the insults, the fights, the rivalry—he wouldn't have it any other way.

Kaidoh snorts. "I'm sure you'd have pissed me off some other way," he points out. Because throughout middle school, that's just what Momoshiro did. Maybe Kaidoh did overreact at times but it was Momoshiro's fault for being so annoying! It was just the way things were; their personalities always collided with each other. Kaidoh doesn't see how they could have possibly been anything but rivals. Momoshiro would have had to be a completely different person. But if he was, then Kaidoh probably wouldn't have cared much about him at all, since other people don't really register as anything more than a blip on his radar.

"Hah, I'm sure you'd have pissed me off too. Still, I guess we started out on the wrong foot." Not to mention they had completely dropped contact five years ago. It felt like they were getting along just fine back then. Even now they do. Momoshiro isn't sure what they are anymore though, especially since they do other things now in secret that he won't ever mention to anyone, or even discuss it with Kaidoh himself. It'll be a secret forever; he'd die if someone ever found out.

For example, if Echizen found out. It's already a mess of emotions since Echizen had told Momoshiro he likes him. Or loves him. Or whatever the hell it is. And obviously he doesn't return those feelings.

Yet there he is, when no one else is watching, kissing Kaidoh Kaoru and even jerking him off.

Momoshiro shrinks into his shoulders and blushes a bit from the thought. It really is a mess, he doesn't know what to make of it, what to make of Kaidoh, who is definitely not a friend, and not yet a rival anymore either. At least he knows where he stands with Echizen, but Kaidoh is still confusing him.

"I guess being friends is just not our thing," says Momoshiro. And it's true. What they're doing is definitely not done out of friendship.

"Yeah," Kaidoh agrees. Admittedly, he doesn't really know a lot about being friends, but he's pretty sure the things he does with Momoshiro wouldn't be included in the definition. What they would be included in, Kaidoh isn't sure. He's been doing his best to avoid defining it. Or thinking about it altogether. Well, as much as he can help it. Sometimes it's kind of impossible. Momoshiro is just the inevitable topic Kaidoh's mind drifts to.

He glances over at Momoshiro walking beside him. Yeah, it's especially inevitable when they're together like this. It's hard for Kaidoh to think of anything else, which is really embarrassing. He hisses and kicks at the sand as he walks, eager to get to fishing and have something else to occupy his mind.

It doesn't take too long before they reach the top of the cliff that leads to Dumbnuts Cove—a name which Momoshiro had obviously picked out. So far only he and Kaidoh know of it though. It was sort of their secret place. Sort of. Momoshiro doesn't really want to add more and more secrets that involve him and Kaidoh. It's turning kind of into a problem. Momoshiro surveys the area, looking at the very tall waterfall slipping down the rocks and crashing onto the sand on the beach below. It really is a nice place, and it seems the storm hadn't done much to ruin it. Aside from a few broken tree branches littered around.

Momoshiro nudges Kaidoh's side and points at the branches. "You should clean those up. Since it's, you know, your thing." He chuckles some more before he hurriedly walks away from Kaidoh, down the steep path towards the cove.

"Don't tell me what to do," Kaidoh argues after him, but he picks up a couple jagged looking branches anyway and piles them together out of the way. It's just so the path is clear and they won't trip over them. Not because Kaidoh has some weird cleaning _thing_. And definitely not because Momoshiro said he should.

He follows Momoshiro down the cliff towards the beach, and picks up a few more broken twigs along the way, his hands just moving on their own. Okay, fine, so maybe he likes things to be neat and ordered. So what.

When he reaches the bottom, he huffs and looks out at the protected blue-green water of the cove. It's clear enough that he can see some fish darting around, glimmers of silver under the water's surface. Luckily they're moving too fast to be staring at him much.

Momoshiro stops walking when he reaches the middle, then places the bucket down, and turns back to face Kaidoh. He opens his mouth to tell him what to do, when he notices a bunch of twigs gathered in Kaidoh's arms. Kaidoh looks at him as if he's just been caught stealing the last cookie out of the cookie jar, as if his secret has just been found out.

"Making a fire?" Momoshiro says with a smirk.

Kaidoh's hands fall open and all the twigs tumble to his feet, as though he can pretend he was never picking them up in the first place. "Shut up," he growls.

Momoshiro nudges the pile with his foot. "Don't make a mess, weirdo."

"I wasn't!" Kaidoh protests. He picks up one of the twigs and flings it at Momoshiro's chest.

Momoshiro growls, then kicks his foot at the pile to send everything flying against Kaidoh's shins. Bastard. He's the one that decided to clean, it's not like Momoshiro told him to, or well, forced him to. Kaidoh did that all on his own.

Kaidoh grinds his teeth. Stupid Momoshiro. There are twigs scattered all over the place again.

"Now I have to pick them all—" Kaidoh stops mumbling and shoots Momoshiro a glare. "Nevermind. Dumbass."

Momoshiro simply smirks in satisfaction. "You go ahead and do that, I'll be filling up this bucket with water, and feel free to join me when you're done." Which really meant; hurry the hell up and help him get fish.

So Momoshiro turns back around, picks up the bucket, dumps it upside down to let the fishing net fall out, and carries it over towards the ocean, dunking it underneath the water and filling it up. It's so that he can keep the fish alive, and they don't have to fish every day if they've got live fish waiting for them back at home. It works for them, though he always ends up seeing a towel covering the bucket—most likely Kaidoh did it, since he's too scared of them. It's really rather silly, but it makes Momoshiro smile a little anyway.

The bucket is now seated safely in the sand, and Momoshiro has the fishing net in his hand. It's not really a fishing net. It's part of a dress … but hey, he's not going to complain. And he won't question where the dress came from either (Fuji had weird hobbies), so now it just serves as a tool to catch fish and not hurt them. It takes a bit longer than a spear, but he can catch multiple in one swing, and he can save them in his bucket for later, whereas speared fish would have to be eaten the same day. It's not like they had a working fridge or anything, though who knows, maybe there's someone out there who is smart enough to conjure one up.

Yeah right.

Momoshiro's knees are soaked in the water, and he keeps the net clutched tightly in his hands. He looks over his shoulder, back at Kaidoh, who is actually cleaning the place up like he's a member of Greenpeace. He snorts, but finds it funny anyway. At least it gives Kaidoh something to do other than squirm away whenever he catches a fish and looks into its eyes. But it's alright with Momoshiro if he does all the work; he can be the hunter, Kaidoh can be the girly cleaner. Not that he'll say this out loud, in fear of being hit by that really big branch that Kaidoh is dragging away from the sand and over towards the cliff. Nah, he wouldn't hit him with that, would he?

Probably not …

He shakes his head; stop focusing on Kaidoh. Momoshiro has a job to do. Get food for the family. Which is how he refers to this weird mash-up of people in their hut. He's the protective father, Kaidoh is the … cleaning mother, and Hazue his son, and Echizen …well, calling him his son (figuratively speaking of course) would be weird, because then it's like incest. And that's gross. Momoshiro crinkles up his nose and pushes those weird thoughts out of his mind; he really does have a job to do. So he starts.

The net glides around slowly in the water as Momoshiro moves, slowly, expertly—he's done it a million times by now. There's no way Kaidoh could ever be as good at fishing as Momoshiro is. He's simply the best fisherman on this island. He never sees anyone else fish anyway. Then again, no one else knows of this place (he hopes), so it's just Kaidoh and Momoshiro.

And it's sort of nice. It makes him relax a little bit, forget about all the troubles back at their hut, about Echizen's ankle hurting and having a fever. Instead he's here with grumpy cleaning OCD Kaidoh, who doesn't mention what happens back at the hut at all. It's nice.

It doesn't take long for Kaidoh to clear the remaining branches and debris from the beach. He's efficient at anything he does, and soon the sand looks satisfyingly clean and sparkly. It makes Kaidoh feel pretty good, and whatever, Momoshiro is just a slob so he doesn't understand anyway.

Kaidoh wanders over to where Momoshiro has started fishing and stands back from the water a bit, watching. He doesn't want to admit it, but Momoshiro is actually probably better at this than he is. A little. Maybe. Although Momoshiro has the unfair advantage of being immune to dead fish eye stares, so it doesn't really count. Kaidoh's sure if the fish were blind he'd be able to catch loads of them. Or, no, that might just make them even creepier. He shudders and inches closer to Momoshiro's shoulder, like he's going to use him as a protective shield.

The water flushes up against Momoshiro; he can feel Kaidoh creeping up. "You done?" he asks. He pushes his hands down underwater to spread the net between both arms, then lifts one hand up, holding the end of the net, and shows it to Kaidoh.

"Take it, let's get this school of fish."

Kaidoh grabs the end and holds onto it while Momoshiro tugs the other one and together they sweep the net through the water. The cove is so calm, and their movement so slow and deliberate that there are fish swarming around right in front of it, not even noticing as the net starts to close in. Kaidoh can feel it pull with weight as the fish are caught against the netting and swept along with the movement. He can see the flicker of their scales through the water. There are so many of them. Momoshiro shoots Kaidoh a look and Kaidoh nods and together they raise the net in a single, smooth motion, and flip it upside down into the bucket, sending a bunch of small, silver fish splashing down into the water.

"One … two ... three … five … si—no, seven. That's a pretty good haul for our first sweep!" Momoshiro is crouched beside the bucket, counting the fish, then he looks up at Kaidoh with a grin. He holds out his fist to him.

Kaidoh bumps his fist against Momoshiro's, knuckles zinging pleasantly, and then he cautiously looks down into the bucket. It's not so bad. All the fish seem too busy swimming around in a panic to stare at him. And they're all still alive, and anything alive is always less creepy than something dead.

"Oh," Kaidoh says, pointing. "There's eight in there, not seven. Moron."

Momoshiro bends over the bucket and uses his finger this time to point at each fish as he counts. "Oh," he says, coming to a count of eight. "Whatever." He gets back up and tugs Kaidoh along by his arm so they can catch a bunch of other fish as well.

Eight would be enough for them, but they're living with four people, so they need more than that. For now anyway.

They do the same thing as before, walking slowly towards the deeper part of the ocean, net spread out far enough, and then they wait. The fish deem the area to be safe, and start swimming around again, unaware of the two people standing still. One of the fish jumps up out of the water and splashes back in. It sends little droplets flying against the side of Momoshiro's cheek. It's a bit annoying. The fish keep swarming around, until there's a big enough group that Momoshiro nods his head at Kaidoh, and they close in once more. They walk slow, careful, dragging the net along until it forces the fish against it. Momoshiro walks towards Kaidoh, and Kaidoh walks towards Momoshiro, each engrossed in keeping the fish inside the net.

And then Momoshiro bumps against Kaidoh and flinches a bit, Kaidoh does too. They pull the net together and a bunch of fish are caught inside. Momoshiro smiles at Kaidoh; he might not be a friend, but he's a good fishing buddy.

"I think we've got enough for today," says Momoshiro. They're dragging the net back on land, and dump the fish with the others ones inside of the bucket. It looks full and cramped with shimmering scales.

Momoshiro puts his hand inside the bucket, brushing his hands up against the fish. It looks to be about fifteen of them. But he's sure he's got the count wrong again. "Unless you want more?" he asks, looking back up at Kaidoh.

"Uh …" Kaidoh bends down and takes another glance down at the bucket. "No, that looks fine," he replies.

"Alright." Momoshiro stretches out his arms before he wrings the cuffs of his shorts to get rid of some of the water. He stands up straight and looks around a bit; Kaidoh really has cleaned the place up. It looks like the storm never hit at all.

"Nice cleaning," he says with a playful snort.

Kaidoh shoves him in the shoulder. "Shut up."

"You shut up, that was a compliment." Momoshiro pushes at Kaidoh's chest. It's starting to wake up the adrenaline inside of him.

Kaidoh's face flushes slightly. "Oh," he says, and then he scowls at him. "Well it's hard to tell, dumbass!" And it's not like Momoshiro pays him compliments on a regular basis anyway. He usually just thinks Kaidoh's habits are stupid, right?

"You're just too stupid to recognize it even when I say it straight to your face. Dumbass." Momoshiro scans the area for a bit, there's no one there but them. It's making him anticipate something that he hasn't in days. He looks back at Kaidoh, who is slightly pink in the face. Heh.

"Hey, Kaidoh."

Kaidoh narrows his eyes. "What?"

Momoshiro sidesteps the bucket, then he forces his mouth on top of Kaidoh's.

Kaidoh breathes out a surprised little sound against Momoshiro's lips and then, without giving it much thought, grabs the collar of his shirt to pull him closer, his fingers twisting into the fabric.

A shiver runs down Momoshiro's spine, and he doesn't even need Kaidoh to pull him closer, as he presses himself against the other man all on his own accord. His lips eagerly kiss Kaidoh's; he's been waiting for this for several days. No, more accurately, he's been _needing_ this. Like he has really gotten addicted to it since the first time they started. And Momoshiro can't stop. Not with the way Kaidoh seems to be feeling the same thing, wanting the same thing, which is to move their lips against each other, as if they're speaking only in body language.

It's been five days, ten hours and probably thirty minutes since the last time Momoshiro's felt Kaidoh like this, touched him like this. It proves to be a great distraction from all the other things that are going on right now, but calling this a distraction doesn't do it any justice. Because Momoshiro likes Kaidoh's big and warm lips, clumsily sucking at his own, it makes those fizzly fluttery feelings return again, not to mention the goosebumps that rise on his skin. This is not a distraction.

Everything else is.

Momoshiro lifts up one slightly damp hand, running it over Kaidoh's shoulder, up to his neck, and cups his cheek. With this grip on Kaidoh's face, he mushes them up together even more. He doesn't want to leave any space between them—having Hazue and Echizen together with them does nothing but create space between them, and Momoshiro hates it, so all of his needs are pouring out of him, intensifying their kiss since it's all he's been wanting. They're finally alone, after all, and they're not busy building a hut or catching fish.

Kaidoh wasn't really expecting this, although maybe a part of him was hoping for it. A big part. The last few days have been a weird blur, everything kind of tense and worried, and Kaidoh has been petrified to even really look at Momoshiro when they are all in the hut together, for fear he'd totally give himself away, like this is some secret that has to stay buried. But when it's just the two of them, alone, things seem to simplify. Kaidoh doesn't have to think. And frankly, when they're doing this, he doesn't _want_ to think either. It makes it a lot less confusing and embarrassing if he doesn't.

He just reacts on instinct, pulling tighter on Momoshiro's collar like he's trying to stretch it out of shape and moving his mouth angrily against Momoshiro's, pressing hard as though he'll be able to make an imprint of it onto his own lips. Kaidoh has missed the way it feels, the way it makes Kaidoh feel, the lightheaded buzz that zips through him whenever Momoshiro touches him. He bites down on Momoshiro's lower lip as if to communicate this to him in a way he'd never dare do with words.

It's a language only they know, each touch a different word, each stroke another syllable, and what used to be foreign needy sounds coming from Momoshiro's throat, are now starting to feel like a greeting, an invitation. And it's only meant for Kaidoh, almost like a secret handshake, except it's with every part of their bodies. Momoshiro can't help but react in all kinds of ways. How his hips seems to mesh up against Kaidoh's, how suddenly he's got an arm around Kaidoh's lower back, and his right hand is brushing against Kaidoh's cheek.

And their _lips_, they're speaking a whole other language. Momoshiro can feel the urgency in Kaidoh's actions, and he understands it, somewhat, because he's been wanting this for days now.

Momoshiro shuts down his eyelids, completely focused on the teeth that are biting his lower lip. Momoshiro brushes his tongue against Kaidoh's bare teeth, tracing each tooth slowly and deliberate. But Kaidoh wants it hard, and fast, so he tugs at Momoshiro's lips, and Momoshiro can't help but oblige. He tears his own lips away from Kaidoh's hold, a sensation that feels prickly and he can feel his heartbeat throb painfully in his thick lips. He roughly pushes his tongue inside of Kaidoh's mouth, taking in a deep breath as he does, because he knows he won't be able to breathe much when they're like this, when they're swirling their wet muscles against each other, playing, toying around, and eliciting small gasps.

There's one thing Momoshiro knows from his past experiences with Kaidoh; he won't be able to stop. He never can. Kaidoh just … _does_ something to him, and suddenly he's beside himself, a person running on pure instincts and hormones—and the real Momoshiro can't find a fuck to give because it feels good. It feels _right_.

Kaidoh's hand that had been hanging loose at his side now slides up against Momoshiro's torso, his fingers hooking around his hip, just under the hem of his t-shirt. He digs his finger pads into the skin there, pressing his palm flat, feeling Momoshiro's skin radiate with heat. He can't get over how every part of Momoshiro's body that he touches always feels like it's just been set on fire. He wants to feel it all the time.

It's a strange impulse for him. Kaidoh has never liked being physically close to people—touching makes him feel awkward and stiff and embarrassed—but for some reason with Momoshiro, all of that flies out the window and he can't get enough of it. It just comes naturally. He just wants to crush Momoshiro against his body and stay like that forever. It feels so comfortable, it feels so right, and Kaidoh's heart can't help but start pounding in agreement. Maybe Momoshiro is sending out some weird magnetic pull, because it really feels like Kaidoh can't fight it, even if he wanted to. He's just drawn to him, he always has been. It's impossible for Kaidoh to stop touching.

Or kissing. His tongue slips against Momoshiro's and doesn't stop moving; it's like they're fighting. It's such a rush, both of them eager, all of it rough. Kaidoh inhales sharply through his nose and smells Momoshiro, the beach air, the saltwater, and yes, it's kind of fishy too, but he doesn't really care. He's too wrapped up in Momoshiro's tongue, Momoshiro's hands, Momoshiro's body, to pay attention to anything else.

Momoshiro's knees are feeling weak, Kaidoh just has this way of making him feel lightheaded, everything he does makes him feel more exhausted. Yet at the same time, he feels pumped with all this energy. It becomes a bit too much for him to bear at times, but he doesn't want to stop. He slides his hand from Kaidoh's cheek back onto his shoulder and presses down on it, hinting him to sit down at least.

He's sure if they keep standing, kissing and touching each other like this, Momoshiro's knees will give way, and he'll collapse right on top of Kaidoh.

So Momoshiro pulls out his tongue, feeling like he wants to get back in Kaidoh's mouth straight away, but he exerts more force on Kaidoh's shoulder, and down he goes—down they both go. This time neither are on top of each other, but sitting beside each other, Momoshiro leaning onto his elbow to prop him up right, and throwing one leg over Kaidoh's to keep him there.

And then their mouths are back together, Momoshiro can't stay parted from Kaidoh for too long; it's already torture that he can't do this back at their hut. That they can't do this every day, because it's releasing all this tension, all this frustration, and he's left feeling nothing but relaxed, elated, and extremely happy. He hopes Kaidoh feels the same way, but more and more he's beginning to think that he does, they don't need to say this out loud. Kaidoh's actions speak enough, pushing against his lips as if Momoshiro's mouth is providing him oxygen. But breathing into Kaidoh's mouth seems a little weird; he's sure his breath doesn't smell the greatest at the moment. Not that Kaidoh smells like heaven either.

Though he kind of feels like he's in heaven. The sand is cushiony, Kaidoh's hand slipping underneath his shirt feels comfortable, their legs intertwined feels safe and secure, and as always, Kaidoh's mouth is hot, and his tongue is relentless. Momoshiro wouldn't have it any other way.

Momoshiro opens his mouth and sucks in Kaidoh's tongue, keeping him there to play with. As much as he likes sticking it down Kaidoh's throat, the opposite way feels nice too. Everything feels nice.

The fingers that had been pulling at Momoshiro's collar now slip back behind Momoshiro's head, sliding easily into his hair. For a moment they're almost gentle, and then Kaidoh scrapes his fingernails down along the back of Momoshiro's neck and under the collar of his shirt, enjoying the way he can feel the hairs stand on end as Momoshiro's body shivers slightly. He leaves his hand there, firm and warm against Momoshiro's skin as if to say, _Don't move. Stay this close_. He doesn't want Momoshiro going anywhere.

He thrusts his tongue against Momoshiro's, slides it around inside Momoshiro's mouth, explores. Each thing he does gives Kaidoh a new sensation, awakens a new tingly feeling inside him, makes Momoshiro react against Kaidoh's mouth in a new, exciting way. It's something Kaidoh could never grow bored of, he can't get enough of it. He doesn't want to stop until he has Momoshiro's mouth completely memorized.

Part of the reason he's so eager, so urgent, is because Kaidoh still doesn't know what this is, what it means, and most importantly, how long this thing between them will last. And that terrifies him, but motivates him at the same time. He has to make the most of it, every second. And maybe if he does, Momoshiro will want to do it again. Because that's all Kaidoh wants, for Momoshiro to keep wanting it, keep wanting him, to never stop doing this. Kaidoh isn't going to.

With a low murmur of sound, Kaidoh slips his tongue out of Momoshiro's mouth and presses his lips against Momoshiro's, heavy and rough. The corners of Kaidoh's mouth curl with a hint of a smile as he feels Momoshiro's mouth press back just as hard, anxious and needy. Maybe Momoshiro won't stop wanting this either. Then Kaidoh bites at Momoshiro's lips and forces his tongue back inside for more.

Damn, Kaidoh is getting good at this. For a sliver of time, Momoshiro is stunned with an overload of pleasurable feelings that he does nothing, simply enjoys the ride as Kaidoh presses his mouth against him, his tongue smoldering hot. It's like he knows just what to do to make Momoshiro's mind go numb. The scratching on his neck leaves him breathless, the fast swipes of Kaidoh's tongue has him almost choking for air.

When did he get so good at this? When did he figure out Momoshiro can't do anything but lean closer and hope he'll do it again?

Momoshiro pushes his tongue up against Kaidoh's, pinning him at the roof of his mouth, to slow him down—he's not going anywhere, so there's no need to be so hasty. Being fast at this makes him feel like he can't do anything but take it, and he doesn't just want to do that (no matter how good it feels), he wants to touch and feel Kaidoh too. Get him to gasp out loud, get him to shiver; Momoshiro wants to do all of those things.

But it's Momoshiro who pulls back to gasp for breath as Kaidoh scratches at his neck again. Shit. Stop making him feel so good! It's giving him a sensory overload, and it leaves him so vulnerable, so helpless. It's a side of him that he didn't know he had, much less show it off to Kaidoh. Yet on the other hand, he only wants Kaidoh to see it, no one else. This is for Kaidoh only.

The hand on Kaidoh's shoulder leaves and it's back on Kaidoh's neck. Momoshiro crashes his mouth against Kaidoh's again, sucking at him hard, as he makes his fingers press down on the faded bruise on the side of Kaidoh's neck. Then he doesn't even wait for Kaidoh's reaction, Momoshiro simply wraps his entire hand around Kaidoh's neck and pulls him towards himself. He leans back, sinks through his elbow, until he's pulled Kaidoh on top of himself; biting at his lips, and fingers pressing tightly on the sides of his neck. His other hand is busy trying to get underneath Kaidoh's shirt on his back, so that he can feel those trained muscles again.

This is not something Momoshiro had ever thought he would like; Kaidoh being on top of him. Much less have Kaidoh on top of him and kissing him as well. But he does, he enjoys it immensely, this way Kaidoh's touching him everywhere, he's like a warm and heavy weight on top of him; it's almost suffocating. More, he thinks, don't stop.

Kaidoh can't help his instinct to just sprawl out all over Momoshiro, cover him entirely, feel all of him at once, hold onto him. It's embarrassing, so he tries to resist, but Momoshiro is pressing his fingers into him like an invitation, like it's okay for Kaidoh to want it, to want to be that close, so Kaidoh gives in and just crushes his body against Momoshiro's. It feels familiar and warm, and right now it's simply where he wants to be.

And Momoshiro isn't having any complaints either, as he's holding onto Kaidoh and not letting him go. He doesn't want to, and more and more he's feeling like he can't, even if he wanted to.

Kaidoh's hand slides up Momoshiro's chest, under his shirt, pressing fingertips against his skin and then scratching his nails back down again along his side. The hand behind Momoshiro's head is scratching too, cradling Momoshiro's neck in the sand and scraping little marks into the skin. Kaidoh isn't sure when he became so into doing that. He's not really thinking about what he's doing. He has no plan. It's all just trial and error, seeing what works and what doesn't, but Kaidoh's finding more and more that Momoshiro responds to whatever he does, like he can't do anything wrong. And Momoshiro can't do anything wrong either. Everything feels good.

He slows his mouth down a bit, dragging things out—it's not like Momoshiro can go anywhere now that Kaidoh has him pinned on the ground. Although Momoshiro could probably push Kaidoh off if he really wanted to, but that doesn't seem to be a priority right now. Momoshiro is the one who pulled Kaidoh onto him in the first place after all. It makes Kaidoh's stomach feel like something's buzzing around inside of it. Momoshiro keeps pulling Kaidoh closer. He wants Kaidoh closer. It's making Kaidoh dizzy.

He pulls back and looks down at Momoshiro, liking the way he can make Momoshiro look at him, different from any expression he's seen him wear, and it's only because of him. He leans in close and presses his lips to the side of Momoshiro's mouth and then slides them over to the other side and kisses there too. Then his teeth graze over Momoshiro's bottom lip in a way that's painfully slow and makes his teeth tingle like they've just bitten into a popsicle. He pulls Momoshiro's tongue into his mouth with those same teeth, the movement rough and clumsy, but Momoshiro is going along with it. Momoshiro goes along with all of it. There's no hesitation, like their bodies know instinctively just how to respond to each other, like they've always been ready for it.

If Momoshiro wasn't in heaven before, then he is now. Kaidoh's getting more daring, more comfortable with what he's doing, and it makes Momoshiro feel fantastic. Everything he does feels great, and they're in a rhythm that can't be stopped.

But he can't be bested, but at the same time, Momoshiro feels like this isn't really a competition. If he loses, he ends up with Kaidoh doing all these amazing things to him, and that's not really a loss, is it? But he wants to make Kaidoh squirm as well, to feel the way he feels, because it's a strange but addicting feeling to know he's the one causing it all. Just like Kaidoh is doing this to him, making him feel short of breath and run his fingers through Kaidoh's freshly cut hair, slipping off his bandana without either of them noticing.

So now it's Momoshiro's turn, he thinks. He eagerly pushes back against Kaidoh's mouth, his tongue slipping against Kaidoh's, and swirling around it. It's so wet and sticky, Momoshiro is amazed he hasn't drooled by now, there's simply so much saliva being exchanged back and forth.

And before, the thought of actually drooling over Kaidoh, would set him into a fit of rage and denial, but now, he just shrugs against Kaidoh and sucks on his tongue.

Both his hands are now on Kaidoh's back, and just like Kaidoh's been doing, he digs his fingernails into his shoulder blades, then scratches him all the way down to the small of his back. Kaidoh hisses against his mouth, and Momoshiro smirks in response. Good, keep those reactions coming. Momoshiro does it again, this time scratching from his back, towards his sides, around his stomach, and up his chest. He's leaving his marks everywhere, because every inch of skin that belongs to Kaidoh, Momoshiro wants to touch it. He wants it to be his.

Then he scratches on the sides of Kaidoh's neck as well, right on the faded bruises. Those bruises that used to make him feel jumpy when he saw them, and now it does nothing but make him lose his mind with temptation. Tempted to do it again, to touch it again—and he is. Momoshiro's lips are on the side of Kaidoh's neck, kissing him everywhere, and not being gentle about it at all. Coupled with his continuous scratching, Kaidoh is making some pretty nice sounds at the moment, it makes Momoshiro want to do this more. It feels good to be the one to do this, and it feels good when Kaidoh does it too.

Who is he kidding, everything Momoshiro does with Kaidoh feels good. This is not something he could ever have enough of.

Kaidoh breathes out, thick and ragged, against the crook of Momoshiro's neck, and presses his mouth against Momoshiro's collarbone. He can feel Momoshiro's pulse flutter wildly against his lips. He can't quite get over how he's doing all this and somehow not getting punched in the face. It's like he has free rein over Momoshiro's body, nothing is off-limits, everything is fair game. They're both just letting each other in, leaving themselves exposed and raw, making sounds they'd never dare make with anyone else, using their mouths in ways Kaidoh would feel disgusted about in any other context. But since it's Momoshiro, all bets are off, and even the things that embarrass Kaidoh most are starting to just feel like an exciting burst of adrenaline instead. But it's still so new, he's not completely used to it. It's kind of overwhelming, and makes Kaidoh just want to touch everywhere at once, fast, and rough, and yeah, kind of violent too, since that's just how they both are.

But at the same time, he wants to remember the way each touch feels, he doesn't want to rush any of it. He doesn't feel like he has to. Momoshiro isn't going anywhere. It's like this is becoming an agreement between them, a strange routine, one they can't help but fall into. They both want it. No, they both _need_ it. It's not something either of them can stop from happening.

So Kaidoh lies there against Momoshiro, hands moving, lips moving, bodies so close they can feel every flinch, every shiver. Kaidoh's whole body wants to move and react. Even his legs, still wet and now a bit sandy, slide easily against Momoshiro's, feeling comfortable and warm as press together like strips of velcro. The sun feels warm against his back, but Momoshiro's hands feel somehow even warmer still.

When Momoshiro's fingernails scratch against his skin, sharper than before, like Momoshiro is seeing how far he can push, Kaidoh can't help the feeling that there's fire dancing along his spine. His breath rasps out, an angry-sounding hiss, which twists into a growl as he scrapes his own nails along Momoshiro's torso, up from his hip-bone to his shoulder, at the same time tugging rough fingers through the hair at the back of Momoshiro's neck. No matter how much Momoshiro pushes him, Kaidoh will always return it with equal force. It's how they've always been.

It's strange how they went from two guys who liked to beat each other up, to two guys who _enjoy_ inflicting pain upon each other. Momoshiro isn't really sure why this is, scratching isn't exactly a good feeling when someone else does it, but when it's Kaidoh, he can't help but arch his back and breathe out a jittery breath against Kaidoh's neck. It feels good, it shouldn't, but it does. And returning the favour feels good too, the tips of his fingers are buzzing and tingling from touching Kaidoh wherever he wants, using his nails to scrape against the burning skin. Yes, it really is strange, but it seems neither of them care.

In fact, they both seem to really like it. If Momoshiro's breath and weird noises from his throat is any indication. Kaidoh's lips feel really good against his collarbone. So soft and warm.

The skin on Kaidoh's neck is also very soft, a hard contrast between the defined muscles on his chest and back. And it's something Momoshiro can't stop brushing his lips over, smoothing out the area, leaving a little trail of saliva as he goes, because yeah, he's drooling. It can't be helped, not when Kaidoh returns to his mouth full force and they start kissing again. It's a little bit slower than before, their lips moving in an unpredictable pattern, but it feels like they both want to drag this out, and Momoshiro isn't going to complain. His mind feels a bit clearer like this so he can focus on the sensation, the enjoyment and pleasure he gets from it, the way Kaidoh's breath is so irregular and so close to his face. His own isn't all that stable either, it never is when they're doing this.

The first time they did it, Momoshiro was deathly afraid of what would happen if he faced Kaidoh afterwards. But the second time—it was hard to stay away from Kaidoh—he stayed around, because Momoshiro can't deny that he likes this, he wants this. And Kaidoh does too, which makes him feel all sorts of good and fizzly feelings. The third time, it was almost like both of them knew this, that it was inevitable, that their fight of punches would lead to squirming on the floor and gasping for air for entirely different reasons.

And now … Momoshiro doesn't even think about now. It just happens, he's not going to run away, or try to stop it, or perhaps punch Kaidoh. No, he's here with Kaidoh on top of him, their mouths trembling, and their breathing ragged. They haven't spoken about this together, not a word at all, but they don't have to, their bodies are speaking volumes; they want this. Momoshiro wants this, and Kaidoh obviously does too, so who cares what will happen, or why they're doing this. As long as Momoshiro can enjoy the closeness of Kaidoh's body against him, the heat that he is radiating, the way his hands move over his body, his eager mouth and tongue, those amazing gasps of breath … then it doesn't matter. Nothing does.

Because all Momoshiro wants is to continue this forever, and to keep doing it whenever he feels like it. And yes, he feels like it all the time.

Not to mention it's a great stress reliever.

Momoshiro wraps both his arms around Kaidoh's neck to keep him in that position, so that he can't stop kissing Momoshiro. At the same time he lifts up his hips from the sand, and massages Kaidoh's hips with it, slow and gentle, but enough to know he's doing it, enough to feel that they're touching and rubbing. Just like last time. He can't stop the urge to do it. He sighs against Kaidoh's mouth, and when he feels Kaidoh's hips dig into him as well, he sighs once more.

These embarrassing sounds shouldn't be something Momoshiro would let anyone hear, but it's hard to keep his own body from reacting against his own will. And he likes the way Kaidoh will eagerly try to make him sigh again, by making him feel so good everything seems to be spinning for him.

Kaidoh slides his tongue into Momoshiro's mouth, this time stroking it over Momoshiro's tongue with movements that are slow, unhurried, but still very deliberate. Kaidoh does everything like it has purpose and intent, even though he's doing his best to not think about what that purpose is, to not think at all.

He rolls his hips forward against Momoshiro's with the same rhythm, and both his elbows dig into the sand as he adjusts his body so that he's no longer sprawling haphazardly against Momoshiro, moving instead to straddle him and trapping Momoshiro's lower body between his legs. He lets out a shaky breath against Momoshiro's mouth as he rolls his hips forward again from this new angle, and feels Momoshiro breathe back against him, sounding similarly ragged. They're breathing so much of each other's air that it should be disgusting, but all Kaidoh can register is the lightheaded, excited feeling he gets each time he inhales, and he knows Momoshiro is feeling it too.

As much as Kaidoh kind of likes the way they're kissing—like they aren't angry at each other or racing for some finish line—the slow pace doesn't really last for long. Neither of them is patient enough, and soon things start to speed up again, their lips smacking against each other's like they mean it to hurt. It doesn't though, it just feels really good. Any time Momoshiro's mouth is against his own, no matter if it's fast or slow or so hard his lips feel raw, it feels amazing. It feels right.

Everywhere Kaidoh touches feels like where his fingers are meant to be, like Momoshiro's skin is simply where they belong. He used to get a similar feeling from fighting, a rush of adrenaline with each punch that connected with Momoshiro's muscles, each scrape of his knuckles against Momoshiro's chest as he grabbed for his collar. But he didn't really know what to think of it, he assumed that was just how fighting was supposed to feel. But he's feeling it now again, stronger than any fight ever was, and they aren't even fighting at all. Maybe that feeling, that rush, was never about the fighting. Not that Kaidoh doesn't like fighting too. He just … likes this a lot more.

He scrapes his fingertips up the back of Momoshiro's head, nails digging in as he moves, and then back down again to the base of his neck, where his hand presses against his skin, lightly massaging it. The back of his hand is covered in sand by now. His elbows and knees are too. It should be uncomfortable, but Kaidoh doesn't even register it. He's got too many other sensations to keep track of right now.

Momoshiro's hands feel like they belong against his skin too. All these years, Kaidoh had never really let himself imagine how they might feel, and now he has so many tangible memories of Momoshiro's hands against him, all imprinted deeply in his mind, that he doesn't need to imagine at all. His shoulders tense and roll back against Momoshiro's arms wrapped around his neck, as if to confirm that they're really there. Kaidoh can't get over the feeling of having Momoshiro touching him so much, willingly, and letting Kaidoh touch him too, just as much. It hasn't gotten any less exciting than the first time they did this.

If anything, it's gotten _better_ than the first time, or at least Momoshiro thinks so. Before they were still undecided, scared, naive perhaps, but now it's pretty much established that this is not a fluke. This is not a one-time thing that went too far because Momoshiro's hormones went out of control.

Because they're here, down in the sand, lips sucking and moving, hips grinding and massaging, and they're doing it because they want to. _Momoshiro_ wants to, and it's probably the strangest urge he's ever felt before, something which he never thought was possible. He tries not to think about the why and the how too much—Kaidoh is moving his lips just so that Momoshiro's thoughts go blank—as that's probably scarier than what they're doing right now.

Like this, no thoughts, no words, it's how Momoshiro wants it to be. It's probably the only way he can function at the moment.

Momoshiro clings to Kaidoh's body like he's helplessly needy, like he doesn't want Kaidoh to go, and it's embarrassing, but feeling embarrassed at these kind of things has long since lost its meaning; it doesn't matter. Only Kaidoh's warm hands on his body matter, and his violent lips with his slimy tongue that keeps challenging his own, and Momoshiro won't back down. No matter how many times he rolls his tongue against Kaidoh's, or sucks on it hard, or uses his teeth to scrape over the muscle—it doesn't get old, each time he does it, it feels better than the last time. There's always something building up as they kiss and touch, and he can feel it in his groin, in his inflamed lungs gasping for breath, his fast beating heart making his pulse leap throughout his body.

Momoshiro can't believe he's experiencing all of this with Kaidoh of all people. Yet at the moment, he doesn't care, it feels right, like it couldn't have been anyone else _but_ Kaidoh.

The way Kaidoh's skin feels, so hot and prickly, so damp from sweat, and it rubs against his own in exactly all the right places. Kaidoh's hands feel like the best hands in the world, touching him where he needs it, where he wants it, and it never stops. Keep going Kaidoh, fill up his mind, touch him everywhere.

Momoshiro can't think of anything else but Kaidoh. Kaidoh's hands, Kaidoh's lips, Kaidoh's hair, Kaidoh's skin, Kaidoh's legs, Kaidoh's arms, Kaidoh's back, Kaidoh's tongue, Kaidoh's voice. Kaidoh, Kaidoh, Kaidoh.

"K—" Momoshiro snaps his hips up against Kaidoh as he breathes out that one syllable, before something else snaps as well.

The bucket that was right above Momoshiro's head (when did they move so close to it?), has a fish leaping out of it, and for a second it sparkles in the sunlight as all the drops of water go flying, before it lands right on top of Kaidoh's back.

Momoshiro sucks in a breath as he feels his cheeks go red, eyes wide and staring at Kaidoh. Was he just about to … ?

It takes Kaidoh's mind a second to switch gears, but as soon as it does, as soon as it registers the wet and slippery fins flapping against his back, he can't seem to move fast enough. He squirms, he flails, he makes a few really embarrassing squeaky sounds, he flops off of Momoshiro in a rather clumsy and panicked manner, and _finally_ the fish slides off of him into the sand, its mouth opening and closing frantically for air.

Kaidoh looks at it, eyes wide and completely horrified, and then grabs it by the tail and flings it away from him, back in the direction of the bucket. Or well, he intended for it to go back in the bucket. Only, it kind of misses and hits Momoshiro in the forehead instead. Oops. Kaidoh blames his bad aim on the fact that he's just been traumatized by a stupid fish.

"Uh," he says weakly. "Sorry about that."

The fish slides off of Momoshiro's forehead, and lands with a soft thud in his lap. Momoshiro is not amused. In fact, he's sort of pissed off. Getting cut short of their … their … _thing_ is not what he wants to happen. But having a fish cradling his lap isn't what he wants either, it's making all those fantastic feelings that he was experiencing just seconds before slip away from him ultrafast, until there's nothing left but irritation, and a frustrating problem in his shorts.

"Fucking asshole," Momoshiro grumbles at Kaidoh. He wipes off his fishy smelling forehead with the back of his hand, all the while glaring at Kaidoh, his eyes saying; this is all _your_ fault.

The urge to continue whatever they were doing all but left Momoshiro now. Now he's just pissed. He takes the fish from his lap, squeezes it angrily, then tosses it back into the bucket. He picks himself up from the sand, dusting off his clothes because wow it got everywhere (what did he expect with that much moving around?), then looks at Kaidoh again with another glare.

"Let's head back." Momoshiro grabs the handle of the bucket and lifts it up, holding it by his side, and strutting away. He can still feel his heart thump in his chest.

Kaidoh glares after Momoshiro and rises to his feet too. Then he glares at the bucket for good measure. Stupid fish. Kaidoh wishes he could strangle it. He adds this to his list of reasons why fish are creepy and should be avoided at all costs—unless they're being eaten, since that can't really be avoided on an island like this.

Where he'd been feeling really good just moments ago, Kaidoh now just feels grouchy, and can't shake the feeling that there's still something cold wriggling against his back. But it's just water. The back of his shirt is all cold and damp, and the rest of Kaidoh's body is sweaty and damp, and his pulse still feels like it's throbbing in anticipation, which is only making Kaidoh feel even more like strangling that stupid fish. Only, he wouldn't be able to remember which fish it was, and it would be kind of idiotic, and not very productive, to strangle a bunch of innocent fish.

But it might relieve some of the frustration that's coiling up inside of him like electrical wires.

Instead he just curls his fingers into tight balls, fingernails digging into the palms of his hands, and imagines he's strangling something, but it's just not the same. It doesn't help that those fingers still seem to be warm and tingly from the feeling of Momoshiro's skin, like they're longing to be reunited with it. It's annoying.

Kaidoh hisses and retrieves his bandana out of the sand and stuffs it into his pocket. Then he stuffs his hands into his pockets as well and walks after Momoshiro, scowling and kicking up the sand in front of him as he goes. Some of it gets into his shoes, and that annoys him too. Suddenly everything is just really irritating.

And that irritation simply continues to be strung along when they get back to the hut, where everything is even more awkward. It's not like Momoshiro can do something with Kaidoh, not when Hazue and Echizen are there too. Not to mention Echizen still had a fever, and that doesn't exactly put him in the mood.

But being alone with Kaidoh does, so for the next couple of days, he tries to avoid being alone with Kaidoh. Just until Echizen gets better.

And then he'll strangle the snake.


	30. Wake up

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **Momo and Ryoma talk! Revealing Ryoma's abusive ex backstory, which sadly doesn't come much into play.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Gottis (Ryoma)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Ryoma still has a fever, but is slowly getting better  
- Momo and Kaidoh continue to work on the new hut

**Date:** September 10, 2012

* * *

Momoshiro had been sitting next to the lifeless body of Echizen Ryoma for a while now. It had been about five days since Echizen was up and about, and healthy looking too. Not that he spent every waking moment next to the younger man; Momoshiro had been keeping himself busy building a new shelter for the brat, as well as Kaidoh's younger brother. Because one thing was certain; he didn't want anyone hurt anymore.

Which also meant that Momoshiro had gotten over his childish cold shoulder treatment of Echizen. Yes, what the brat had done had hurt him, like, a lot, but ignoring him was probably even worse. And when the storm had hit, Momoshiro just didn't wanted things to end like this. What if Echizen had _died_, and he hadn't ever made amends with him? That would probably be the suckiest thing on earth. Not that he wanted Echizen to die, of course. He'd rather have him alive, healthy and not doing stupid things behind his back.

But all of it didn't matter to Momoshiro anymore; Echizen was sick with a fever and he had to take care of him. The fever seemed to break last night, and Momoshiro had been by his side ever since, waiting for him to wake up.

He did fell asleep, once or twice … Momoshiro had been pretty tired because of this whole ordeal. At least the new home he built for Echizen was going to be done today, it just needed a thorough inspection to make sure it was safe. After all, Momoshiro wasn't going to send Echizen to sleep underneath a roof that could crush him. The thought alone gave him chills.

Momoshiro pushed his elbow against Echizen's sleeping arm, to check if he was awake.

"Mm...?" Ryoma stirred, breath still hot and uncomfortable as it hit the blanket that covered him, head to toe. He shifted a little, and the pain in his ankle pushed the sleeping haze away, helping him as he pushed the blanket away. Squinting at the sudden light, he turned to face Momoshiro. "... What?"

"Morning, squirt. How's the ankle?" Momoshiro asked. It was best to just do away with all that weirdness and awkwardness they had going on between them, and go straight down to business.

"Hurts like shit. But..." He sat up and gingerly touched said ankle. It didn't feel quite as stiff and it wasn't burning up. "I think the infection's going down." The stench of pus-infected flesh had diminished at least. If Yagyuu hadn't come around, he wasn't sure how things would have gone. "So... It's better."

"That's good. Looked like you were gonna die, what with moaning in your sleep and all." Momoshiro had not slept well because of that, it was sort of ghastly. "At least you're alive. Foot attached still, heh."

"I don't moan," Ryoma objected with an energy he didn't quite possess just yet. He gave a weak grin that passed over his lips for a moment or two, before he relaxed back against the blankets. "... I just hope no-one has to pour hydrogen peroxide into the wounds again. That just sucked." On the other hand, it _had_ helped. But that didn't mean he had to like it.

"I don't even know what the hell that is, but I guess it worked," said Momoshiro. He wasn't one to remember all these chemical names, the only thing he knew was that air was H3O, or something like that.

"Need something to drink?" Momoshiro offered. There were clean water bottles in his reach next to him.

Ryoma nodded.

Momoshiro leaned over to grab a bottle, then flopped it into Echizen's lap. "Don't like, die of thirst, or something. Or die of anything for that matter. Yeah." This was actually still kind of awkward. Momoshiro felt like apologizing for being a dumb oaf, but on the other, hand, he didn't know where to start—and it wasn't like Echizen was innocent in this matter as well!

But he did missed him, and Momoshiro really just wanted his best friend back. "So, uhm," he started, looking down at the hands in his lap, feeling nervous all of the sudden.

Ryoma grabbed the bottle and put it to his mouth, greedily emptying more than half of it in one go... and of course he ended up coughing his lungs out for a moment after that. As he calmed down, and had wiped his eyes for the tears that had forced themselves up there, he glanced at Momoshiro. "So...? … Yeah. Look, I..." He didn't know how to continue, so he simply shut himself up.

Momoshiro didn't know how to continue either. It was sort of hard to put it into words, and if he did put it into words, it all seemed a lot worse. All that ignoring, all those comments, all those childish antics. Momoshiro wasn't exactly proud of them, and he didn't want to talk about it either. He looked over at Echizen, hands still in his lap, feeling shifty and anxious.

"Me and Kaidoh are building a stronger hut for you, you know," said Momoshiro. It's a change of subject, but it's better than sitting there not saying a word. "One that won't collapse … still really sorry about that."

The younger boy shrugged. "You don't control the weather. Nothing to be sorry about." He paused. "... But... Thanks. I guess."

"Yeah …" Back to silence again. He nudged Echizen's side. "That Hazue boy, he's been completely freaked out about your injury, even worse than me," he said. "Did you do something weird to him to make him act like that?" Momoshiro chuckled a bit.

Ryoma was about to say that he had been pretty freaked out himself, or probably would have been, had he been more lucid... But Momoshiro's last comment made him stare into the wall, a frown over his face. "What, like kiss him or something? Don't worry, that's not something I do very often. Hazue's safe from the gay bug, I promise."

Momoshiro pulled his eyebrows into a frown, and his lips were shut tightly. What kind of comment was that? "That wasn't what I meant," he said, sounding a bit agitated.

"Then what did you mean?" Ryoma sighed, forcing himself to calm down. Somehow he got on an edge as easily as breathing around Momoshiro... And that wasn't what he wanted. He didn't exactly have the energy to get upset in the first place. So stupid...

"Never mind," Momoshiro easily dismissed it. "Just … wondering … what you were doing during all … _that_. And stuff."

"All _what_? After the storm? I was busy being kind of unconscious. If you mean before that... I don't know. Something? Like, you know... Nursing a broken heart? Watching you hang out with Kaidoh like you're connected by some god damn lifeline? Hell if I know." He tried to sound angry, he really did, but he could hear himself just how small and miserable and pathetic he came off as.

"Jesus, Ryoma, can't you lay off of Kaidoh? God, it's like anything I'll do with anyone will get on your bad side." Momoshiro couldn't help but feel angry, like he's done something wrong. But he hasn't! It wasn't like there was a proper way to act towards someone suddenly kissing you and confessing they liked you. Momoshiro didn't know what to do.

"It's not like I'm doing this on purpose, pissing you off, or hurting you, or whatnot. I don't know what to do with you!" Momoshiro suddenly lashed out. Fuck. This was not how this was supposed to go.

"Okay, well, don't do anything, then! Just leave me alone, you've done a damn good job at it so far, haven't you? I mean... I..." He had to stop himself, as he realized to his own horror that he was crying. He was. Echizen Ryoma. Later, he'd chalk it up to the fever and utter exhaustion, but as it was now, he couldn't even make up any excuses. He simply rolled over onto his side and hid underneath the blankets.

"Shit, can't do anything right …" Momoshiro pulled his legs up to his chest and rested his chin on them. He felt so drained, this was exhausting. What the hell was he supposed to do? How could he fix this? How could he make Echizen not feel the way he did? Maybe it was just better to hate him after all …

"I didn't want to, you know. Ugh, I'm sorry for that, okay? I'm an idiot, and sometimes I do dumb stuff like that, and I really didn't like what you did, and I still don't like the way you talk about Kaidoh as if he's got anything to do with _this_, because it's really just all my fault." It wasn't like there was some kind of switch Momoshiro could flip, and then he'd suddenly be gay, and he could return Echizen's feelings. Life doesn't work like that, and he didn't either.

But that didn't mean Momoshiro wanted to stop talking to Echizen completely. He still wanted to be his friend. He didn't want to hear mean comments behind his back, or hearing about stupid pranks, or being guilted for rejecting him. He just wanted to spend some fun times with Echizen again. And it was fun, wasn't it?

"Or I guess it's your fault," Momoshiro snorted, a hint of sarcasm in his tone. "Or maybe mine, since I don't listen. But whatever, it happened. And you're here now, with a busted ankle. And I came back for you, didn't I? I can't leave you alone for real …"

He could _hear_ the hurt in Momoshiro's voice, could hear his attempts at brightening the situation, and each and every thing Momoshiro said caused him to cry even more; from guilt, from simply being miserable, from empathy... He couldn't make sense of it. All he could do, was allow his jealousy to speak up for him, but there was no power behind his words, and they were half choked out by sobs as it were anyway. "... But you like being with him, don't you?"

"Yeah, so? I like being with you too. Or anyone that doesn't call me a moron, really."

"You make him stuff," Ryoma sniffled. "And... talk to him. A lot. And you're just angry with me and I'm a huge ass and..." There he had to cut himself off, or rather, a new flood of sobs cut him off. He wished he could sink through the bed and through the floor and never resurface. That would probably be for the best.

Momoshiro sighed, his shoulders felt heavy, and his stomach was twisting into knots. Having Echizen sob next to him was seriously making him feel bad.

"It's got nothing to do with … come on ... stop crying, you're gonna make me cry as well!" Momoshiro was trying hard not to, he already felt pathetic, he didn't want to show it with a snotty nose as well. He scooted over closer to Echizen and threw an arm around the trembling body.

"I like you, you know. A lot. No … not like that, but come on … I can't just … I'm sorry, okay?" Momoshiro didn't really know what the hell he was saying, but he was sure Echizen could only hear half of it anyway. He started stroking Echizen's shoulder, trying to get him to stop crying.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I..." But he couldn't get himself to stop crying. It was like all the hurt that had festered inside him for the past month or so came spewing out from unknown depths inside him, and it turned him into this ugly, blubbering mess. "Damn it, don't be so fucking _kind_, I..." He didn't know how to handle it. In some paradox way it was easier to handle an angry Momoshiro. A hurt Momoshiro. Anything but kindness, he didn't know how to counter that right now. Suddenly, however, he was made aware of something else. Momoshiro's hand on him. On his shoulder. Not on a safe place, like his head or arm or anything. His shoulder was close to his back, and his back led down to... Right. He stiffened, mumbling into the pillow:

"... Not there. My hair. Can you... mess with my hair? That's better."

Momoshiro wordlessly shifted his hand from Echizen's shoulder to his head, padding his fingertips against his scalp, and making soothing and stroking movements through the very long hair. He didn't say anything else. What was there to say? He felt like actions spoke much louder than words anyway, so he did as he was told; touched Echizen's hair. He always liked doing that anyway. It was a little therapeutic too, it calmed him down a bit, he wasn't raging with hurt anymore. Or any other negative feeling. He just hoped Echizen would stop crying, because his own eyes were tearing up just the slightest.

Momoshiro massaging his scalp was therapeutic to Ryoma as well, and slowly his sobs subdued into quiet sniffles and his breathing eased out considerably. After what seemed like an eon of silence, he mumbled:

"I... I've missed you. Like... A _lot_. Totally."

"Yeah," Momoshiro agreed. "Me too." He wanted to add; let's be friends again? But the words were stuck in his throat. He couldn't get them out, he could only brush his fingers through the dark green locks of hair. He also wanted to say sorry one more time, but it was starting to feel so redundant, he's said it enough already.

"Promise I won't ignore you like a stupid kid, if you won't gossip," said Momoshiro, trying to make light of the situation.

Ryoma turned his head ever so slightly so that he could catch a glimpse of Momoshiro's eyes. "Promise. But... C-can I tell you something?" It was now or never, he figured, because he wouldn't be able to bring it up to Momoshiro at some later point, his pride would get in the way. Right now, his pride had definitely taken the backseat. "It's about... About why I don't want you to touch me just... Like, you know. Everywhere. It's not just that I _like_ like you. But... Uh. I mean, if you don't wanna hear, it's okay too."

Momoshiro pulled his hand away as if lightning struck him. He held it up, as if he was being pointed at with a gun, feeling like he did something wrong. "Oh, uh, s-sorry … uhm .. Okay, I'll listen to you from now on. Won't touch you."

"Oh, come _on_!" Ryoma reached up and grabbed Momoshiro's hand, trying to pull it back down to his head. "I said that the head's okay, didn't I? And it's not what I was trying to say. Just... No, forget it. Doesn't matter."

Instead Momoshiro placed his hand down on Echizen's shoulder once more, steadying him, as if to calm him down. "Well you get kind of really confusing sometimes," Momoshiro grumbled. "But what is it, don't just say forget it now … did I do something again?" He looked at Echizen, trying gauge his motivations for saying such things. "Someone else ... ?" he asked instead.

"Yeah, I'm sorry... I..." He paused, licking his lips nervously. "Not you. You're right. Someone else. He... You know... My boyfriend? _Ex_ -boyfriend? He touched me. And hey, we were together, so no big deal, right? But..." Ryoma looked away. "He'd tell me shit. That I was this or that and totally worthless and shit, right? And he'd hit me, and then... I mean, he... He wasn't like you. He never stopped, even when I told him to, you know? And I just... No, I don't know." He wasn't sure how to continue, so he simply shut himself up.

Momoshiro felt a bit numb. Huh? "Huh?" he echoed his thoughts. "Hit ... like a bad hit, or a friendly hit?"

"Bad hit. Definitely bad hit." Ryoma stared down at his hands, which were curled up into fists in his lap.

"What a piece of shit," was Momoshiro's first quick reaction. "I'll kill him," was his second reaction. "When did this happen? How long? And why didn't you …" Do something? Run away perhaps? "And hey, what the hell, you were still attached to those stupid texts he sent you. What's going on with you … ?" Momoshiro felt really confused right now. What the hell happened to Echizen Ryoma?

"I deserved it. So I didn't do anything. I mean, Donny said I did, so..." Distance in both time and space did wonders. As did spending time with people who really cared about you. Ryoma took a deep breath and finally voiced something that had been lingering in the back of his head for months upon months. "He manipulated me. And I still don't get how that happened, but... Yeah. I don't know what's going on with me either. He _still_ manage to... I don't know. I still feel he's the best I could ever get. And I hate feeling like that. I really do, but..."

Momoshiro snorted. "Well I'm definitely tons better than that asshole." Not that he should be saying that in this kind of situation … "So like, you stayed with him? All this time? Even though … he'd hurt you?" Momoshiro wasn't the best person to judge whether or not fighting was healthy in a relationship, because he always got into fights with Kaidoh, and he was fine with those.

"Yeah. Because he made me believe he was the best one out there for someone like me." He pulled up his good leg to his chest, resting his brow against the knee. "I mean... I'm selfish and rude and unpleasant and like, totally need someone to pick me down to Earth, you know?" Even as he spoke the words, he could hear Donny's voice ringing in his head, saying the exact same things. The words definitely left a sour taste in his mouth. "But... Even I realize that I didn't deserve him treating me like that. But... I've only realized that recently. I really believed that I had it coming, you know?"

"Well that's pretty stupid then," said Momoshiro. He wasn't the best with words, and could be blunt to the point of simply being a rude jackass, but he didn't know any better. Hearing from Echizen that someone was literally hitting on him all this time? It got under his skin.

"Like what the hell have you done to deserve being hit? I mean, I get into fights with Kaidoh and all, and damn it hurts, but ... I don't think that's the kind you're talking about. That seems scary actually." And now Momoshiro was starting to realize why Echizen didn't like him touching him. It also felt a little insulting—just a bit—because it's not like Momoshiro would ever do that to him.

He ran the hand from Echizen's shoulder back up to his head, and brushed his fingers through it, to move it away from his eyes. "You're here now though. Sorry that … I wasn't there ... for so long. I won't do anything stupid like hit you though. Never. I don't get why anyone would want to. You're a cool dude. A brat, with a big snarky mouth, but still cool. Definitely doesn't deserve to be treated like that." He tried to smile at Echizen, but it was a bit hard on him, it's not everyday you get to hear stuff like this. It was sort of depressing.

"I know. I know, but..." Ryoma exhaled, feverish breath hot against his skin. "That's why I freaked out over you doing that hitting whatever-you-called-it with Eiji on the ship as well. And you still went through with it and I was really worried and I overreacted, I know, but that was why I wanted to do something to... I don't know. Get back at you because you worried me, so I thought of that prank, but... Then I changed my mind, but I'm still sorry. I... I _am_ an ass. And you've saved me twice now. From the ship and from the shack, and all I fucking do is bitch and being an ungrateful dick and..." And oh, look at that. He was crying again.

"Yup, you pretty much were," Momoshiro agreed. But he ruffled up Echizen's hair anyway, this time giving him a better smile. "But I sort of like the way you are, just like that." He then coughed and averted his eyes towards the side. "I could do without the mean stuff behind my back. I swear, people think I treated you horrible or something!"

"Well, I thought so too. Or, at least... You came off as totally homophobic and that's damn hurtful. But... Yeah, I still overreacted. Damn... It's just... Words hurt. Your words have hurt me, and my words has hurt you and... We're big fucking idiots, both of us." He wiped his eyes. "... One question. If it's okay?" But he wasn't sure what kind of reply he expected from Momoshiro. The purple eyed man was simple, very simple at times. What he was going to ask might just pass right over his head... But he still had to ask. Felt like he couldn't avoid it.

"Yeah, sure, anything."

"... Right. Okay. Uhm... Do you think I'm dirty?" He paused. "And oh, don't reply with the first thing that comes to your mind, about sand or whatnot. Just... Think for a moment before you reply. Please."

"Uhh," Momoshiro staggers his words. Dirty? "I don't get it, what do you mean? Like having a potty mouth?"

Ryoma shook his head. "Like... Having Donny do... stuff. And not walk away. _That_ kind of dirty. Do... Do you get it?"

No, Momoshiro didn't really get it, but it's not like he thought Echizen was 'dirty' on any kind of level. "Your cleanliness is unmatched," he said, finding his own words way too cheesy. "Meaning, uhh, no. Like why the hell would I."

Somehow, Ryoma managed a smile. He lay back down and closed his eyes. "That's... That's good to hear." Even though he was pretty certain parts of the conversation had gone straight over Momoshiro's head. It didn't matter. Simply hearing the positive words were good enough. "I'm gonna go back to sleep now. If it's okay."

"Yeah … sure … I'll be here. Touching your head. Because it's mine again." Momoshiro chuckled and once more messed up Echizen's hair. "Let's not ever do this again … 'kay? And I won't let anything like that happen to you again either. Ever. I'd be the worst friend on earth if I'd let that happen." And he was already a pretty crappy friend.

"Never again," Ryoma agreed. "And... My head was always yours. Just glad you reclaimed it." That sounded utterly stupid, but Ryoma was too spent to care. His breathing slowed and his hand, that had reached for Momoshiro's free hand, relaxed, falling back down against the bed as the longhaired boy drifted off to a date with the Sandman.

Momoshiro simply continued to sit against the wall, his hand moving across Echizen's head, even if he was already asleep. He had a lot of thoughts running through his mind, but one thing was for sure; no one was going to hurt Echizen, and that was going to start with himself. No more emotional fights anymore. Hopefully. And then not let anyone hurt him either.

Because he was Echizen Ryoma, he deserved the best, didn't he?

Momoshiro smiled and leaned his head onto his shoulder, and closed his eyes, drifting off into sleep as well. He ended up rolling his head onto Echizen's and drooling onto his hair. At least he was the first one to wake up though, and quickly rub it out.


	31. Face Doodles

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **because you can't have enough MomoKai stuff where they're just messing with each other.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- A day before this log, Momo and Kaidoh finished the new hut, and Ryoma and Hazue moved in  
- Ryoma recovered from his fever, and he and Momo are on speaking terms again  
- Momo draws on Kaidoh's face when he sleeps after Kaidoh threatened him not to do it

**Date:** September 12, 2012

* * *

Okay, it seemed like a really funny idea at the time, especially since it's their first night alone again. It still does, actually, but Kaidoh's face is saying otherwise at 5 AM in the morning. Though he looks happy too, what with the smile that Momoshiro drew on his lips while he was sleeping. And the black cat whiskers marked on his cheeks, as well as the black nose. Yeah, Momoshiro wasn't lying when he told Kaidoh to beware of him at night, and sleep with one eye open. Obviously Momoshiro pretended to be asleep, so Kaidoh would sleep too, and that's when he pulled out his trusty permanent marker—which he also used to doodle on the walls—and …

"Don't punch me," says Momoshiro as he holds his arms up in front of his face to fend off any of Kaidoh's punches. He tries to hold his laughter back because Kaidoh's face just look hilarious. He thought the snake would love it, what with his affinity for cats, but obviously when he found out, he got really angry. Like angry, angry.

Momoshiro bites his lips as he looks at cat-face Kaidoh again. "It suits you though." And he's got a picture of it stored in his cellphone.

"No it doesn't, moron," Kaidoh snarls back, definitely not amused. He scowls, which just makes Momoshiro's eyes glint in amusement. He looks like he's trying really hard not to explode with laughter. It just makes Kaidoh even angrier, and it's really annoying that glaring at Momoshiro isn't working because he's got fucking cat whiskers drawn onto his face so any facial expression he makes just looks ridiculous.

Yes it does, Momoshiro wants to say, but he'll try to play it safe and not push Kaidoh's buttons. If Kaidoh is going to punch him today, it will be _hard_, and he rather likes his nose.

"Okay, okay, I'll help you get it off," says Momoshiro with an amusing smug smirk. He pinches one of Kaidoh's cheeks; it just looks too funny.

Kaidoh swats grumpily at Momoshiro's hand. "Yeah, you'd better," he says and starts to hiss, but stops when he sees Momoshiro smirking again. Maybe hissing isn't such a good idea when he's already got the cat face to go with it. Kaidoh grimaces. Momoshiro needs to stop looking so pleased with himself.

Well, it's not like Momoshiro can help it, seeing those doodles on Kaidoh's usual scary face is brightening up his day, because Kaidoh has a fake smile. He likes to see him smile, even if it's fake.

"Okay, so, I had this friend, who said you have to …uhh." Momoshiro looks around the hut, his eyes landing on the bucket. He grins wickedly. "Rub a fish on it. Something about the salt absorbed in the scales will make it go … away … and it washes off just like that." Yeah, it totally does.

Kaidoh's face twists up and he huffs in a tight breath of air through his nose. He looks like he's about to pop a blood vessel. "If you try to put a fish on my face …" he says dangerously, "I will kill you."

"Okay, just a fin then."

Kaidoh growls, his mouth pulling into a tight frown. Every time his expression changes, the stupid whiskers seem to twitch on his face, like he's a very grouchy cat.

"Asshole. There has to be some other way." One that doesn't involve fish. On his face.

"But you're a cat now … you should like fish." Momoshiro snickers.

"I'm not a fucking cat!" Kaidoh snarls, and raises his fists in front of his chest, glaring even harder, trying his best to look threatening. All his anger is kind of ineffectual and just plain laughable when he's got permanent ink scribbled all over his face. Stupid Momoshiro. Kaidoh really wants to kick his ass, but he also wants to get this stuff off of his face. Solve that problem first, kick Momoshiro's ass later.

"Fine, no fish." Momoshiro rolls his eyes. That would have been funny though, considering Kaidoh has a phobia of fish. "Then, uhm … oh, right. Mud. Rub mud on your face like one of those girly facial masks, that helps!"

Kaidoh gives Momoshiro a flat, skeptical look. "Yeah right. That'll just make my face dirty."

"No, no, the mud has to dry up, and then you peel it off, the ink will peel right off with it! Unless you prefer glue." Momoshiro can't hold back his extremely large smile. "I think we have some glue around here."

"I'm not letting you glue my face," Kaidoh says, narrowing his eyes. He sighs heavily. "… How long does the mud thing take to work?" He's still half-convinced Momoshiro is just trying to turn him into some weird cat swamp monster, but he doesn't really have many options, and he certainly isn't going to just wander around the island with whiskers on his face for however long it will take them to fade off naturally.

Momoshiro covers his mouth with his hand, to hide the obvious lies that are coming out of it. "Well, uhm, however long mud takes to dry, I guess? You should just rub some wet beach sand on your face, then go run around, since you'll be in the sun, and the wind against it will make it dry faster." Yes, Kaidoh running with a mud mask. Please. This has to happen. Momoshiro will stalk him every step of the way.

"You're sure it will work?" Kaidoh asks, still skeptical. He clenches his fists again. "I'll kick your ass if it doesn't."

Momoshiro cheerfully skips around Kaidoh until he's behind him, then pushes his hands flat against his back. "Of course it'll work, of course, of course! I don't ever lie, do I?" He starts pushing Kaidoh out of the hut, while thinking of all the hilarious pictures he'll be taking.

Kaidoh smacks Momoshiro away from him. "Fine, whatever. I can walk on my own, dumbass." He stalks out of the hut and down to the sand below. He really hopes he doesn't run into anyone while he looks like this. At least the mud will cover up the stupid scribbles. He hisses. Momoshiro had better know what he's talking about.

Of course Momoshiro knows what he's talking about. He will do anything to achieve the maximum amount of enjoyment he can get out of this, while he can still breathe through a normal healthy nose. So Momoshiro happily chases Kaidoh out of the hut, until they're down in the sand, and he steers him towards the ocean. The sun is barely up, but that doesn't matter, not like this will actually work or anything.

"Just … go faceplant yourself, and put some mud on your face. Then do some running. You like running, don't you? So yeah. Do it. Run in circles." _Dooooo iiiiiit_. Momoshiro's hand is already in his pants, grabbing hold of his cellphone to snap a picture.

Kaidoh turns around to glare at him. "Will you shut up? You don't have to follow me, you know."

Momoshiro in turn goes back around Kaidoh again. "Down you go," he says. He nudges his foot on the back of Kaidoh's knee to make him bend through on reflex, and he pushes down on Kaidoh's shoulder to get him to kneel down. He points at the wet sand in front of him. "I can help smear it all over your face, if you want," he says while chuckling.

"I can do it myself, moron," Kaidoh growls. He picks up a clump of mud and stares at it. It smells salty, and vaguely like fish and seaweed. He crinkles up his nose in disgust. If this doesn't work, he'll punch Momoshiro in the face. And maybe bury him in mud, too.

He looks back over his shoulder at Momoshiro, who still seems to think the whole thing is delightful. Annoying asshole. Kaidoh turns his focus back to the mud in his hand and dips a couple fingers into it, then smears it onto his face. It feels really cold and clammy, and not at all smooth. In fact, there's a little seashell stuck on his cheek now. This is really not how he wanted to spend his morning.

Momoshiro wants to coo at Kaidoh's little seashell on his cheek, but manages to turn it into a very strange hiccup. He takes the cellphone out of his pants and secretly starts taking pictures while Kaidoh's busy rubbing himself in with mud. And shells. There might have been an unidentified bug crawling on his cheek as well.

"You missed a spot," says Momoshiro, without looking. He takes another picture as Kaidoh is looking more and more like he belongs in some war, and he's this military man … on a mission to save the seashells, because they're endangered. Yeah, Momoshiro's imagination knows no bounds.

Kaidoh's nose twitches from the mud stuck to the tip of it. He thinks he has all the ink covered up by now. His face looks like a weird, splotchy mess, mud only on his cheeks, nose, and the corners of his mouth, like some bizarre tribal war paint. It's not very comfortable, definitely doesn't feel like a pleasant face mask or whatever. Instead, Kaidoh just feels dirty and gross. This is unappealing to him on so many levels. But if it's the only way to get the permanent marker off his skin, then he'll endure it.

He looks back at Momoshiro, who is being totally unhelpful, looks totally annoying, and who has his phone out for some reason. Kaidoh scowls at him.

"So I just wait for it to dry?" he asks. His cheeks already feel itchy. How long does mud take to dry anyway?

"Yes." Momoshiro looms over Kaidoh a bit and reaches out to his face with his hand. He uses his finger to rub the mud a bit further across his cheek. "I said you missed a spot," he lies, and just makes the mud cover his cheeks more. Because it's funny, and Kaidoh is way too gullible. He looks really fucking ridiculous, and it's hilarious.

"Now run Mamushi, dry that face of yours!" He softly kicks Kaidoh's ass with his foot, to get him going. Momoshiro is enjoying this on so many levels, and he wishes his phone had a recording feature instead.

Kaidoh huffs in irritation and pulls himself to his feet. "This better work," he grumbles. He turns around, eyes still narrowed and angry, and wipes one muddy hand on Momoshiro's shirt and the other across Momoshiro's chin, because Momoshiro deserves it. And he should feel very lucky that Kaidoh hasn't hit him. Yet.

Momoshiro punches him in the arm, looking annoyed. "Of course it will. Now run." He starts wiping off the mud on his chin with the clean part of his shirt. Kaidoh will have to do laundry later, he guesses.

"Yeah," Kaidoh says, and starts jogging off away from the hut. "Don't follow me."

Momoshiro follows.

Kaidoh glares back at Momoshiro and starts running faster. "Go away," he growls. Some of the mud drips off his cheek and onto his shoulder. Well, at least they aren't fish scales.

Momoshiro chases after Kaidoh until he's running next to him. "You should stop talking, before you swallow some of that mud," says Momoshiro in an amused voice. Then he takes another picture of Kaidoh's face as the mud starts leaving long trails across his skin, making him look like a swamp monster instead. "The fish idea would have worked better though! Try that one next if this doesn't work."

"What do you mean, if this doesn't work?!" Kaidoh demands. "You said this would work!"

"Well …" Momoshiro hides his grin. "Not like I've ever had to remove permanent ink from my skin before."

Kaidoh skids to a halt in the sand and grabs Momoshiro by the collar to pull him to a stop as well. "What the hell?! So you were just making all this up? I put mud all over my face and you don't even know if it will work?" As if in reaction to Kaidoh's words, a glop of mud from his nose drops onto the sand between them. "Asshole!" he snarls.

Momoshiro's been trying to hard not to burst out into laughter, but that was literally the last drop. He doesn't care anymore, it's funny, Kaidoh's face has whiskers drawn all over it, and there's mud covered pretty much everywhere. It's probably the funniest thing on earth, and Momoshiro can't stop shaking from laughter. He even drops his cellphone from his grasp, and it lands in the sand next to him.

"It … it will!" Momoshiro says as he takes in a deep breath, before letting it out in a roaring laugh once more. "I promise!"

"You are such a fucking dumbass," Kaidoh says flatly, his whole face twisting up into a very grouchy, very muddy scowl. He uses the hand at Momoshiro's collar to shove at him. Stop laughing! It's not funny!

Momoshiro simply continues to laugh. He claws at Kaidoh's hand on his collar, but then drops his hands, rubs them over his own chest to cover them in mud, and then he grabs the side of Kaidoh's face with both hands. He quickly starts moving them all over him, getting mud _everywhere_, all the while laughing and coughing up a lung. There, now Kaidoh really does look like a cat swamp monster.

The image of Kaidoh's face like this is now permanently burned in his retina; Momoshiro doesn't even need pictures. But they do help! Hey ... where'd his phone go.

Kaidoh drops Momoshiro's collar and punches him in the gut instead. "Asshole, stop touching me!" he growls.

"Ow!" Momoshiro doubles over in pain, immediately wrapping his arms around his stomach and crouching down in the sand. Oh, that's where his phone went. He lifts up his head with a glare on his face, and his eyebrows knitted together in a deep frown.

"Fucking douchebag," he manages to breathe out, despite it taking a lot of effort. Kaidoh can really hit hard when he wants, Momoshiro feels like he can't even move anymore. Fine then, Kaidoh can stay stuck with ink on his face forever—he won't tell him the real way to get rid of it.

"You brought it on yourself, moron," Kaidoh points out grumpily. Besides, he's the one standing there with marker and mud all over his face. He feels like he actually should be entitled to a few more punches before they're even.

Momoshiro's hand slips into the sand, encloses his fist around a bunch of it, then flings it at Kaidoh's face. Asshole. There, now he's got whiskers, mud _and_ dry sand.

Kaidoh hisses indignantly and kicks at Momoshiro's leg. He somehow avoided getting any sand in his eyes, but it feels like some went right up his nose. He sniffs like he's about to sneeze. "What the hell, stop doing things to my face!"

"Stop hitting me then!" Momoshiro fires back, and he shoots out a fist at Kaidoh's shin.

Kaidoh kicks Momoshiro back again. "Yeah well, I wouldn't need to hit you if you didn't act like such a dick."

The pain in his stomach has finally faded away, enough to get up from the fetal position, and Momoshiro launches himself at Kaidoh's midriff with the strength of a stampede of animals. He takes him down, and now he's crawling on top of Kaidoh, pulling back his fist to give him a good punch in the face … except he finds he can't. Kaidoh's face is just such a mess, some dry and wet mud plastered all over it, the whiskers still there and poking fun at him, and the corners of his mouth pulled into a fake smile. And there's sand stuck in Kaidoh's eyebrows. It's simply a funny sight, and Momoshiro can't find it in himself to punch it. It's like an art sculpture, one that he created. He can't punch his creation.

So he punches Kaidoh right back in his stomach. Serves him right.

Kaidoh groans at the impact, his mouth pulling into a grimace. Stupid idiot. Did Momoshiro have to punch back that hard? This whole thing is his own damn fault, after all. Kaidoh should be the one on top of _him_.

He shoves weakly at Momoshiro's shoulders. "Get off," he grumbles, voice low and irritated. Kaidoh is so going to kick Momoshiro's ass … after his stomach stops feeling like it's been barreled into by a train. Yeah, just give him a second.

That's the last thing on Momoshiro's mind right now; getting off. Both ways. He'll stay right on top of Kaidoh. He leans forward, face close to the swamp kitten's face, and he puckers out his lips, before blowing out air against the mud on his cheek. It's starting to dry a little bit, and if Kaidoh will stop squirming, then it might be hard enough to scratch off.

Kaidoh flinches. "That feels cold," he says, with a look of annoyance.

"Shut up." Momoshiro continues to blow out a thick and steady stream of air on the left side of Kaidoh's cheek, and it's quickly starting to dry up (there wasn't much mud left since it all dripped off) and crack at parts. He switches sides, and does his right cheek as well.

Kaidoh just stares at him. His stomach has stopped hurting, but kicking Momoshiro's ass doesn't feel quite so urgent anymore, because he seems like he's actually trying to help. Well, maybe. He could also just be blowing on Kaidoh's face to piss him off. It _is_ kind of annoying, but it's also helping the mud dry faster, and the faster it dries, the faster Kaidoh will be able to get it off his face, and hopefully the marker will go with it.

It's starting to make Momoshiro feel a little bit lightheaded. Whether that's from not getting enough oxygen to his brain, or because he's just really close to the swampy cat face, and the mud kind of smells and makes him dizzy—he doesn't really know. Either way, it's starting to make his eyes feel droopy and he feels a bit weak, so Momoshiro takes a small break and pulls back his face a bit.

Long enough to see that the mud has now gone a soft sandy colour, which contrasts against Kaidoh's darker and tanned skin.

"Wow, since when did you get so tan?" Momoshiro asks, genuinely surprised. Why hasn't he noticed until now?

"Huh?" Kaidoh blinks. "What are you talking about? I look the same as I always do." Well, not really. He doesn't usually have mud caked to his cheeks and weird doodles inked onto his face. "You're tan too, you know."

Momoshiro slides his bare arm against Kaidoh's. There's a stark difference. Whereas Momoshiro has a vacation tan, Kaidoh's got skin cancer by now. "You really _do_ run too much," he says with a roll of his eyes. "That's not healthy. Rub yourself in with sunscreen some more, we have some, right? Oh hey—that stuff is supposed to help get permanent ink off. Right. I totally forgot." More like, he wasn't trying to think of an actual way to get rid of it.

Besides, permanent ink only lasts for about a week on skin. It'll fade away on its own.

Kaidoh grumbles. "That would have been nice to know before I tried to put the whole beach on my face."

"Don't be ridiculous," says Momoshiro with a snort. "The beach doesn't have enough sand to cover that big head of yours entirely."

"Asshole," Kaidoh growls, and shoves his knuckles into Momoshiro's shoulder.

In return, Momoshiro grabs Kaidoh's cheeks with one hand, fingers digging into the dry mud, and he scrapes it off. Being sure to make it sting as he does. The mud cracks and crumbles right off his cheeks. The whiskers underneath are still as apparent as ever, but in Momoshiro's defense, it's not pure black anymore, but a faded dark brown. The rest of the mud is also taken care off with his fingers, even the corners of Kaidoh's mouth, and his nose, and well, wherever the mud got to him. Within a minute, Kaidoh's face is mostly mud-free.

But the doodles are still there.

"Totally worked," says Momoshiro.

Kaidoh puts his hand to his cheek. "Really?" he asks skeptically. He has a hard time believing that some idea Momoshiro randomly came up with would actually work, because Momoshiro is an idiot, but he doesn't exactly have a mirror in his pocket to pull out and check, so he's only got Momoshiro's word to go on.

"Yup. And your skin is even shiny with a healthy glow, like a real facial-mask." Blatant lie, Kaidoh's skin is dried out, and there's still some traces of mud left. "Ok, we can go back home now, right? No more punching?"

Kaidoh surveys Momoshiro's expression for a minute, trying to figure out whether or not he's just trying to get out of having his ass kicked. "Uh … okay …" he says slowly, his eyes still narrowed and suspicious.

"Great!" Momoshiro gets off of Kaidoh and stands up, then offers a hand to Kaidoh to pull him to his feet. His eyes can't stop looking at the whiskers and black nose though, and for a second, Momoshiro has to bite back another huge grin.

Kaidoh lets Momoshiro pull him to his feet and then stands there with his fingers alternating between tugging at the bottom of his tank top and clenching into fists, like he's undecided if he's still annoyed or not. He mostly just wants to wash his face, which still feels dirty and gross. And probably steal Momoshiro's stupid marker so he can't wreak anymore havoc with it. Moron.

"Right, let's go and wash your stupid face." Momoshiro is once more spinning Kaidoh around—into the direction of their hut—and pushing at his back to get him to move. Once Kaidoh does move, he quickly bends down again to take his cellphone back, wiping off the sand that got scattered across the display screen.

Momoshiro follows Kaidoh, one step behind, whilst he's busy changing his wallpaper to one of the new pictures he just took of Kaidoh's swampy cat face. Hehe. It's been a good morning.

When they do reach the hut, and Kaidoh turns around, Momoshiro is nowhere to be seen—he's run off into hiding.

He can spray Kaidoh's face in with aftershave when he's asleep later. That's the real stuff that will get rid of it. The inevitable punch he'll get from it will be worth it.


	32. Stupid Doodling

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **this is probably one of my favourite logs. It's just very sweet and innocent, you can really tell they care a lot for each other, even if they don't say it out loud.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** K+

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Momo manages to convince Kaidoh to draw something together, because it's an activity that's not running, and in Momo's opinion, that's good  
- He also insults Kaidoh, so that he'll come back faster from his run

**Date:** September 15, 2012

* * *

Momoshiro knows Kaidoh will be coming back to the hut any second now. In fact, he's waiting for the snake to come. He's already forgotten what they got into an argument about—something about calling Kaidoh a demented special snowflake—and now he simply wants to draw again. Kaidoh hadn't thrown his marker away after all, and he was going to give it back! At least, that's what he said. He better do it.

Just the thought of being able to draw again makes Momoshiro brim with excitement.

Yes, yes, he won't draw on Kaidoh's face again, he still remembers the awful aching his body had to endure after Kaidoh was done with him, and he promised he wouldn't anymore. Not on his face at least … Either way, he managed to convince Kaidoh it's a good idea to draw on some shirts (because it's something to do other than running). Not only that, he managed to convince Kaidoh to do it, draw on Momoshiro's shirt that is. It sounds like fun, and Kaidoh needs to do more things that don't involve training, Momoshiro thinks. He hopes that maybe he can draw something cool on Kaidoh's shirt as well, if he lets him. Or perhaps his towel, maybe even his bandana if he'll agree. Something like peaches, because peaches are cool.

Momoshiro takes off his shirt and keeps it clasped in his hands, so that he's prepared. Kaidoh comes stomping back into their hut, the sound of his footsteps heavy and urgent, he looks angry and pumped.

"Yo!" Momoshiro greets him. Then he throws his light blue shirt at Kaidoh's face, and leans against the wooden wall with his bare back. "There's my shirt, now where's my marker?" he asks. It is a plain shirt, hence why it's perfect for drawing things on it.

Kaidoh doesn't want to give Momoshiro his marker. He wants to punch him in the face. That's what he was planning to do, anyway. Their conversation earlier got him all pumped up for it, and he's ready to go, but suddenly he's got a bunch of cotton flung at him instead and it's kind of throwing him off his game. He peels Momoshiro's shirt away from his face and crumples his fist around it. Momoshiro doesn't _really_ expect him to draw some dumb picture on this, does he? Kaidoh doesn't do stuff like that, he wouldn't even know what to draw. Momoshiro can do it himself, if he wants to so badly.

Kaidoh slides his hand into his pocket and pulls out the black marker that he'd just dug out of the sand under the hut. No, he hadn't thrown it away, because even Kaidoh isn't that mean, and he isn't the sort of person to throw garbage into the ocean anyway.

"Here," he says grumpily, and tosses the marker at Momoshiro. He has this look on his face like he's somehow admitting defeat by returning it. Then he hisses, because he's still buzzing with energy and irritated this hasn't turned into a fight yet. He'll just have to wait for Momoshiro to do something annoying again so he can hit him. It shouldn't take long, since Momoshiro is always annoying.

Momoshiro catches the marker in mid-air and he immediately hugs it to his chest. "Yay, awesome! So you really _didn't_ throw it away." Momoshiro looks up at Kaidoh and puckers out his lips at him. "I knew you couldn't resist me." Wink.

Right on cue, there Momoshiro goes … being his usual annoying self and pissing Kaidoh off. Kaidoh hisses, taking it as an invitation. Yeah, that's enough for him to forget about the stupid shirt. He drops his hand, crosses the room, and punches the side of Momoshiro's stupid face.

"Idiot," he growls.

The side of his cheek stings and throbs, and Momoshiro growls back an equal fierce grunt at Kaidoh. He immediately punches Kaidoh back, in his stomach, since he's sitting down and can't hit his face.

"Fucking asshole." Momoshiro pulls on Kaidoh's ankle, towards himself, until Kaidoh falls back on his ass. "Now sit the fuck down."

"Don't tell me what to do, dumbass," Kaidoh replies with a pointed glare. Although, he's kind of already down anyway, and wincing a bit in pain, so he decides to just stay there, and pulls his legs up to his chest until he's sitting, scowling in front of Momoshiro.

"Then don't punch me, asshole. That's a very rude way to greet someone, you know." Momoshiro rolls his eyes. He tugs at his shirt still in Kaidoh's hand.

"Now … as we were going to do before you ruined my perfectly handsome face." Momoshiro rubs his cheek, then he throws the marker at Kaidoh's legs. "Draw something on it. No insults allowed! And no like … scribbles either. It has to look like something."

Kaidoh huffs. "Fine, if it will shut you up." He lays Momoshiro's shirt on the floor of the hut, so it's spread flat, and studies it for a moment before reaching for the marker and pulling the cap off. He's got a serious look on his face, because that's how he approaches everything he does; seriously.

When he looks up, Momoshiro's just sitting there watching him, like he's waiting for Kaidoh's move. It's obnoxious, so Kaidoh narrows his eyes at him and says, "Moron, stop looking at me. I can't concentrate. Go … think about food, or whatever it is you like to do."

Momoshiro simply casts his eyes down onto his shirt. "Ok, I'll look at what you're drawing then, and simultaneously think about food, how's that?"

Kaidoh grimaces. "You're an idiot."

"I'm not looking at yoouuu," sings Momoshiro.

"Shut up," Kaidoh growls. He reaches out his arm and punches Momoshiro in the knee, not quite as hard as he had before, just enough to make him feel it. If Momoshiro keeps this up, Kaidoh's just going to end up scrawling ugly, jagged marks all over his shirt. Well, no, he probably won't. Because Kaidoh doesn't act like an asshole with a marker the way Momoshiro does—Yeah, he's not going to forget how Momoshiro thought it would be funny to use his face as a canvas.

"Fine, fine." Momoshiro rubs his knee—then his cheek—and he scoots a bit closer to his shirt, eagerly waiting for Kaidoh to begin. What's he going to draw? He hopes it isn't spaghetti meatballs.

Then his stomach makes a tiny disagreeable sound; he hasn't eaten anything in over three hours. Okay, well, he'll probably be happy if it's food either way. He wants to tell Kaidoh to draw him burgers, but then remembers Kaidoh told him to shut up, so he bites his lip and waits for Kaidoh to actually draw something. Which is actually sort of amazing, since Momoshiro asked him to do it in the first place, and he's actually ... doing it. It's kind of cool.

Kaidoh holds the marker upright over the shirt like it's a calligraphy brush, making sure it's centered and the fabric is flat. Even if this is for Momoshiro, Kaidoh's going to take his time and not make it look stupid. Or maybe more like, because it's for Momoshiro, Kaidoh's not going to make it look stupid. Because he wants Momoshiro to like it.

_It_ being … whatever it is he's going to draw. Definitely not a fish, or a cat, or a snake. Kaidoh's not very good at drawing animals ... They always end up with weird, creepy-looking eyes. He glances up at Momoshiro's wall and sees the stupid peach Momoshiro drew just above his pillow. At least, that's what Kaidoh thinks it was supposed to be. Maybe. Although it would be weird if Momoshiro drew a heart in their hut. So, yeah, it must be a peach. Kaidoh never asked him about it because he was too busy being outraged about the graffiti Momoshiro had scrawled all over his _own_ wall. If it's a peach, it's not really that great of one. Kaidoh could probably do a better rendering of it. Well, of course he can, because Momoshiro isn't better than him at anything.

He steadies the marker and begins to draw, long, sweeping movements like he really _is_ doing calligraphy. Only he's … drawing a peach instead of some complicated kanji character. Kaidoh can feel Momoshiro's eyes watching, waiting, anticipating. He tilts his head to the side, and realizes with annoyance that, upside-down, the peach probably kind of resembles a heart, much like Momoshiro's does. Maybe he was too quick to judge Momoshiro's wall drawing—it really is hard to make the stupid fruit look … not heart-like. How idiotic. Stupid peaches.

Kaidoh's cheeks heat up and he cringes a bit, and then draws a leaf at the base, and then another, and then a circle around the leaves like the peach is sitting on a plate or something. Which should clarify what it's supposed to be. And, well, Momoshiro can't be that big of an idiot that he'll miss what Kaidoh was going for, hopefully. It's not like Kaidoh would ever draw a heart on anything in the first place. That would be dumb.

Momoshiro's eyes light up like christmas lights as he sees the finished drawing.

Satisfied with his drawing—well, as satisfied as he's going to get—Kaidoh returns the cap to the marker and looks up at Momoshiro with a sort of indignant expression, like drawing something for Momoshiro is some kind of great hardship he's been forced to endure. And obviously not something he'd do willingly. Although in actuality, it really didn't take much convincing. It's not his fault Momoshiro is hard to resist.

Momoshiro is ignoring the marker still clutched in Kaidoh's hands (he was going to draw something too), and instead is looking at the very weird peach Kaidoh drew. It doesn't look much different than the one he made on the wall (his is better of course), but there's this weird circle around it. Momoshiro doesn't know what it is; just a logo? Like Momoshiro is Mr. Peachman?

Actually, that's really sort of catchy …

It's making Momoshiro feel bubbly and happy; he can't believe Kaidoh actually drew him a peach (or listened to him at all). It looks sort of like an upside down heart, but that's what all peaches end up looking like. He can't really blame him for that. At least it doesn't look like a butt. Heh. He scoots over until he's right next to Kaidoh, his shoulder bumping into Kaidoh's, and he's still looking at the weird squiggly lines drawn on his shirt. It needs some text though … hmm.

Momoshiro pokes Kaidoh's side with his finger. "Write down Peachman on it. In English. Wait, no, make it Peachman-chan. Yes. Write it down, right here." Momoshiro puts his finger smack down in the middle, right inside the circle, but below the leaf of the peach. "There. Write it in your girly handwriting, hah."

Kaidoh hisses and elbows Momoshiro in the side. "Just because my handwriting is actually _legible_ doesn't make it girly, dumbass." But he uncaps the marker anyway and starts to write across the t-shirt.

_P-e-a-c-h-m-a-n_. He kind of miscalculated how much space he needed and by the time he gets to '-chan', he has to write those letters half the size as the rest, but at least it's all spelled correctly and the lettering looks nice and neat. Not girly, because nothing Kaidoh does is girly! It's just … aesthetically balanced. Or something.

"There," he says grouchily. "Anything else?" He gives Momoshiro a flat look, like he's being a demanding child, even though inside Kaidoh is feeling kind of happy to be doing something for Momoshiro, and Momoshiro looks kind of happy too, which makes Kaidoh feel even better.

Momoshiro props an elbow up on Kaidoh's shoulder, and he leans a bit more forwards to inspect the shirt and read the lettering. Despite Kaidoh's terrible writing that tapers at the end and takes up a lot of room, it still has some white space left. "Hmm … it _is_ missing something, isn't it?" He turns his head to Kaidoh with a grin. "Wasn't I getting your autograph?"

Kaidoh gives him a skeptical look. "On your shirt ...?"

"... You want to draw it on my face instead?" Momoshiro gives him a deadpan look in return.

Kaidoh's eyes narrow. "_No_," he retorts petulantly. "Like I want to touch your stupid face..." He looks at the shirt. Why does it need his own name on it? It's not like a work of art he's signing his identity to. It's not _his_ shirt. Momoshiro is stupid.

But, fine. "Whatever," Kaidoh says, huffing. He holds the marker between his thumb and forefinger and signs his name into the remaining white space just under the other text. Luckily his signature is kind of loopy and hard to recognize—it would be stupid to have his name blatantly visible in the middle of Momoshiro's chest. To anyone else it could just be some weird decorative logo.

"That's your signature? That looks … kind of like a loopy rose. You're weird." Momoshiro prods his elbow into the side of Kaidoh's neck. "But thanks, heh. Now my shirt's interesting at least. It's cool."

Momoshiro finally leaves Kaidoh alone, who is already looking irritated, and he grabs his shirt from the floor and quickly slips it back onto his torso. He stands up and smoothes his palm across the drawings down towards the hem. He looks down at it with a smile plastered on his face, his eyes twinkling. He's Peachman-chan now! Though wasn't he Burgerman a few weeks ago? Momoshiro turns to Kaidoh and he nudges him with his foot.

"How about your shirt?" Well, Kaidoh's stupid tank top is black ... but he can … manage. "Or maybe your shorts, those are white." Momoshiro grins mischievously. "Do you even own _any_ white tank tops?"

Kaidoh gives Momoshiro a horrified look, both at the suggestion that he draw on Kaidoh's shorts—no way!—and at the idea that Kaidoh would own a white tank top. He likes black. It's what he wears. There's no reason to change that.

He looks over at the corner of his side of the room near his bed where a pile of neatly folded laundry sits. There are a couple of other dark colored tank tops there that Kaidoh got from the caves a while back. Not all of them are black, but it's not like Kaidoh can be picky out on a deserted island. He points over at them.

"If you really _have_ to draw on something, you can choose one of those," he says, as though Momoshiro's marker madness is some kind of uncontrollable compulsion. "I think the green one might be light enough for ink to show up." Why is he telling Momoshiro that? Why is Kaidoh encouraging any of this? Indulging Momoshiro can lead nowhere good. But at least if Kaidoh distracts Momoshiro with something else, he won't try to draw all over Kaidoh's shorts—which he's kind of busy wearing. Or his face again. Kaidoh would punch him, and take his marker back, and this time it wouldn't just end up buried out in the sand.

"Okay!" Momoshiro chirps out.

Like a giddy little kid, Momoshiro rubs his hand on top of Kaidoh's head as he passes him by—messing up his bandana—and skips towards their little laundry corner. He crouches down to scan the neatly folded clothes. Kaidoh is the one to do 'laundry' around here, it was a deal they made back when Momoshiro still lived in his shack, and Kaidoh lived there too. But now his original shack is gone (they built a new one for Echizen and Hazue together so that awful thing that happened during that storm won't ever happen again), and he's living with Kaidoh instead of the other way around. Technically, it should be Momoshiro who'd have to clean their dirty clothes, but Kaidoh seems to not mind at all … in fact, Momoshiro thinks he sort of likes it.

Which is a very weird thought to have, because Kaidoh also washes his underwear.

Thank god Momoshiro decided to wash these himself after that one time … and that time too … and that other time … Momoshiro feels his cheeks heat up with blood as he's thrown out of his giddy mood and instead remembers the sensations from Kaidoh's … He really shouldn't be thinking about this. Not with Kaidoh sitting a little ways ahead of him, so easily reached, so easily thrown down onto his own bed.

Stop with those thoughts, Momoshiro—pick a damn shirt.

The green one is stuffed underneath a sea of black tops, and he pulls it out from underneath the pile, messing everything else up (not like he cares), and he walks back over to Kaidoh. He sits down next to him again and throws the green (it's camo) shirt onto the floor, not even bothering to smooth out the wrinkles like Kaidoh did.

"This one?" Momoshiro asks for confirmation. He sloppily drops his hand into Kaidoh's, and pries out the marker from his fingers so he can get it instead. He takes off the cap and is ready to put it on top of the green camo.

"Uh. Yeah," Kaidoh says, nodding. "Just don't draw anything stupid," he adds, and narrows his eyes like a warning. "Or I won't wear it."

Momoshiro puts the tip of the felt against the shirt, somewhere at the top. "Define stupid," he says.

"Well," Kaidoh starts irritably. "No dead fish, for one thing."

"It's okay if it's alive then?" Momoshiro snickers.

"Asshole. No fish _period_."

"Not even when it's a cat eating one?"

Kaidoh pauses to contemplate this, and his expression softens a little, because the image in his head _is_ kind of cute … But he doesn't want to give Momoshiro any flexibility or he'll end up drawing something horrifying, Kaidoh is sure of it.

"No," he says finally, voice firm.

"Fine," Momoshiro grumbles back at him. He then starts to drag the marker down towards the end of the shirt, making a long arch. Then he draws another arch inside of it .. and another .. until there's a big arch stretched across the shirt with four lines inside. It's supposed to be a rainbow, but it looks like some tentacle swamp monster because of the camo beneath it. It's not like he's got coloured markers after all (he'd love some though!), so it'll just be a black rainbow. He draws some happy little poofy clouds at the top, and he draws a unicorn as well.

At least, that's what he intended to draw, but it sort of look like an ugly square with triangles for legs, and a horn on its head. He got that part right at least. Momoshiro thinks he's making a Picasso.

"There, no stupid fish," Momoshiro says as he draws something at the bottom as well. They're ocean waves. Which end up looking like curly hair. So it's a rainbow casting over the ocean with a unicorn up in the air.

Oh wait, it needs wings.

Momoshiro draws some stupid butterfly wings on it. They look like human ears. Whatever.

Then he writes the first kanji of Kaidoh's name underneath the rainbow. Since it _is_ an ocean. He scribbles his own name (Momo-chan!) next to the unicorn in very small chicken scratch handwriting.

"Tada, it's a masterpiece! It'll be worth millions later on!" Momoshiro nods his head at it and places the cap back onto the marker. He looks at Kaidoh to see his reaction.

Kaidoh looks back at him with a confused expression. "Um," he says, brow furrowing. "What's it supposed to be?" It looks like some kind of mutant rhinoceros monster sliding down a bridge over a pile of spaghetti. And Momoshiro is weird, but Kaidoh didn't think he was _that_ weird.

Well, Momoshiro wrote his name next to the rhinoceros, so maybe it's supposed to be him instead? Is Momoshiro really that clueless about how to draw a person? He did all right drawing himself on Kaidoh's punching bag though … Yeah, Kaidoh doesn't really know what to make of it, but Momoshiro certainly seems pleased with himself. And like he said, at least he didn't draw a fish.

"It's a rainbow!" Momoshiro happily points the marker at his awesome rainbow. Then he moves to the unicorn. "And that's a flying unicorn, and those are clouds ... and that's the ocean, and that's well, your name. Duh. Well you can't really see it with this terrible camouflage pattern, but whatever, it's still a masterpiece."

Momoshiro pokes the marker into Kaidoh's cheek. "Got something else you want on it?"

Kaidoh hisses. "No, that's …" He tries to think of a good word to describe what Momoshiro's drawing is. "Fine."

"Well. Then." Momoshiro pops the cap off one more time, and he quickly draws a circle, draws some triangles on the outside, two dots on the inside, and a smile. There. It's one of his special cats. He drew it small enough to fit in the lightest part of the camo pattern, so that it was actually visible.

"Okay, I'm done." Momoshiro looks at Kaidoh's shorts. "Next."

"What do you mean, next?" Kaidoh says suspiciously. "There is no 'next'. You drew on my shirt. You're done."

Momoshiro points the marker at Kaidoh's crotch.

Kaidoh swats the marker away and punches Momoshiro in the arm.

"Hey!" Momoshiro is torn between wanting to reach for the marker lying on the wooden floor, or punch Kaidoh in the face. So he lightly punches Kaidoh's cheek, and quickly scrambles across the floor to grab the marker and holds it to his chest. His precious marker.

"Asshole," he fires at Kaidoh. "What if it broke? Then I can't draw anymore."

"I'm sure you'd get over it," Kaidoh replies flatly.

"I'd just find something else to draw with." He turns to Kaidoh with a huge evil grin on his face. "Like mud."

Kaidoh just glares at him. "_Fine_, I won't break your damn marker."

"Now that's a good boy." Momoshiro skips back over to Kaidoh, and this time really ruffles up the bandana on his head. "Oh, I can draw on your bandana," he says as he slips it off Kaidoh's head.

"No you can't!" Kaidoh growls, snatching the bandana back and clutching it tightly in his fist.

Momoshiro puckers out his lip and pouts at Kaidoh, his eyebrows lowering down to complete the sad look on his face. "But … but." That's one of the things they mentioned he could draw on, so why not?

Kaidoh scowls, refusing to be swayed by Momoshiro's sad puppy act. "I like it the way it is," he says.

"How about a paw print? Like I made on the pillow?" Momoshiro pulls his eyebrows down even more. His lips start to quiver as well.

"How about you stop trying to draw on everything?" Kaidoh retorts.

"But it's fun …" Momoshiro looks crestfallen. He thought Kaidoh would like it too. It's something to do other than running. "And look, I'm wearing the shirt too." He strokes his hands from his chest down to his stomach, showcasing the weirdly shaped peach on it. Now he's just a sad peach.

Kaidoh heaves out a heavy sigh. "Idiot," he says finally, sighs again, and then holds the bandana out to Momoshiro. "You can draw something small. And not right in the middle either. Near the edge or something."

There's sparkles of tears in Momoshiro's eyes as he greedily snatches the bandana out of Kaidoh's hand. He pushes it closer to his own face, and keeps it steady against his hand, the end falling against his palm. He takes out the marker and doodles something small on it, right on the hem. It looks like a small S and a heart, but it's supposed to be a snake and a peach … well, Kaidoh will get it anyway. With a happy big smile on his face, he thrusts the bandana back into Kaidoh's hand. His eyes are looking at him as if he's waiting for approval—a compliment, anything.

So long as it isn't a punch in the face, then it's good.

Kaidoh takes the bandana and examines it, slightly wary, like Momoshiro might have completely defaced it. But it's hard for Kaidoh to even spot where Momoshiro has drawn on it, because it really is small and right at the corner of the material, just like Kaidoh requested, and easy to miss if you're not looking for it. But Kaidoh is, although it takes him a second to figure out what he's looking at.

When he does, he stops scowling. His face relaxes a bit, almost content, and he looks back at Momoshiro, who looks so happy and hopeful it makes Kaidoh's chest feel tight.

"Cool," he says simply. By which he means, yeah, he might have liked his bandana the way it was, but this is good too.

"Of course it is!" Momoshiro chuckles happily, and places the cap back on the marker. He then extends his arms down towards Kaidoh, his hand closed in a fist. He's looking at him with sparkling eyes, waiting, happily. Like a dog.

Kaidoh's lips curl up, just barely, and he sets the bandana down in his lap before raising his own fist to bump against Momoshiro's.

A pleasant electric shock sparks Momoshiro's knuckles, right where Kaidoh's skin touches his. He's smiling, and he feels pretty good right now, with his heart giving him excited thumps against his chest. Kaidoh has a shirt with his art on it, as well as a small little snake and peach on his bandana. It feels good knowing that he'll wear it (hopefully), and his own shirt suddenly feels a lot better against his own skin as well. Like it's newer, better, improved.

He's way too easy to please … He hopes Kaidoh is pleased as well.

Momoshiro drops his arm to his side—smile still plastered indefinitely on his face—and then he remembers something. "So hey, what about mine? You have it still, right? Draw something nice on it for me. Also small! Like a secret."

Kaidoh shrugs. "Yeah, okay," he says, not even bothering to argue this time. Fair is fair, after all. He still has Momoshiro's bandana in his pocket, folded up with the others, and he pulls it out now and lays it over his knee so that the creases are smoothed out of it.

Then he holds out his palm, waiting for the marker. "Well, it's not going to draw itself …" he grumbles.

Momoshiro raises his eyebrow at the red bandana. "Do you … keep that in your pocket all the time?" He crouches down next to Kaidoh, staring at the meatballs, and offers the marker. He remembers the day he lost it and Kaidoh kept it for him … oh, he remembers that day very well.

"Shut up," Kaidoh replies, giving Momoshiro a petulant glare as he snatches the marker back from him.

Momoshiro smiles knowingly as he puts an arm around Kaidoh's shoulder and he pulls him up close. "You could have just given it back, you know," he says with a slight chuckle.

"Dumbass."

Momoshiro laughs and runs his fingers through Kaidoh's freshly cut hair to mess it all up.

Kaidoh whips his head around to scowl at Momoshiro. "Stop that."

It's not like Momoshiro can help it; Kaidoh is going along with whatever Momoshiro is suggesting, and that makes him excited. "Just draw me something." He slips his fingers out of Kaidoh's hair and rests his hand on Kaidoh's shoulder—hey, he's not going to let go if he can. This is comfy and fun. He's having fun with Kaidoh for once that doesn't involve getting punched in the face. Or anywhere else. Not that it hasn't already happened today.

Kaidoh sucks in a breath and puts on his serious face again, trying not to be distracted by how close Momoshiro is, but it's kind of a challenge. Instead he focuses his attention on the bandana in front of him. He chooses a small, unoccupied corner of the cloth, one where he hadn't sewn any comets, and uncaps the marker. Then he draws a very tiny hamburger onto the material.

He stops and looks at it, but it seems kind of incomplete just sitting there alone like that, so he draws a second one, next to the first. They're both very round, more like weird, meat-filled globes instead of proper hamburgers. That gives Kaidoh an idea and he snorts before writing two angular letters on either side of the first hamburger, until it spells out MOMO, the burgers in place of the O's.

"There, now no one can mistake it for mine anymore," he says, slight amusement in his voice as he passes the bandana to Momoshiro.

"Ahaha, what's that," Momoshiro laughs as he grabs hold of the bandana. He stretches it out between both hands—one arm still around Kaidoh's neck—and he looks at the burger MOMO. "Ahaha, what the hell, is that a burger?" It doesn't look like one at all, but it's so funny that it's making Momoshiro laugh until his cheeks start hurting. "It looks like a pokeball! Haha!" Momoshiro clenches the bandana in his hand then shoves it into his pocket. "So which one am I, Burgerman or Peachman-chan?" he asks while laughing in between breaths.

The small drawing looks funny though, kind of clever, he's glad he got Kaidoh to do it. He really likes it.

Kaidoh just gives him a flat look. "You can be whatever the hell you want to be, I guess." Both sound kind of dumb, Kaidoh thinks. But then, so is Momoshiro, so it fits.

"I wanna be Momo-chan," says Momoshiro with a giggle. "To you, I mean."

Kaidoh shoves Momoshiro in the side. "You're Momoshiro to me."

"Momo," he squeals out as he wraps his arms tightly around Kaidoh's neck, "_chaaaan,"_ he finishes with his mouth pressed against Kaidoh's temple. Then he pushes him down, pressing against his side until Kaidoh's down on the floor (half on Momoshiro's own bed), and Momoshiro is lying on top of him. He leans onto his hands which are digging into his blanket, and he looks down at Kaidoh with a huge smile stretched across his face. One leg between Kaidoh's and the other on the outside of his hip. There's this bubbly feeling just sizzling around in his stomach; he's feeling so cheerful at the moment.

From the moment Momoshiro found out Kaidoh hadn't thrown his marker away, he knew it was a good idea to get Kaidoh to draw things with him. They should be doing things together like this all the time.

Kaidoh frowns up at him, eyes narrowed and his face completely pink, the way it gets when Momoshiro catches him off-guard, or does just about anything.

"Dumbass," he says instead.

Momoshiro simply continues to smile at him. "Didn't catch that," he says, leaning closer.

"I said—" Kaidoh starts, voice charging in with full force. His mouth tugs open and he's about to repeat himself, call Momoshiro the dumbass that he is, when he stops and just looks at him. Because Momoshiro hasn't stopped smiling, and it's really distracting, especially when he's so close that it's hard for Kaidoh to look anywhere else. Kaidoh doesn't want to look anywhere else.

He huffs and squirms a bit, his cheeks feeling even warmer. "I said …" he tries again, his voice having lost all of the irritation and edge. "… you're a dumbass." Kaidoh pushes his hand against Momoshiro's shoulder, feeling Momoshiro warm and solid above him. He starts to shove, then stops. His mouth twitches like it's trying to betray him, and then it does.

Kaidoh's breath spills out of him in a low hiss and somewhere at the end of it, he mumbles, "Momo-chan," finally yielding to Momoshiro's stupidly convincing smile. Then his gaze slides away from Momoshiro's face, his eyes guilty like he's let slip a secret. It's Momoshiro's fault.

Momoshiro's smile transforms into a very wide toothy grin, his eyes enlarging with his eyebrows raising in turn. It's like as if there's confetti being thrown around in his stomach, it's having a party, with drums beating so hard he can feel the bass pulse throughout his entire body. It's sort of making him blind to anything else but that feeling, and seeing Kaidoh's body right underneath him, squirming in embarrassment, his cheeks a nice pinkish red.

"Hehehe," Momoshiro breathes out in a very happy voice. It sounds very high pitched as well, as if he's giggling. Well, he probably is.

He lifts one hand from the blanket, which he shoves underneath the base of Kaidoh's neck, his fingers curling around the soft skin and pressing his palm against it. Momoshiro can feel Kaidoh's heartbeat thump against him, it's exciting. He lowers his body down—Kaidoh's hand not protesting much—until his chest is resting against Kaidoh, while he simultaneously lifts Kaidoh's head closer until he can bury his face next to Kaidoh's, giggling like a stupid schoolgirl that just won't stop. Kaidoh's hair gets stuck on his lips as he laughs, but he doesn't really care. It feels nice.

Indeed, he's Momo-chan, and that's something Kaidoh should call him all the time if it makes him as giddy as this, like he's on some sort of insane sugar rush, like an eight year old kid who had too much ice cream.

There might have been a girly _'kya!'_ in there as Momoshiro crushes Kaidoh against him in a very weird hug, then nuzzles his face against his hair.

"Say it again," Momoshiro says with a smile against the side of Kaidoh's head. His cheeks are positively glowing.

Kaidoh can't really make himself do anything but indulge Momoshiro right now, because he's caught up in it too, like Momoshiro has infected him with some kind of happy virus, and it all feels so good—Momoshiro's laugh, his body against him, the sound of his breath, the beat of his pulse. Kaidoh doesn't want it to go away, he doesn't want Momoshiro to go away. He'll have plenty of time to glare and call Momoshiro names later, to punch him, to ignore and deny all of this, but for now Kaidoh just wants to enjoy it. He's wrapped up in the feeling just as tightly as Momoshiro is wrapped around him.

"Momo-chan," he echoes softly, feeling stupid and exposed and embarrassed … and at the same time strangely exhilarated. It still sounds foreign to him, like he's calling to some stranger, and Momoshiro's reactions are foreign and new too, but the way Momoshiro feels against him is familiar.

So long as Momoshiro stays close like this, stays smiling that stupid, happy grin, Kaidoh will probably do whatever he asks. He doesn't have it in him anymore to protest, or even question it. And surely that's Momoshiro's fault, too, but maybe it's Kaidoh's as well, because, at least for right now, he doesn't want to do anything but make Momoshiro smile like that all the time. It kind of amazes him that Momoshiro is doing it because of him.

The smile on Momoshiro's face has now become something permanently etched into it; it's not going away. Far from it, it's growing bigger—as far as his lips can spread, and it's starting to hurt too. A good kind of hurt though, nothing really feels bad, everything feels like sparkling confetti. Isn't that what they call glitter though?

Momoshiro slightly turns his face, so that his lips brush over Kaidoh's ear. He wants to tell him something, form words with his mouth, but it's kind of hard when he can't stop smiling, and his brain isn't letting him form any coherent thoughts. Say it again, he wants to tell him, say it all the time. But maybe his smile is saying enough, after all, Kaidoh did call him Momo-chan twice. It's like an early christmas present. It's the _best_ present, one that Momoshiro can't help but want to unwrap and play with, which is why he pushes Kaidoh closer to him, his hand still on the back of his neck. The other one now moves in between their chests so he can pry out Kaidoh's hand, which had been awkwardly stuck in between them, and he slowly pulls it out, until it's above Kaidoh's head, and Momoshiro clenches all his fingers around Kaidoh's. The rough skin texture of Kaidoh's fingers feels nice against his own, they feel warm and comforting. Everything feels warm and comforting, and Momoshiro is almost convinced Kaidoh's ear is radiating heat from being so red.

It's starting to feel heavy to keep that wide grin on his face, but Momoshiro can't control his happiness, he can't stop smiling. It's all Kaidoh's fault, he's never done this before, never went along with him this far, never indulged him this much, and Momoshiro is loving every second of it. This is definitely something he could get used to (but his jaw might ache), something which he wants to happen pretty much all the time.

Yeah, fighting with Kaidoh had always felt good to Momoshiro. It relieved some stress, and it was just how they worked. But it's never been like _this_, never felt this good, where there are no insults, no punches, and it's just a happy Momoshiro with a … actually, he hasn't seen Kaidoh's face yet.

Slowly, Momoshiro moves away from Kaidoh's ear, his lips brushing against the tip of the cartilage, until he centers his face right above Kaidoh's. It's almost impossible to smile even more, but his lips are curling further, and his cheeks are feeling hot and strained, once he sees Kaidoh's face. It is flushed with red, tainting not only his cheeks, but his forehead, ears, and neck as well, like it's a happy little rash. Happy, because Kaidoh's big lips are pulled into something that might have looked like a snarl to other people, but Momoshiro has pretty much memorized all the different positions Kaidoh can snarl in, that he knows it's not like that at all. Kaidoh's smiling too. A little. A little but enough, enough to make Momoshiro feel like he's the happiest man on earth, and it shows on his face as well. He laughs a bit, his eyes smiling with him, his fingers tightening around Kaidoh's hand, until he can finally relax his mouth enough to say something.

"Yeah …" he says, feeling completely out of breath like he's been running one of Kaidoh's training courses forever. Momoshiro looks into Kaidoh's eyes. "And you're my Kaoru-chan," he finishes.

And before Kaidoh can protest the silly nickname, to even utter out a word to break this happy bubble that they're in, Momoshiro covers his mouth with his own to silence him. It's unlike the other times because this time it's not rough, it's not urgent, but it's familiar and soft.

It's kind of sweet.

Kaidoh isn't surprised this time. Although in truth, every time they do this, it surprises him, catches him off-guard, because Kaidoh knows he's here, in the moment, and at the same time he feels as though he's watching himself from far away, unable to process that it's all happening, that he's still the same person he was just moments before, that Momoshiro is too, and that he somehow wants to do this with Kaidoh anyway. But it feels more and more natural the more it happens, like this is the way they're supposed to fit together. And even if it isn't, even if it's just some strange fluke, even if they've both been infected with some weird happy virus that clouds their judgment, Kaidoh is content to live in the delusion for as long as he can make it last.

It's strange to think that, for all his complaining, his grumbling and yelling, nothing feels more right than Momoshiro's mouth against his own. Maybe he really isn't the same person he was before, because he feels like he's unraveling, like Momoshiro's pulling at him, piece by piece, and Kaidoh can't do anything but encourage him to keep going.

His fingers squeeze against Momoshiro's hand, the touch nice, warm, solid, and Kaidoh wishes the instinct to grab Momoshiro's hand didn't always feel so mortifying the rest of the time they're together, because he likes the feeling. He really likes it. He likes touching Momoshiro, whether it be punches, or shirt grabs, or even this. Especially this. He wants to do it more.

He moves his other hand up against Momoshiro's cheek, which is so warm that Kaidoh feels like his palm is being heated by an invisible flame. Kaidoh doesn't know why he does it, but his thumb lightly strokes the side of Momoshiro's face, almost tenderly, feeling the skin seem to light up with heat each place he touches. Then his hand slides back, through Momoshiro's soft black hair, until it's behind his head, the pads of Kaidoh's fingers pushing into Momoshiro's scalp to keep him close as Kaidoh moves his own lips against Momoshiro's mouth.

A shuddered breath, one Kaidoh had been holding, escapes out through his nose, harsh against Momoshiro's face. But it's the only harsh thing about this; the movement of their mouths isn't harsh at all.

It feels like a rare moment. Kaidoh can feel his skin buzzing with energy, eager and alert, and it's echoed in Momoshiro's touches, but neither one of them is angry, and there's nothing rushed about what they're doing. And that's a bit terrifying, because then there's nothing for Kaidoh to hide behind, it's like Momoshiro has peeled away all his rough edges and left him exposed, as just Kaoru-chan, with the simple fact that this is not a fight at all, that they aren't acting out of anger or competitive instincts. That there aren't any excuses. That he just likes it.

There is definitely something clouding Momoshiro's judgement, because if he weren't in this dazed happy state, feeling bubbly and and content, then maybe he'd question what the hell he was doing. It's easy to blame their previous encounters on the fact that Momoshiro lost control of his hormones, and Kaidoh was just someone who happened to be there at the right time. That's how he could deal with it, and not think hard about it—it was all hormones anyway. Horny ones, ones that wanted to touch Kaidoh everywhere and find release.

But with the way Kaidoh is tenderly moving his lips against his own, the way his fingers touch the back of his head lightly, it doesn't feel like their previous encounters at all. It's different. It's not rushed, it isn't a spur of the moment kind of thing, they both saw it coming, didn't they? But Momoshiro is still high on that rush, and it's simply getting more intense the more he touches Kaidoh, it's taking him over completely. He can't think straight, which is why he can't see how strange this all is, because it _doesn't_ feel strange. Moving his lips against Kaidoh's feels normal, it feels good, it's something he wants to do more often. Even Kaidoh's touches feel like they belong there, like he's been waiting all this time for it to happen.

And it really is strange, but Momoshiro is too engrossed in what he's doing, what he's feeling, and how Kaidoh is reacting to whatever he's doing as well, to realize this. To understand the significance of it.

Momoshiro plucks his lips away from Kaidoh's, not moving very far, but enough so he can lick his own lips to moisten them, and then he presses them against those big lips again. It's a sensation he really can't get enough of, ever. And this time it's slow, it's so deliberate and lethargic, it's making his toes curl up, and he huddles closer to Kaidoh's body, wanting to have every part of their skin touching. Just like Kaidoh, he's letting out harsh breaths through his nose, simply because his mouth is closed, and despite it being so slow, it's still making all his insides run wild, and he needs oxygen to keep him going.

Or maybe he simply needs Kaidoh to keep going. It's not like he feels like pulling away is an option right now. They can just stay like this, lips moving, hands stroking, and bodies trembling.

At least they're not doing it in the damn sand anymore. Momoshiro is grateful for the fact that they're half lying on his own bed. Which really only consists out of a bunch of blankets, but it works, it's soft, and pressing Kaidoh into it doesn't disturb their pace. There's no sand between his fingers annoying him this time, only Kaidoh's fingers are there. And those always feel great, exciting and new, Momoshiro can't help but keep squeezing his hand, then relaxing it and brush the tips of his fingers against Kaidoh's, pressing them up against each other.

Momoshiro sucks lightly on Kaidoh's lips; they're so soft and warm, he doesn't ever really want to part with them. Wants to feel them all the time. If only he could, which is why he's enjoying this as much as he can. Because it's the first time Kaidoh's so lenient with him, and he seems to be enjoying this too, responding to his touch, from his lips, to his hands, and he's pulling Momoshiro closer. And he obliges without a protest, of course he'll get closer, of course he'll continue. Kaidoh kisses him back, and it's making Momoshiro feel lightheaded. Lightheaded, but good.

But Momoshiro does finally pull his lips away from Kaidoh completely this time. He takes a second to look at Kaidoh, to take in the way he looks like. How his expression seems so softened and content, with his eyes glazed over; Momoshiro has never seen Kaidoh this way, not even when he's petting cats and thinks no one is watching him. It's a nice and rare expression, it's much better than the grouchy look Kaidoh wears all the time, and Momoshiro wishes he looks like this instead of grumpy Kaidoh. He brings his hand, which was kneading into Kaidoh's neck, up to his very warm cheek—just like Kaidoh did—and he brushes his thumb over it, caressing it. It's very warm to the touch, since Kaidoh's thoroughly flushed right now.

This feels nice.

Momoshiro leans forward once more and gently knocks his forehead against Kaidoh's, their noses slightly bumping into each other. He smiles, then chuckles lightly, letting his fingers stroke Kaidoh's cheek. It's making his fingers tingle with exciting energy.

It feels _really_ nice. Kaidoh is letting him do whatever he pleases, and it feels great. He chuckles again, his breath hitting Kaidoh's face.

Momoshiro's laughter sends goosebumps down the back of Kaidoh's neck, prickling up his skin and making it tingle. It's a sound Kaidoh decides he kind of likes, and for once Momoshiro isn't laughing at something dumb Kaidoh's done, he's just happy. He's just happy with Kaidoh. Kaidoh really can't stop running that thought through his mind. It's like fuel, pulsing through his chest, energizing him, making his heart race with excitement. It's powering him on, powering him up. It feels boundless. He thinks he probably would be able to run a marathon off of it, no water even needed.

Air, though ... maybe, and Kaidoh sucks in a shallow breath and looks back at Momoshiro, whose eyes are just as light and open as Kaidoh feels. Neither one of them is stopping. Neither one of them is pulling away.

Kaidoh searches those eyes and they confirm what he hasn't wanted to let himself believe, that this is real, the things he's feeling ... it isn't just his mind playing tricks on him. And up close like this, it's becoming impossible to deny. He really ... Kaidoh really ... He feels ... Oh. Yeah. He feels a lot of things for Momoshiro.

He's traced it before, back to when it all started, when things began to shift and he stopped wanting to hit Momoshiro in the face to hurt him and just wanted to be close to him instead. He knows the feeling. He's known it for years, but even now, even like this, he won't name it. He just lets it float around in his stomach like this ambiguous, fizzy weight. It's how he feels every time he's with Momoshiro. Even when he's not with Momoshiro. More and more, just the fleeting thought of him is enough to make Kaidoh's insides feel gooey and excited. But what it is, what it all means ... That's like some taboo subject, just like this, what they're doing right now, is something they'll never talk about out loud.

This time is different, Kaidoh can feel it, he can see it in Momoshiro's eyes, the way he's looking back at him, and the pulse in Kaidoh's neck leaps, recognizing the feeling and wanting to latch onto it. It makes Kaidoh shiver a bit in spite of the heat their bodies are generating.

His brain still refuses to string it together for him, to connect the dots, but his mouth isn't nearly so stubborn or timid, and Kaidoh curls his fingers around the back of Momoshiro's head, his pinky grazing the soft skin of Momoshiro's neck, so he can pull Momoshiro's face closer again and press his mouth bravely against Momoshiro's lips. Bravely because, as though he's plummeting over a waterfall's edge, he suddenly acknowledges what it means to do this. To want to do this. He doesn't dare say it out loud, doesn't even want to say it in his own mind, but it's there, obvious as his own heartbeat. It always has been. And like his heartbeat, it's not something Kaidoh can shake, it's not something that's going to go away.

And Kaidoh is okay with that, in fact, he finds he doesn't want it to go away. For once he's almost ... _maybe_... not embarrassed with how he's feeling. Scared, yes—his body trembles against Momoshiro's as he feels Momoshiro's lips press back against him, a wet and reassuring warmth, feeling inexplicably more intense than any time they've done this before—but not embarrassed. He feels like he should be, but he isn't. He just feels good. Really good.

There are still faint traces of laughter escaping from Momoshiro's mouth each time he pulls back and lets out an amused breath, just to connect them with Kaidoh's again. It's sort of strange, sort of weird, but Momoshiro is under Kaidoh's spell, he's unable to think about anything deeply, to control his own actions anymore. Or what they even mean; he's simply enjoying the ride. And yes, he's enjoying the hell out of it. Momoshiro has no idea why he's so amused, feels so light, but he's humming against Kaidoh's lips as if he's trying to talk to him, but no words are said. He simply puckers his lips and sucks, then rinse and repeat.

Momoshiro can't stop playing with Kaidoh's fingers either, like it's keeping him grounded from floating away, he just feels really light. Like he has no worries, like there's nothing keeping him down on earth, it's all fluttery and something constant hums in his stomach, like a nice crackle of a fireplace in the middle of winter. It's keeping him warm and comfortable, _Kaidoh_ is doing all of this to him, and Momoshiro can't stop being addicted to it.

Again, he's way too focused on these feelings to realize what they mean. It's better not to think, and to continue kissing Kaidoh as if nothing else matters. And nothing really does, everything else seems insignificant compared to this.

Their moist lips swipe over each other, eliciting more soft giggles from Momoshiro. What used to be harsh moans and groans from the friction of their bodies, is now a low current of enlightenment, and a case of the giggles. Momoshiro doesn't understand, but he doesn't question it, as long as Kaidoh keeps pressing and moving his lips against Momoshiro's, then nothing matters, he doesn't want to think about anything else. It's still going slow, as if they're murmuring soundless words to each other, it's definitely a different pace from the other times. And Momoshiro finds he likes this just as much, perhaps even more? This is not a case of both of them filled with crazy hormones, this is a case of …

… Of doing it because they want to.

Oh yes, Momoshiro certainly wants to. It's why he started it, isn't it? Can he even resist kissing Kaidoh anymore now? He's always drawing him in, doing stupid annoying things like letting Momoshiro draw on his stuff, or quit his running early just to go see him, Kaidoh goes along with whatever Momoshiro suggests lately. And it's fun, it's definitely fun.

That smile on Momoshiro's face is still not going away, his lips still curled each time he kisses Kaidoh.

Momoshiro leans back a little bit, his lips separating from Kaidoh's, and he wants to press them together again, but this time he shifts to the right and he plants a kiss on Kaidoh's soft and warm cheek. His hand slips away from underneath Kaidoh's cheek, and he runs it across his shoulder, to his arm, to the hand that is on the back of Momoshiro's neck, and he grabs hold of it, making Kaidoh pause his actions. As he slowly tears it away from his neck, Momoshiro kisses the corner of Kaidoh's mouth, and then, as he brings Kaidoh's hand up towards the side of his face, he tilts his head so that he can kiss the inside of Kaidoh's palm. It tastes kind of like the ocean, but mostly it feels tingly and warm. He smiles and sighs contently against it, eyes closed in pure bliss. He presses the entire palm of Kaidoh's hand against his cheek, his hand covering Kaidoh's.

And then he looks at Kaidoh, a bit smug, a whole lot of happy, but mostly it's an expression only Kaidoh can draw out of him. It's reserved only for the snake. And Momoshiro wouldn't have it any other way. He's too hopeless.

Momoshiro drops Kaidoh's hand, closes his eyes, and wraps both his arms around Kaidoh's neck, pulling him in a tight embrace so he can kiss him once more. It's simply something he cannot stop, Kaidoh's pulling all the right strings and he's not even moving.

Kaidoh's arms seem to take their cue from Momoshiro's and, without even thinking about it, he wraps them around Momoshiro's back, holding onto him just as tightly, his palms zinging with heat. Yes, Kaidoh Kaoru is, completely willingly, reaching his arms out to hug someone, to hold them close. And not just anyone, but _Momoshiro_ of all people, someone who usually only inspires violent outbursts and insults. Other things too, more recently, but all those could be waved off as, perhaps on a very primal level, simply a continuation of those fights.

But now Kaidoh is holding onto him, not shoving, not pushing, just holding him close like he's all Kaidoh wants, like he wants nothing more than to be close to him. And the way his heart is beating in solid agreement, Kaidoh knows that it's true. In this moment, he wants nothing more than to keep his arms wrapped around Momoshiro's warm, familiar body, their faces close and pressed together, their shared breaths ringing in Kaidoh's ears.

It's not something that's ever felt natural for him to do before; none of this did. None of this is something he'd ever have found normal or comfortable—he'd have run horrified from the suggestion—but now it's preferable to anything else, feels better than anything else. And it's only because it's with Momoshiro.

Somehow with Momoshiro, there are no limits, there's nothing that is out of bounds, and Kaidoh acts differently than he would with anyone else. He acts more like himself than he would with anyone else. Momoshiro knows how to drag this side out of him, tear down all his walls. He knows exactly the right thing to say, to do, to make Kaidoh react. He always has. And Kaidoh doesn't even need to think about it, their understanding was always unspoken, a heated undercurrent of instinct. It's like it requires no additional effort. Everything just flows, and Kaidoh is grateful for that. Momoshiro has always been a subject that's come easy to him. Even now when he feels he's discovering something new about him with each second they spend pressed tight and warm together like this, it doesn't feel like something foreign or unknown, but merely an uncovering of things that were already there.

None of this feels strained or wrong or outside of Kaidoh's comfort zone even though, objectively, all of it is. All of it is new and strange, and Kaidoh doesn't know where to put his hands or how to move his mouth, and yet, at the same time, he does; it comes naturally, and hey, they've had some practice by now. He isn't even thinking about what he's doing, he's just doing it. Somehow, with Momoshiro, all of Kaidoh's careful planning just flies right out the window, replaced by pure impulse. Kaidoh usually likes structure, he likes order, he likes things that are simple and routine, but Momoshiro is none of those things and that _should_ make him nervous, but instead Kaidoh finds he likes that best of all.

But right now Momoshiro is so unlike the whirlwind of energy and chaos that's always sent Kaidoh into an annoyed outrage. Now Momoshiro is so tender, so caring, that Kaidoh nearly wants to hit him on the head just to remind him who he's here with, because Kaidoh is sure Momoshiro can't be thinking clearly. Either that or Kaidoh's dreaming it. Because Momoshiro doesn't act like this with Kaidoh, and Kaidoh doesn't act like this with Momoshiro, and yet here they are. And Momoshiro is touching and kissing Kaidoh like he … like he might … The thought makes Kaidoh's pulse flutter hopefully against his ribcage, but it's so stupid he can't bring himself to fill in the blanks, let alone let himself believe in it. Momoshiro's actions are just that—actions. He just … does things, he always has, and they don't need to have any weight or meaning or implications to them. Why should it matter anyway, what it all means? Can't they just like this? Momoshiro likes this, Kaidoh likes this. It's simple and they're simple. It's how things should be.

So he presses his lips tighter, firmer, against Momoshiro's mouth, letting the tingling sensation he's grown to long for wash through him, like Momoshiro is a wave crashing against his body, sending water rushing through his ears and drowning out his thoughts. Now isn't the time for thinking. Not when Kaidoh's too busy feeling.

Momoshiro is way too busy feeling to think straight. Or think at all. Because after all, thinking is evil, and if he starts to run this through a filter in his head—all his actions, all of Kaidoh's reactions—then things will happen. Then things will be more, well, real, and Momoshiro can't ignore it anymore. Ignore it and enjoy it for what it is. Enjoy Kaidoh's gentle lips without putting any meaning behind it. Or the way he's holding him as much as Momoshiro is wrapping his arms around him. Whatever he does, Kaidoh does too, whatever he wants, Kaidoh goes along, and whatever things Kaidoh suddenly does, it's something he's wanted all this time.

It feels a lot different than before. Being so slow, taking in the sensations of their skin touching and moving, it sends heat to his heart like it has never done before. Momoshiro thought he felt it all on that day they started it, the pounding of his heart, the rushed movements, the urgency in their actions, and the gasps for breath. He never realized he could also enjoy taking a breather, to bask in this relaxing warmth, and to simply … like it.

Yeah, Momoshiro likes it.

Kaidoh seems to like it too.

But he can't think. Not now. It will make things too real, too meaningful, so Momoshiro tries to shut himself down and simply react on instinct. The instinct to move his lips against Kaidoh's, as if he's massaging them gently, with his arms almost suffocating Kaidoh with the strength of his grip around Kaidoh's neck. He carefully takes Kaidoh's bottom lip, warm and moist, into his own mouth, letting his tongue lick against the delicate skin, and giving a bit of suction as well. Compared to last time, they're doing this in slow motion, but Momoshiro has no complaints. It feels nice and tingly, and it's making something constant build up inside of his body. And no, those aren't his crazy hormones.

Or perhaps they are? Just a new kind of hormones, hormones that think it's a good idea to kiss Kaidoh. That's it.

Momoshiro plays with Kaidoh's hair with his fingers, barely even noticing this subconscious act. He sucks a bit harder on Kaidoh's bottom lip, before he releases it, feeling more swollen and wet now, and he eagerly presses his lips against them again.

He still remembers there was a time when he was really nervous about kissing a girl. What to do, how to move, and hoping he didn't suck. But those kind of thoughts have never entered Momoshiro's mind when he's with Kaidoh. Not even once. Maybe it's because Kaidoh isn't a girl in the first place. But he tries not to think about that fact, instead he just stumbles his way through it. Even if he can end up being a bit clumsy, or bump his nose into Kaidoh's, or their teeth click against each other, he simply moves on. He doesn't want to disturb the pace. Self conscious thoughts don't belong in this moment. Only he and Kaidoh do, and that's a very nice thought which makes butterflies fly in his stomach again.

Or that might just be something else. Something a bit more deep, more meaningful, something which keeps building up the longer they do this. Maybe it's a silent understanding between them, like how they both know how to move their lips against each other just like this, in this slow pace, not fighting, not throwing each other off. Whatever it is, Momoshiro is gradually accepting the way it's making itself home inside of him, like a new part of him that he's never known about, but is knocking on his door and saying hi, and wants in. Maybe that part is simply Kaidoh, because he's annoying and he can always dig himself under Momoshiro's skin.

Or maybe it's something else entirely … like …

Momoshiro stops sucking on Kaidoh's lips, and he flutters his eyes open, pulling away enough so he can look at Kaidoh's face.

And it would have been a very serene moment, maybe even an epiphany waiting around the corner, if it weren't disturbed by the loud crackling noise of his stomach crying out in hunger. Momoshiro blinks in his startled state, Kaidoh stares back at him.

Right … he hasn't eaten anything in three hours.

Momoshiro sheepishly smiles at Kaidoh, before his stomach makes another sound that sounds very much like 'aww' and then he simply bursts out into laughter. His shoulders shake against Kaidoh and he finally sits up straight, arms slipping away from Kaidoh's neck. His stomach hurts from hunger and laughter, and his heart is still beating in that steady pace.

"I'm hungry," says Momoshiro through his laughter. He balls up his hand into a fist and gently drops it onto Kaidoh's chest. "What's for dinner?" He throws his head to the side, and gives Kaidoh a content smile.

Kaidoh seems kind of stunned though, and Momoshiro figures it's a good idea to shake him up out of his daze, so he he bends down to Kaidoh's face once more, sticks out his tongue, and swipes it across Kaidoh's lips. "Hmm, salty," says Momoshiro as he pulls back again. More like ocean-y. But hey, the moment is already ruined, might as well have some fun and tease Kaidoh before he'll get punched in the face.

Kaidoh scowls at him, an expression that comes easily, even though his body is still buzzing a little with pleasant feelings.

"That's disgusting," he says flatly, ignoring the fact that they both just had their mouths all over each other and he hadn't found any of that disgusting in the slightest. Because he sure as hell isn't going to acknowledge that _now_. Although the fact that Momoshiro is still on top of Kaidoh makes it a little hard to just brush it off as though it never happened, as though it was nothing, as though it was meaningless. It wasn't nothing, and it was far from meaningless, but if Kaidoh dwells on that, on what it might mean, he'll drive himself crazy.

So he just shoves his arms—those same arms that had moments ago been pulling Momoshiro closer—against Momoshiro's shoulders, this time hard enough to throw him off, and pulls himself up off the bed as well.

"Wah!" Momoshiro topples over and lands in between his sea of blankets. "Hey!" he yells out indignantly when he tries to sit up straight again. He glares at Kaidoh; the fine and serene mood they were in just seconds ago has now been completely shattered, though his lips are still throbbing pleasantly. And that new feeling settles down in the pit of his stomach; it's not going away despite the mood switching over.

Now they're back to being Momoshiro and Kaidoh again. This is the stuff he knows, this always feels familiar to him, but that humming in his stomach is definitely new. It might just be because he's hungry though.

There's something stabbing Momoshiro in his back, and he rolls over to see what it is; it's his precious black marker. Kaidoh probably dropped it sometime after drawing those pokeballs on his bandana. Or burgers. Whatever. He stretches out his arm and picks it up, then flings it at Kaidoh for good measure, aiming at his chest, as if it's his fault it was poking him in the back.

"Go make me some food," he also says dismissively. He got Kaidoh to draw things for him, call him Momo-chan, got to kiss him, so why not make food as well.

"Go make it yourself," Kaidoh shoots back, wanting to point out that he's already done quite a lot for Momoshiro today, because he has, but, given what they were _just_ doing, that might sound a little weird. And that's not something Kaidoh wants to talk about anyway, although his mind is insisting he continue to think about it.

"Idiot," he adds as an afterthought, because that's what Momoshiro is, for forcing his way into Kaidoh's mind and refusing to go away. Momoshiro might as well have a permanent spot in there by now, probably with an annoying little flag staked into the ground and everything.

And just like with everything today, Momoshiro doesn't return Kaidoh's indifference with an indignant insult, but instead he throws his arms around Kaidoh in a dramatic manner. As if he's throwing sparkling confetti around, the same kind that's still stuck inside of his stomach.

"Food!" he squeals out, then glomps Kaidoh's side. Very much like how he grabbed him before they went down to business. "Strawberries?" he adds after it. His stomach filled with confetti growls in agreement.

Kaidoh huffs, his whole body stiffening a little out of habit and then relaxing again. "When they're ripe," he replies, and gives Momoshiro a look like he thinks he's the most impatient person on the planet. And, when it comes to food, he kind of is. "Give them a week."

"A week? That's way too long!" Momoshiro sighs and slumps his body against Kaidoh's. "Fine … I guess I can wait. Hey, hey—how do you feel about crabs? Do you think they're scary as well, like the fish? Or are you fine catching some and cooking them? Crab is delicious! I saw one or two before, skittering around on the beach. Why do they come with those damn hard shells though? Can't they grow them softer so we can eat them better? Stupid fucking crabs. My spear won't penetrate its shell, so I have to catch it in a net or something. I tried it once, but failed. Stupid thing. You'll join me, right? Catch some crabbies?"

"Yeah, sure," Kaidoh says, then grimaces at how agreeable he sounds. "I mean, whatever," he adds with a shrug. "And no, I'm not scared of crabs … _Or_ fish." Well, he isn't!

Momoshiro simply grins and pinches Kaidoh's cheek. "Want to test that theory out? I'm sure we can find more fish instead of crabs …"

Kaidoh glares, swatting his fist at Momoshiro's hand. "You said you wanted crabs though. Crabs are fine."

"Hehe. Crabs it is." Momoshiro loosens his arms around Kaidoh, getting ready to stand up and find their fishing net, before he turns his head to look at Kaidoh. He ponders for a second, until he happily smacks his lips against Kaidoh's, pulls back, licks his cheek as well, then hurriedly gets up and rushes out of their hut.

Because he sure as hell isn't getting punched twice in the face today.


	33. New Superpower

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **more development between Momo and Kaidoh, it's slowly getting there. This also marks the log where we separated from the original roleplay, and continued to play on our own.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** MA

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Some of the plants and fruits in Kaidoh's garden have fully ripened, including the strawberries  
- Momo and Kaidoh attempt to make a cake with them, but it fails the first time (Momo eats it anyway)  
- Today, they tried again, and this time it worked out a lot better. Kaidoh who doesn't like sweets, goes out to run, while Momo whines that he should come back and feed him cake instead. Kaidoh begrudgingly agrees to come back

**Date:** September 23, 2012

* * *

Recently, Momoshiro has discovered a new superpower.

Well, not really a superpower.

Nor is it really new.

But in essence, Momoshiro has figured something out that he's been reaping the benefits of. It started all a week ago, when he got Kaidoh to draw some stuff with him (which led to kissing, but he's trying not to think about that), and even call him Momo-chan. It was some kind of power he held over Kaidoh; to make him bend to his every whim. So yeah, it _does_ feel like a superpower to him. The power to make Kaidoh do whatever he wants.

And oh boy, has he been having fun with that for the past week.

It's not like Momoshiro didn't already know he could get Kaidoh to do a lot of things for him, or with him, or whatever Momoshiro told him. After all, he managed to get some rainbow roses from Kaidoh, and even some pillow hammock (they should hang out there again sometime soon), and after enough prodding, he could get Kaidoh to make dinner for him.

He just never really understood how _far_ he could get with that. How much more he could prod Kaidoh. And it seems, there really is no limit.

Yesterday, they attempted to make a strawberry cake. You see, the strawberries were finally ripe, and Momoshiro wanted to make a cake out of it immediately. But Momoshiro isn't a chef, and Kaidoh is lucky enough not to burn the food, so it ended in a failure. A big mush of pink goo failure. Momoshiro ate it anyway, because he doesn't waste food. He got a big stomach ache after that, which lasted for several hours. Kaidoh got a bit fussy with him, almost as if he were scolding him for eating too much (bad) food, but it might also be because he was disappointed it didn't turn out that bad.

Momoshiro had almost said to kiss his stomach better just to mess with him, but decided against it.

Now today, they attempted the strawberry cake again. And while not perfect, it is not the pink goo from yesterday, and actually resembles cake. Momoshiro has already had two slices—Kaidoh one—and he's claimed the rest of the cake for himself. It's been the best thing he's eaten for months; he doesn't exactly have a wide variety of food available on this island, so the strawberries were like a gift of the gods. And Kaidoh helped him with it.

Then the asshole went out running and left Momoshiro alone with cake of course.

After a weird conversation where Momoshiro confused the word 'deface' with 'defecate', Momoshiro used his superpower on Kaidoh, and managed to convince him to come feed him the rest of the cake, and thus come back home. He said he'd be there in fifteen minutes.

Momoshiro told him to come in ten.

But after brooding there with a half-eaten cake sitting on the small table in front of him (it's really just an upside down crate), there is still no sign of Kaidoh after thirteen minutes. What a dumbass. Momoshiro is going to fling something at him when he comes in. He sits there in front of the cake, not touching it, and simply glaring at the entrance of their hut. Stupid snake. He looks down at the peach drawn onto his shirt, and glares at that as well.

It's another minute before Kaidoh shows up back at the hut, looking sweaty and worn out—although not as much as he'd be if he'd been able to actually finish his run as planned. And he had wanted to do just that, but somehow Momoshiro persuaded him to come home. Kaidoh isn't sure why he agreed. Well, maybe because he didn't want Momoshiro to follow through with his threats to do anything to the hut, or Kaidoh's face, even though—thank god—he'd just meant he'd scribble on stuff with his stupid marker.

Kaidoh pulls his towel off from around his neck and wipes it over his face, then runs up the steps and into the hut. He lets out a hiss when he sees Momoshiro just sitting there, glaring. Idiot.

"What," Kaidoh says flatly, giving Momoshiro an appraising look. Momoshiro isn't the one who's allowed to look irritated; he's the one who was being demanding, after all.

"You're _late_," says Momoshiro. He sticks his nose up in the air. Which is a mistake, because now he can really smell Kaidoh's sickeningly sweet sweat, and he pulls his face into a grimace.

Kaidoh narrows his eyes back at him. "You were timing me? What the hell." He huffs. "Ten minutes is not very long, you know." And he was running as fast as he could, which is embarrassing to admit, both because Kaidoh doesn't like admitting there are things he can't do—like run at the speed of light—and also because if he said that, it would sound gross, like he was racing home to see Momoshiro. And he wasn't … right? No. That's dumb. Kaidoh scowls.

"Of course I was, why can't you do it in ten huh? I thought you liked to run." Momoshiro rolls his eyes at him. "I guess you just didn't run _fast_ enough," he mumbles. Though who knows how fast Kaidoh was running with that much sweat oozing out of him.

Kaidoh's eyes go wide with annoyance. "Asshole, are you calling me slow?!" he growls. "I'd like to see _you_ try to run that in ten minutes." Or try to run anything, for that matter ... Momoshiro is really lazy.

"I don't have to, I'm not the one who loves running as much as you do. Not that I love it in the first place. Now sit down—or ehh, wipe yourself off first, you smell." To illustrate his disgust, Momoshiro crinkles up his nose at Kaidoh.

"It's just sweat ..." Kaidoh replies, scowling. He doesn't see why it's such a big deal. He's used to it and Momoshiro should be too. And he doesn't _smell_.

But whatever, he takes his towel and wipes at his neck, arms, and face again anyway. Then he sits down on the floor of the hut and sneers at Momoshiro, eyebrow raised as if to say, _happy now?_

Yes, yes he is. Momoshiro's grumpy mood turns to that of a pleased one. Pleased Kaidoh is listening to him; his secret superpower. His eyes cast down towards the cake, then he looks back up at Kaidoh, then down at the chopsticks which are next to the cake, then back at Kaidoh, wiggling his eyebrows. Work superpower, _work!_ Momoshiro thinks if he narrows his eyes hard enough, Kaidoh will pick up the chopsticks and feed him cake.

Kaidoh blinks at Momoshiro, then he looks at the cake. Then his expression goes deadpan and he looks back at Momoshiro and says, "If you want to eat it, don't let me stop you."

Momoshiro pushes the chopsticks towards Kaidoh with the tips of his knuckles, an innocent and naive expression gracing his face.

Kaidoh frowns at the chopsticks. "Well, _I_ don't want to eat it," he says, looking a bit wary. "You're the one who claimed it all for yourself."

Momoshiro opens his mouth wide open then points his finger at it. It couldn't be more obvious than that.

"Dumbass."

"Idiot. Now come on, you agreed to it! Grab those sticks and stuff some cake into my mouth."

Kaidoh hisses. He didn't actually think Momoshiro was serious about that … which is dumb; he should know by now that Momoshiro is always serious about the stupid ideas he comes up with.

Eventually, he sighs and looks down at the floor of the hut. "Fine," he grumbles reluctantly, and reaches for the chopsticks, using them to slice off a small piece of the cake. He picks it up and holds it, an expression on his face like he's contemplating smashing the cake into Momoshiro's face, perhaps right in his nose. But Kaidoh doesn't, just kind of holds it out in front of himself, balanced delicately between the chopsticks, his expression still kind of irritated and skeptical.

Delighted that Kaidoh is bending to his every whim and command, Momoshiro scoots closer to the chopsticks with a very happy smile on his face. Then he notices something as little crumbs fall from the chopsticks to the floor.

"I want a piece with a strawberry in it," Momoshiro notes. There's nothing but brown cake clenched between Kaidoh's chopsticks, and it wouldn't be a strawberry cake without the strawberry, now would it?

Kaidoh glares at Momoshiro, like he's some kind of spoiled child. Well, he's certainly acting like one. "I don't care what you want." Blatant lie. "There's nothing wrong with this piece."

Momoshiro pokes the cake with his index finger, causing it to crumble and slip out of Kaidoh's hold until it lands back onto the plate. He looks back up at Kaidoh with a satisfied grin.

Kaidoh just scowls at him and slams the chopsticks back down on the table. "Do it yourself if you're going to be so picky."

This superpower definitely needs some work, or fine-tuning at least. Momoshiro slumps his shoulders and puckers out his bottom lip, while his eyebrows go low and droopy. That's a look Kaidoh can't resist, Momoshiro knows it, and Kaidoh knows it, and he'll never ever stop using that to his advantage.

Besides, it's not like Momoshiro won't reward Kaidoh for being his servant. He'll get something nice in return. Like another drawing on his bandana. Or a pat on the head. Or Momoshiro will wash the plate the cake has been sitting on (with his tongue). Or perhaps he will go running with Kaidoh.

Hah, yeah right. Like that will ever happen.

Momoshiro scoots a bit closer once more, this time his stomach is pressing up against the edge of the crate, as well as the plate, and moves the plate further towards Kaidoh by sheer coincidence. "Please?" he asks very, _very_ nicely.

Kaidoh huffs. Stupid Momoshiro. It's impossible to say no to him when he's acting all plaintive and helpless like this. It gets under Kaidoh's skin the same way a lost puppy or hungry kitten would. Like Momoshiro is also some small and needy animal he has to help out. It's totally idiotic.

With a heavy sigh, Kaidoh picks up the chopsticks again and cuts off a new piece of the cake, this time with a big red strawberry embedded in the slice, and holds it out in front of Momoshiro's mouth. He'd better not complain this time or Kaidoh really will just fling it at Momoshiro's nose.

This time—after inspecting it with a watchful eye—Momoshiro bends forwards and opens up his mouth. Then he chomps down on the chopsticks and wraps his entire mouth around the piece of cake. He slides it away from the chopsticks and he leans back, happily chewing on the delicious fluffy cake with strawberry in it. The strawberries really are delicious, they're very fresh and sweet. Perhaps that's Kaidoh's superpower; to grow good fruit on a deserted island. Yeah, he can have Fruitman as his superhero name. Or perhaps Peachmanchan, since Momoshiro was already Burgerman. He chuckles at his own childish thoughts before he swallows and looks back up at Kaidoh again, absolutely brimming with happiness.

More. Cake. _Now._

Kaidoh rolls his eyes, because Momoshiro makes the most ridiculous faces over food, and they're especially ridiculous right now, and this whole situation is totally bizarre anyway, but for some reason, his chopsticks start reaching for another slice of the cake before Kaidoh's able to stop himself. What the hell? Well, fine. Whatever. One more piece. _Just_ one.

"Idiot," Kaidoh says with a long-suffering breath, as he holds the chopsticks out once more. This time he's pretty sure his cheeks have gone a little pink. Momoshiro needs to stop looking so damn ecstatic about cake.

Eagerly Momoshiro bites the piece off and even makes a satisfied hum at being fed by Kaidoh. Or because the cake is nice. Or possibly both. Probably.

Either way, Momoshiro is happy that Kaidoh is keeping true to his word (and being manipulated by his awesome superpower, he wonders what else he can make Kaidoh do with it, perhaps strip and dance with only underwear on, and shouting some sort of voodoo curse), so he's feeling pretty relaxed right now. Enough to move away from his original position, until he's seated right next to Kaidoh instead. He looks at him with a happy wide smile, then he pokes his elbow into Kaidoh's side to get him to continue feeding him cake.

It's some kind of bizarre dream to Momoshiro. Well, it probably had been some kind of dream at one point, he vaguely remembers dreaming about Kaidoh wearing a maid outfit, and feeding him hamburgers while he was lying on some weird bed. Of course, he has never told Kaidoh about this, mostly because it's mortifying to have dreamt of Kaidoh in the first place, and even more embarrassing that Momoshiro was dreaming about him in such a way. But now he doesn't need to dream.

Now he's here, next to Kaidoh, being fed strawberry cake, and he's wide awake. For some reason, that makes something else settle in his stomach that isn't hunger. It's a comforting kind of feeling, one that Momoshiro doesn't mind at all.

Momoshiro's mouth parts open; ready for the next batch of cake.

Kaidoh should probably stop. He doesn't want to give Momoshiro some weird idea like he can get Kaidoh to do whatever he wants … But it wouldn't just be an idea. It's pretty much the truth—Kaidoh will do whatever Momoshiro wants. It's annoying, and, currently, embarrassing, but it's not really something he can turn off. He can't stop himself; it's like his hand is on autopilot and just keeps moving on its own volition, its only thought to stuff more cake into Momoshiro's waiting mouth.

And it's not just his hand, Kaidoh isn't completely innocent either. He is kind of enjoying just sitting there watching Momoshiro eat, his face lighting up with each bite. It makes something swim around in Kaidoh's chest, which he hopes isn't a fish … some weird fish with a fetish for watching Momoshiro happily eat things …

Ew. That would be disgusting.

But Kaidoh feels kind of disgusting as it is, for liking this, because he shouldn't. He should feel annoyed that Momoshiro is sitting there like a lazy idiot who can't even feed himself. And sure, Kaidoh still looks annoyed enough, grumpy scowl still curling slightly at his lips, but it's just keeping up appearances. He doesn't feel very irritated at all anymore. It's like Momoshiro's smile has some weird power over him, making it impossible for Kaidoh to stay angry about anything, and making him instead just want to do nice things for Momoshiro. All the time.

Well, maybe not _all_ the time. For instance, he's not going to feed Momoshiro the rest of this entire cake. No one needs to eat that much all at once, he thinks. Although Kaidoh is fairly certain that Momoshiro could. He looks at Momoshiro—which is not hard, considering he hasn't really _stopped_ looking at him—and then back at the remaining cake. It looks like way more than Kaidoh would ever want to eat, but Momoshiro still seems to be eager for more, so Kaidoh picks up another piece and holds it in front of Momoshiro's face, like he's spoon-feeding a baby.

The more cake Momoshiro swallows down, the more elated he gets. It feels kind of like his birthday again, when Kaidoh kept doing things for him. Making him things. Yeah, it feels like that time.

Momoshiro gently grabs Kaidoh's wrist to steady his hand as he pulls it closer to his face to tear off the piece of cake. His eyes are locked onto Kaidoh's though, they're sparkling with mischievousness; he's having fun with this. His tongue rolls over the fluffy cake inside of his mouth and he pulls himself away from the fancy chopsticks (courtesy of Atobe's cruiseship). He gives a short laugh at Kaidoh, feeling satisfied with himself, before he chews, then swallows. Momoshiro licks his lips to get a few lost crumbs. Each bite tastes better than the previous one. Maybe it's because the hut is heating up with a cozy atmosphere, and Kaidoh's not looking so grumpy anymore, or perhaps it's the faint sweet smell of his sweat still lingering in the air.

Either way, it's making Momoshiro as giddy as he was last week, when they were being stupid and drew on some things together. That was a very nice day.

The hand that is still holding Kaidoh's wrist, slides away, before his fingers start prying the chopsticks from Kaidoh's hand, until he's got a hold of them himself. Momoshiro flips them over so that they're resting between his finger like they belong there. He smirks at Kaidoh.

"Guess I should give you your part of the share, huh." Momoshiro quickly grabs a small piece (with half a strawberry in it) from the plate, and hovers it in front of Kaidoh's mouth.

"Now, say _aaaaa_, Mamushi," says Momoshiro. He snickers.

Kaidoh narrows his eyes at the cake and the chopsticks, so much that his eyes cross, and then his lips pull into a tight scowl as he looks accusingly at Momoshiro instead. What the hell, he didn't agree to this part!

"No," he grumbles, barely parting his lips as he does—because he doesn't want to give Momoshiro an invitation to shove food in his mouth. Unlike Momoshiro, Kaidoh isn't a lazy dumbass, and is perfectly capable of feeding himself. And anyway, he already ate some of the cake earlier—and will admit that it was actually pretty good. Momoshiro should be pleased enough with that since Kaidoh doesn't make a habit of eating sweets very often.

"Just once!" Momoshiro moves the chopsticks closer until it's almost pressing against Kaidoh's lips.

Kaidoh firmly shakes his head, because arguing the point verbally would mean opening his mouth and that's dangerous.

"Pleeeaaase."

Kaidoh huffs out an annoyed breath through his nose. Stop looking at him like that! He's trying to be stubborn here.

Momoshiro circles the cake around Kaidoh's face, making a pleasant humming sound with a smile. "You know you want to eat it."

Kaidoh's fingers clench into a fist and he raises it in an empty last-ditch kind of threat. He can feel his resolve breaking. Stupid idiot. Stop smiling.

Finally, he rolls his eyes and lets his mouth fall open. "Dumbass," he says, which, more and more, has become less of an insult and simply Kaidoh's grumpy and reluctant way of admitting defeat.

Happily, Momoshiro gently pushes the cake into Kaidoh's mouth, nodding his head approvingly. "That's my Kaoru-chan," he jokes.

"Fuck off," Kaidoh retorts automatically, but his voice sounds ineffectual and muffled because his mouth is suddenly full of cake. He pulls away from the set of chopsticks so he can chew and swallow politely, somehow still managing to grimace as he does.

Momoshiro pats Kaidoh's head like a good dog. This superpower is _awesome_. He wonders what else he can make Kaidoh do. But first things first, he must reward the dog! Kaidoh's hand is already pulled into a fist and he's ready to knock Momoshiro's hand away from his head, before Momoshiro grabs his wrist (chopsticks falling down on the plate), and he eagerly puckers out his lips to press them against Kaidoh's. He licks off a few lost crumbs before he pulls back and grins at Kaidoh again. That's his reward. He better like it.

"My turn again!" Momoshiro sits with his hands in his lap, eyes wide and excited. His heart is thumping excitedly too.

Sure, Momoshiro may still have cake on the brain, but Kaidoh suddenly has other ideas. Momoshiro can't just … _do that_ and get away with it, brush it off and go back to happily demanding to be fed.

Kaidoh lets out a determined little growl and surges forward against Momoshiro's mouth, like it's some kind of retribution, as though he can recover some shred of the dignity he just lost by … doing something completely undignified like kiss Momoshiro sloppily on the lips.

That was something Momoshiro didn't expect, much less prepare himself for, so he almost falls backwards with the amount of force Kaidoh crashes against his mouth. He lets out a muffled breath against Kaidoh's face, which is trying to dominate him or something, because Kaidoh's suddenly angry.

But what about the cake …

Momoshiro spends a whole three seconds contemplating whether to pull away and reach for the cake, or to shove Kaidoh down on the floor and perhaps ravish him. Which sounds gross.

_But the caaaake._ It's sitting there, staring at him, and he was going to eat it. But suddenly Kaidoh's lips get more demanding, screaming for all of Momoshiro's attention, and his appetite disappears, replaced with a more urgent feeling. So Momoshiro pushes back against Kaidoh, mouth pressing down hard on him, and he sucks off all of the last crumbs of cake that were stuck to Kaidoh's lips. Then he slows down, pulling away from Kaidoh, and he looks at him while he takes in a deep breath.

"You're still feeding me the rest of it later," he says in an exasperated voice.

"Whatever," Kaidoh says dismissively, because he couldn't care less about the stupid cake right now, but agreeing seems to be a good way to shut Momoshiro up, which is all Kaidoh is really concerned with at the moment.

He grabs the front of Momoshiro's shirt—yes, right over the peach he drew on it—and pulls until he can feel Momoshiro's mouth against his again. _This_ is, after all, the _best_ way to get Momoshiro to shut up. He pushes his lips against Momoshiro's, hard, like he wants to bruise them, and he kind of does, because he feels like he has all this energy all of a sudden and doesn't really know how best to direct it so it's just pouring out of him all at once.

It's coming out in his hands too, which are now both gripping Momoshiro's shirt, one still at the front and the other tugging at the hem, not hard enough to tear it, or even stretch it out of shape, but firm enough that Momoshiro can't pull back this time or get away. Kaidoh makes this weird, low, almost possessive noise against Momoshiro's lips and sucks at them harder, because he's tired of Momoshiro being the only one in control; not that he feels very in control himself at the moment. But he's pretty sure he's not the only one.

Momoshiro is still having fun though, he can feel how much Kaidoh wants this, or perhaps he _needs_ this. And that's such a power trip to him, that Kaidoh wants to do all these things with him, or to him, or both. And yeah, Momoshiro wants it too, his lips exerting as much force as Kaidoh's are, and sucking as hard as he is. He'll never let him gain any sort of dominance over him. That's Momoshiro's superpower; to get Kaidoh to do anything for him. To make him go along with whatever he's suggesting.

What else can he make Kaidoh do?

Momoshiro smiles against Kaidoh's lips, before he licks them with his tongue. Open Sesame.

And just like a key into a lock, Kaidoh's lips part and he sucks Momoshiro's tongue into his mouth, feeling it slide past his teeth, warm and familiar. It's a feeling he thinks he'll never quite get used to, but one that he also never wants to forget. It doesn't slow his pace down any though, as he moves his own tongue back against Momoshiro's, rough and needy, but also determined. There's no real rhythm to it, not yet. He's just doing what comes naturally, which at the moment seems to be to try and suck Momoshiro's face clean off, but it's not like Kaidoh can help himself. He's all hopped up on irritation and adrenaline, and besides that, he didn't finish his run so he's got all this extra energy to burn, and right now, this seems like a much better alternative to running anyway.

His fingers curl into Momoshiro's shirt and he inhales sharply through his nose, so that he's got Momoshiro invading all his senses at once. It's making him a little light-headed so he presses himself more firmly against Momoshiro, like the solid weight will help to keep him grounded, because Kaidoh isn't ready to let go and yield to this. He doesn't want to give up his already tenuous grip on the situation, not if it means giving Momoshiro the upper hand.

There was a plan in there, somewhere, in between the licking, and then the sucking, but Momoshiro lost track of what he was doing as soon as Kaidoh uses his own superpower on Momoshiro instead. That demanding tongue, all that sucking, he's missed it. He's missed being rough like this with Kaidoh—they hadn't been like this ever since a few days after the storm hit. And back then, it was interrupted by fish.

Well, there are no fish in their surroundings right now.

Not that Momoshiro would have paid attention to it, but Kaidoh's got some weird fish phobia that would make him squeal and pull away. Luckily, that wouldn't happen now. They can do whatever they like without being interrupted this time, and Momoshiro's stomach is also a bit satisfied with cake for the moment (he still wants more though). All that's left is focus on Kaidoh trying to gain the upper hand, he's sucking at his lips and on his tongue so hard, Momoshiro just feels all the blood rushing to it. Is it possible to get a hickey on one's tongue? Not that Momoshiro wants to find out … so he simply retreats his tongue and then charges back in with full force, colliding with Kaidoh's. If it's dominance he wants, he'll have to fight him over it.

And fights always escalate. Momoshiro can't sit still when Kaidoh's like this, when he's feeling so pumped all of a sudden. He's still not used to it, doing this thing with Kaidoh, but it feels like something he's always wanted—and all he ever wants right now. He's not going to question it. Instead, he pushes his hand against Kaidoh's chest, trying to push him down onto the floor, but he's resisting. Asshole.

So instead, Momoshiro wants to pull away so he can drag Kaidoh to the floor with him, but _again_, Kaidoh's grip on his shirt is tight and he's not letting Momoshiro escape those powerful sucking lips. Seriously, what an asshole.

He sucks Kaidoh's tongue into his own mouth, then bites down on it, hard. There.

Kaidoh hisses into Momoshiro's mouth, breath hitched and annoyed, and his knuckles dig into Momoshiro's side, like he's trying to punch him while still clutching the bottom of his shirt. He pulls back, glaring, and then shoves forward against Momoshiro with his other hand, right at the center of Momoshiro's chest, and finds that Momoshiro doesn't put up much of a fight, like he was waiting for Kaidoh to do that. Like he'd planned for it. It kind of pisses Kaidoh off, so he starts to pull instead, and that, in contrast, seems to catch Momoshiro off guard, which satisfies Kaidoh and makes his pulse race faster. He wants to find more ways to do that.

He keeps pulling until he's back against the rug, with Momoshiro pulled down on top of him, his shoulder bumping against the crate's edge. They're still right next to the table, which could get dangerous if they move too much—Kaidoh doesn't really like the idea of sending the cake flying and splattering all over the both of them. In fact, it's a pretty annoying thought, but a fleeting one, because right now Kaidoh's got Momoshiro against him, face close to his once more, and he sort of forgets to be angry about anything, or even think at all.

Instead, he just smashes his mouth against Momoshiro's, feeling liquid heat coursing through his veins as he does. That light-headed feeling is only intensifying, and it's beginning to feel futile to try and struggle against it, so Kaidoh simply goes with it, accepts that this is not something he's going to be able to control and it's probably better that way. And whatever, he thinks he made his point. His hands untwist from the fabric of Momoshiro's shirt and slide up and around Momoshiro's shoulders, so they're still pressed up against him but not quite so intense or demanding.

His mouth however, is, refusing to part from Momoshiro's, even to breathe. Or at least that's how he feels; like separating or stopping is unthinkable.

One way or another, Momoshiro got what he wanted; Kaidoh on the floor, and him on top. Sort of. It's a bit awkward, and uncomfortable (his elbow is hitting the crate too), but he doesn't pay it much attention. Not when Kaidoh's demanding he pay full attention to him, and Momoshiro does without putting up much of a fight. It's not like Momoshiro can control this either … he can vaguely remember something about superpowers, but that thought shoots right out of his mind as Kaidoh rolls his tongue against him, and he's digging his nails into his shoulders.

Aah, whatever, Momoshiro doesn't care anymore. He's been waiting for this. Waiting for weeks.

It really does feel like he's been waiting for weeks, like all of those uncontrollable urges are simply oozing out of him, and they've been building up all this time. Momoshiro blames Kaidoh, it's all his fault, for making him feel like this, for making him want this, for making his lips respond to Kaidoh's, and it moves with ease, with familiarity. Well, maybe that's because they _have_ done this before, and it's becoming like this … this .. _thing_. And Momoshiro won't object to that, in fact, he wants this to become a thing. A frequent thing. Kaidoh kissing him and squirming underneath his body is their thing, and Momoshiro can't get enough of it.

That giddy mood he had been in just a few minutes ago, has now vanished, and Momoshiro is left feeling energized, sort of agitated, and his skin feels tingly all over. It always does when Kaidoh kisses him, or when they start touching each other like this.

Momoshiro really likes the touching.

He's always been a touchy feely guy. Kaidoh has never been that guy. So to be able to do these things with him, such as sucking his lips, biting at them, playing with his wet and hot tongue, moving his hand up under his shirt and feeling the warm skin of his chest—all of those things, they're making Momoshiro kind of stir crazy. He still can't believe Kaidoh is letting him do this. Not only is he letting him, he's encouraging him, what with keeping him close and not letting him go, and demanding attention.

Of course Momoshiro will give that attention … it is not possible for him to reject Kaidoh's request. Kaidoh might not know it, but Momoshiro will probably do anything Kaidoh asks him of him. He's just never found out about this, because Kaidoh isn't the one to make requests. But when they're like this, writhing on the wooden floor of the hut, skin against skin, normal behaviour kind of goes out the window. Momoshiro is in fact, kissing Kaidoh, and Kaidoh wants him to.

Where did all these needs and wants suddenly come from anyway? Momoshiro tries not to think about it—Kaidoh's nails are distracting him, and his tongue is just making him shiver all over—because that would mean getting to the bottom of this thing. He'd rather the thing stay a thing, and it'll be their thing, and it'll never be spoken of, or thought of.

Not that Momoshiro can keep himself from thinking of it … it's pretty much on his mind every day. Or every time he sees Kaidoh. He can't stop wanting to touch him, to feel him, and that very important detail: Kaidoh wants it all too.

There's no denying that. Not when their faces are smashing against each other like they're two stupid bulls charging at each other, and they can only see their target. That being either to break their skulls, or to suck off their faces. Kaidoh seems to be doing that anyway, and Momoshiro responds, just as hungry, just as needy.

Momoshiro finally pulls away from Kaidoh's lips. His own lips feel abused and sore, and they're throbbing with blood and other good sensations. Kaidoh always makes him feel good. He's straddling Kaidoh's waist, and simply looks at him for a second or two, taking in that rare expression Kaidoh wears on his face whenever they do this. That worn down needy and vulnerable face. Momoshiro likes it, he likes it very much.

Before he knows it, Momoshiro is brushing his hand against Kaidoh's cheek, until he cups it, almost tenderly. Just looking at him still, seeing those dark eyes that are staring straight back at him, telling him to get over himself and kiss him already. Momoshiro smirks, and he leans down and pushes his lips onto Kaidoh's again, forcing a growl out of Kaidoh's throat. It makes all the hairs stand up straight on his neck and arms; Kaidoh's noises always make him feel strangely exhilarated. He would like to hear more of that. He moves away from Kaidoh's lips—almost regretting it because seriously, he cannot get enough of them—and moves his head to the side, and kisses Kaidoh's delicate neck. The skin is always so soft there. He sucks for a little bit, then lets go, and plants another kiss, lower this time.

And another one, on his collarbone.

Then lower ... and lower. And Kaidoh's shirt is in the way.

Momoshiro grunts in irritation, and he starts tugging at the hem of Kaidoh's shirt to take it off. He hits his elbow on the crate next to him and he yelps in pain. The plate of cake wobbles dangerously near the edge.

"Fuck," curses Momoshiro. Then he picks himself up, pulling away completely from Kaidoh. He stands tall and determined.

"Get up," he tells Kaidoh to do. He walks back a few paces until he's standing on his bed, then beckons Kaidoh to come as well. Better this than another splinter in his back. Or elbow.

Kaidoh blinks up at Momoshiro, kind of dazed and dumbstruck. And also annoyed, because the heat and pressure of Momoshiro's insistent lips is gone and Kaidoh wants it back. As soon as possible. It's all he wants. But his body's not cooperating, it's temporarily short-circuited, and it takes him a moment to pull himself together and react, but when he does, he moves fast, because any space between them, any time that passes with them not pulled close against each other, would mean time to let the reality of the situation sink in, and that's not something Kaidoh's willing to allow. It's all feeling too good and right and this is no time to think about what they're doing. This is no time for second-guessing any of it.

He makes a disgruntled growl, pulls himself off the floor, and doesn't waste any time getting over to Momoshiro on the bed and attacking him with his mouth again. His arms snake up around Momoshiro's body, under his shirt, his fingertips pressing desperate patterns into Momoshiro's skin, his nails scraping up along Momoshiro's back.

He feels like he's making up for lost time, like that twenty second gap just now was far too long for them to be apart. But really, he's been wanting to do this for much longer. For days, weeks. Maybe years, really. He just needed a push to get him going. And Momoshiro has always been able to push Kaidoh in just the right way. It's like Momoshiro is poking at a hornet's nest and it's making Kaidoh buzz all over, and feel kind of angry too like he wants to sting at him. But Kaidoh doesn't have any venom to sting with, so he'll have to settle for biting at Momoshiro's lips instead. It seems just as effective, making Momoshiro's body tense and his breath come out in little gasps against Kaidoh's mouth. He really can't get enough of it.

It's a rush like Kaidoh's never known before, making things spark inside of him in ways he never feels really prepared for. But then, there's no way to prepare for this. Kaidoh's never really been ready for the way Momoshiro always makes him feel. It caught him by surprise the first time; it still does.

His hands find their way back up to Momoshiro's shoulders and he pushes at them, his teeth tugging at Momoshiro's bottom lip at the same time and it doesn't take long for him to get his point across, or maybe it was Momoshiro's idea, too.

But however it comes about, soon they're both down on the bed, and Kaidoh's hands have dropped to Momoshiro's hips now, pulling Momoshiro into his lap, keeping his face close so he can keep kissing him, his lips violent and insatiable. And Momoshiro is meeting Kaidoh, point for point, not yielding any ground. He's going along with all of it. Or maybe he's leading all of it. Or maybe they're simply falling into sync with each other and it doesn't matter who started it anymore or who's really in control.

That doesn't stop Kaidoh from being demanding and determined. He's sitting back against his heels on the bed, with Momoshiro crushed against him, and he's not going to accept that he has no hold on this thing anymore. Not without a fight. He won't be content to just let it happen, and Momoshiro knows that. His own self-control may have flown out the window by now, but Kaidoh still knows ways to control Momoshiro, ways to make him lose control too.

His mouth swipes against Momoshiro's lips and along the side of his face until it reaches Momoshiro's neck, and Kaidoh sucks hard just over the pulse point there, feeling it thump against his lips, very nearly in time with his own. He hears Momoshiro, sharp against his ear, a sound that's totally unintelligible but it's probably the best thing Kaidoh's heard all week, and he wants to find ways to make Momoshiro make more sounds like that, file them away for future reference, like he's compiling data on him. But unlike Inui-senpai, Kaidoh doesn't need to write any of it down. It's all muscle memory. There's no way he'd forget any of it.

Momoshiro blinks in and out of consciousness for a few seconds, the sensation of Kaidoh's lips sucking on his neck overwhelming him to a point where he can't do anything but take it. He twists his hands into Kaidoh's shirt, grabbing hold of him; he feels like he'll fall off the end of the world if he doesn't. These needy little gasps are coming up out of his throat as Kaidoh continues to work on his very sensitive neck.

They're embarrassing sounds, and Momoshiro _feels_ embarrassed too by the way Kaidoh is controlling all of these sensations.

It's like he's found out the way Momoshiro works—something which he didn't even know himself—and now he's taking full advantage of that fact. Momoshiro simply hangs on, hands still gripping on Kaidoh's shirt, and he rests his head against the side of Kaidoh's ear. It's all he can do at the moment, he's a bit out of order with the way Kaidoh's insistent mouth is trying to create some kind of vortex on his neck. The suction is driving him mad, but it's probably the best feeling in the world.

Well, pretty much anything Kaidoh does to him right now feels like the best thing in the world. And right now, Momoshiro is running too much on instinct to be able to think about this clearly. Kaidoh sucked away the last shreds of his working mind.

Momoshiro can feel Kaidoh releasing his strong hold on his neck, and Kaidoh's breath hits the sore and throbbing spot, it feels nice. He drawls out a sigh against Kaidoh's ear before he darts out his tongue and licks the tip of it. He releases his hands from the strong grip on Kaidoh's shirt, and moves one hand up, around the back of Kaidoh's neck, and he pushes their heads closer before he scratches Kaidoh's neck as well. It earns him a low grunt from Kaidoh, and suddenly Momoshiro feels rejuvenated, as if Kaidoh's breaths are like CPR to him and they're bringing him back to his senses, back to being alive.

Yeah, he really has never felt so alive before. With all these impulses running and zapping through him like a storm. And it's all because of Kaidoh.

This is really something he can't fight anymore. Not that Momoshiro was able to in the first place. Once it started, it just had its own mind, and now they're here, in their hut, on Momoshiro's bed, panting and sucking and doing whatever the hell they feel like.

Momoshiro feels like doing everything to Kaidoh. But mostly he just wants to feel his burning skin collide with his—it's like this sudden need he's gotten. Like a fire that keeps growing hotter, and Kaidoh's skin provides relief. Which isn't true at all, because when his fingertips brush against the back of Kaidoh's neck, they feel all tingly like they've been burned. Everything does.

Then Kaidoh's mouth returns, wet and hard on his neck, and Momoshiro gasps for air as he feels Kaidoh sucking on it hard, as hard as he can, like he's trying to bruise it, and he probably is. Momoshiro claws at the back of Kaidoh's head, tearing off his stupid bandana and lets it fall to the side, so he has access to Kaidoh's hair. His fingers get lost in it, and they move around his head, until he pulls at it when his neck gets overbearing again, and Momoshiro feels like he needs something to hold onto.

Not only is Kaidoh using his mouth to attack Momoshiro, his hands aren't standing still either, wandering over his back and scratching him wherever he can. Momoshiro had no idea he would have liked something like this, but he does. He never thought he would have liked _any_ of this, but his body is responding to everything Kaidoh does, like he's been wanting it all this time.

Kaidoh's arms around him feel secure and warm, and his nails simply spur him on, and it's making his body move against his own will. Momoshiro pushes himself forwards, hips sliding across Kaidoh's, something which makes him shudder in relief. All this tension that's building up, the only way to relieve it is to keep moving with Kaidoh. To not let go, and touch him everywhere he can.

Not that Momoshiro wants to let go in the first place.

Quite the opposite; he wants Kaidoh closer, he doesn't want to be separated from him at all. Kaidoh just feels too good, and the things he's doing to him feel even more amazing.

The other hand that isn't busy pulling at Kaidoh's hair, is resting at Kaidoh's side, and Momoshiro decides it's time to slip it under Kaidoh's shirt. His fingers trail over the bumps of Kaidoh's ribs, and he moves it to the center of his chest, then sets his nails against it, pressing them into the warm skin. In one jerky movement, Momoshiro drags his nails down, from his chest all the way down to his hips. Kaidoh takes a break from abusing Momoshiro's neck to hiss in response.

Momoshiro is loving this.

No matter what Kaidoh does to him, Momoshiro will find ways to get back at him, to make him feel those same things. To make him feel like he can't do anything else but enjoy the ride.

With a yank on Kaidoh's hair to pull him back, Momoshiro has the chance to look at Kaidoh for a second again. Face pulled into a slight grimace, with his cheeks flushed with a deep red, and his lips parted open, breathing for air; he doesn't look much different from Momoshiro himself. It doesn't take more than a second for Momoshiro to smash his mouth against Kaidoh's again. He needs this. He really does. Kaidoh really is his oxygen.

All of this still feels unreal to Momoshiro. Like it's some kind of dream, some kind of fantasy he's having that involves kissing Kaidoh and doing unthinkable things to him. But there he is, angrily sucking in Kaidoh's tongue and keeping it in his mouth like it's his property, as if it belongs there. His hands are busy scratching Kaidoh's chest and the back of his neck. Kaidoh is busy doing the same thing, and he's pulling Momoshiro closer to him, so he can't escape.

Momoshiro doesn't want to escape, of course not. Not when there's a growing hot urge stuck in his shorts, and Kaidoh's being an asshole, because he's ignoring it. Momoshiro shoves his hips into Kaidoh's waist, so the hardness presses up against his abdomen. He sighs against Kaidoh's mouth as the contact feels like sizzling electricity sparking him everywhere.

Their mouths keep pulling back and smacking together again and again. Like they're trying to see who will back down and quit, or perhaps it's because it just feels really good. Each time they're back, their tongues collide, hot, wet, and sort of slippery and sloppy. But Momoshiro doesn't care. They're rough and not precise, and he sort of likes that part about Kaidoh.

He sort of likes all parts of Kaidoh.

What he doesn't like is that his shirt is still on. This time Momoshiro pulls away without coming back to Kaidoh's mouth, and he pushes himself away a bit from Kaidoh's waist. His hands are now resting against Kaidoh's chest, falling down onto his lap, as he takes in deep breaths to calm himself down a little bit.

He looks at Kaidoh, and Kaidoh looks back at him. This feels like a connection only they know, and Momoshiro wants to press them back together again, but he's got other ideas.

First, Momoshiro pulls his hands away and he reaches for the edge of his own shirt, the one Kaidoh scribbled a peach on not too long ago. He yanks it over his own head and drops it somewhere behind him. His skin feels hot and it's glowing red, there's even streaks of scratches that Kaidoh caused not too long ago. Then his hands grab Kaidoh's shirt, and he pulls it up, slower than he did with himself, and Kaidoh obliges this time, lifting up his arms so Momoshiro can finally take it off. The shirt slides across his hot skin before it's thrown away.

His bare hand presses up against Kaidoh's naked chest, pushing him up against the wall, and he's sitting there, breathing, staring at Momoshiro. Momoshiro stares right back at him, breathing in just as hard, just as needy and crazy.

They both move—it's not clear who moves first—and they're back, lips sucking and teeth biting, hands moving all over their naked chests as if its their lifeline. Momoshiro feels like there's too much blood rushing to his head; this feels fucking fantastic. It's probably better than the first time. When his body jerks and twitches as Kaidoh scratches the front of his chest, he concludes it _is_ better than the first time. He moans right into Kaidoh's mouth; he can't control the way his body reacts to all this pleasure. To all the things Kaidoh is making him feel. He wants to feel this all the time, every day. Momoshiro wraps his arms around Kaidoh's neck, and their naked hot chests finally meet up. He can feel Kaidoh's wild heartbeat against him, and wonders if Kaidoh can hears his too.

The satisfying beat of Kaidoh's heart feels very comforting, like Momoshiro can't stop listening to it. Because it's _Kaidoh's_, and it's going just as fast as his own. Kaidoh's feeling everything he's feeling. Kaidoh's doing everything he's doing. Kaidoh's just there, doing all these things, with _him_. Like some bizarre fantasy shared between them.

It's kind of amazing that they're in this moment, that they're doing this. Kaidoh's kind of amazing too.

Momoshiro closes his eyes as he's in a daze, and briefly parts from Kaidoh's lips so he can suck in another breath (there doesn't seem to be enough air available to him in this hut). And somewhere, along the way, he murmurs out a very low and distinguishable grunt that sounded very much like the first syllable of Kaidoh's name.

When Momoshiro realizes this, he tenses up and his eyes fly open and his face turns a deep red. His heart sinks to the bottom of his stomach.

Kaidoh heard that too—it's sort of hard not to, since everything else they're doing is completely nonverbal. And Kaidoh has memorized what his name sounds like when Momoshiro starts to say it, would recognize it instantly, although it's never sounded quite like this, like it was pulled out of Momoshiro's throat by some unknown force, punctuating their ragged breathing, and embarrassing, incoherent noises like a bolt of lightning in the middle of a storm. It startles Kaidoh just as much as lightning would; frightens him a little, too.

It makes him stop moving, makes his mind click into gear and start spinning.

And then it's too late, because Kaidoh has acknowledged it, can't unhear it. It's pounding in his eardrums on a continuous loop. He can feel Momoshiro rigid against him, and when Kaidoh's eyelids flutter open, he can see Momoshiro staring back at him, with this look Kaidoh's rarely seen him wear, like he's embarrassed or guilty. Momoshiro is usually so stupidly shameless that _this_ catches Kaidoh off-guard, and it's very similar to that face Momoshiro had the very first time this happened, and that makes Kaidoh's chest clench up with nervousness and sends his mind into a frenzy.

But he's not going to let Momoshiro run this time. Instead he grabs onto Momoshiro's arm with his hand, his fingers digging into it, holding Momoshiro there, keeping him in the moment. He raises his other hand from Momoshiro's chest, pulled tightly now into a fist, and bumps his knuckles into Momoshiro's cheek. It's gentle, but Kaidoh's eyes are not. There's still fire there, and Kaidoh's come too far to let Momoshiro chicken out. Or worse—make Kaidoh want to chicken out. The longer they sit here, stalled out and staring at each other, the more Kaidoh's own face heats up, the more aware he becomes of what they're doing, of how exposed he is, of how it all makes him feel. And fuck that, _aware_ is the last thing Kaidoh needs to be. He just wants to do it. Feel it, not analyze it.

_Snap out of it_, he wants to say. Or snap back _into_ it, maybe. Stop thinking. He narrows his eyes at Momoshiro like he's challenging him, challenging himself. _Is that all you've got? Are you going to back down?_

"Shut up," Kaidoh tells him finally, voice crackling out like he's forgotten how to say words. He hisses, opening his fist against Momoshiro's face and letting his fingers trail down until they're curled around Momoshiro's neck. He presses the tips of his fingers into Momoshiro's soft skin and then leans forward, smashing his lips against Momoshiro's mouth, hard, like he's trying to punch him with his face. Well, maybe he is. Because that's just how they work. Fighting makes everything easier.

Momoshiro winces in pain and growls before he pulls back. His embarrassment turns to anger and he glares at Kaidoh, though it looks very ineffective with his flaming red cheeks.

"Fuck you," he says. Then before Kaidoh can retort back, before this entire thing can be interrupted, he rushes back to claim Kaidoh's lips. Angry, agitated, and now he wants it even more.

The fact that he managed to say the first part of Kaidoh's name still lingers in the back of his mind, and it's making Momoshiro a lot more self conscious about everything. He tries not to think about it, but Kaidoh heard it, and Momoshiro knows he said it as well. Like he let slip out a dirty secret. Fuck.

To get his mind off of it, to try and continue like nothing else matters and there's nothing stopping them, Momoshiro simply bites Kaidoh's lips raw. It probably hurts, but he doesn't care. The more it hurts, the less he'll think, then he can forget he ever said anything. Stupid Kaidoh. He's making him do stupid things, making him feel the weirdest things, and experience the strangest impulses. Kaidoh's grip on his arm is firm and strong, he's not letting Momoshiro go, and it's not like he wants to anyway. But he can't get rid of the image in his head, the way Kaidoh's name slipped out of his throat, like his most embarrassing secret.

Momoshiro sinks his teeth into Kaidoh's bottom lip once more, tugging at it angrily. This is all Kaidoh's fault. Why can he make Momoshiro do all this? To _want_ to do it all?

His teeth leave Kaidoh's lips alone, sliding his mouth to the left, until he's resting his face into the crook of Kaidoh's neck. Momoshiro still feels angry, and for some reason, he's still blushing a bit too; the image isn't going away from his mind.

With another sudden burst of anger, Momoshiro opens his mouth and sucks on the side of Kaidoh's neck, feeling a little satisfied when he can feel the snake move against him on instinct. But he doesn't leave it at that, he does what he did the last two times as well; he scrapes his teeth over the skin, before biting down on it completely. And he does it _hard_, as if he's trying to get rid of all his frustration, to get rid of the memory, to make him forget, and more importantly—to make Kaidoh forget he ever said anything.

Kaidoh jerks up against Momoshiro and his voice cuts through the air, short, piercing, and plaintive, almost like a whine. He twists his neck violently, like he's trying to throw Momoshiro off of him, but Momoshiro is like a barnacle clinging onto him, teeth refusing to give up their hold.

And it hurts! Momoshiro is biting Kaidoh pretty fucking hard and it hurts.

But it's also giving Kaidoh this crazy rush, like Momoshiro's teeth are made of sparking electrical wires and they're jolting him with energy and completely frying any semblance of logical thought.

He isn't going to let Momoshiro do that to him without consequences though. He's not going to just sit there and writhe around helplessly like he likes it, although he does and he's pretty sure Momoshiro knows it too, what with the way Kaidoh keeps angrily shoving his body up against Momoshiro's. But he's not powerless against all this stuff Momoshiro is doing to him. He knows how to retaliate. He knows ways to make Momoshiro squirm as well.

Kaidoh's fingers at Momoshiro's neck scratch their way along until they're back behind Momoshiro's head, fingernails swiping long, dangerous lines into the delicate skin between Momoshiro's neck and shoulder blades. He lets out a threatening hiss against the shell of Momoshiro's ear, and then his whole hand twists up into Momoshiro's hair and rests there a moment before his nails scrape back down to the nape of his neck. They don't stop there though, scratching clear down Momoshiro's spine, like he wants to mark him up, like he doesn't want Momoshiro to ever forget about it.

Momoshiro breathes out a sharp hiss against Kaidoh's neck, but refuses to let go, not wanting to lose this weird competition to see who can cause the most pain, and who can withstand the most pain. He's pretty sure Kaidoh scratched him hard enough to bleed, and it stings, it really does, but it also feels like such a wake-up call and adrenaline rush. Like Kaidoh isn't backing down. His face scrunches up in a weird expression as the cold air hits the marks on his back and on his neck; he's definitely bleeding.

Well, fuck you too Kaidoh.

Momoshiro lets go, teeth springing free from the flesh, and he tilts his chin until he finds another spot, free from any teethmarks, and bites down hard in there too. Kaidoh squirms against him, a weird noise emerging from his throat, and in return he scratches the hell out of Momoshiro's back.

This is kind of making Momoshiro feel numb. But numb is good, numb means he doesn't have to think, doesn't need to recap what happened only moments ago. Like it's a secret that can stay buried now, that he won't have to acknowledge. Fuck if he'll do that. He's going to bite Kaidoh everywhere if he has to, just to get rid of the memory. To make Kaidoh think of nothing else but the pain, and their sweaty bodies moving and squirming, and they're out to hurt each other. Kaidoh certainly is, with his sharp nails, drawing blood. So Momoshiro reciprocates, biting harder and sucking until there's a nice purple bruise on the side of Kaidoh's neck.

But that's not all Momoshiro does, his hands are also busy scratching the front of Kaidoh's chest. There. Payback. Asshole.

Momoshiro has no idea why they're suddenly so violent—though he guesses it's because he _is_ angry, and he's trying to forget what he said—and the most mysterious part of it all; this is turning him on. In fact, everything is.

From Kaidoh's loud gasps, to his movements beneath his own body, to the nails digging deep into his skin and scraping all the way down, which is making Momoshiro exhale weird sounds. It's all weird, it's very strange, but nothing they ever did was normal in the first place. Fighting to hurt is their thing, to one-up each other. Momoshiro just never knew it could grow into this weird kink.

When he thinks he's sucked on Kaidoh's neck enough, he leaves it alone. There's bitemarks and a suckmark right next to each other. It looks like it hurts, and this makes Momoshiro smirk in satisfaction.

Kaidoh sighs as Momoshiro pulls back from his neck. It's a funny, trembling sound that might be a noise of relief, or maybe one of disappointment. He smoothes his hand out against Momoshiro's back, no longer scratching—he'll give Momoshiro a respite from that too; fair is fair. He can feel, with some satisfaction, where his nails broke the skin, and he's sure that stings—he hopes it does.

His other hand loosens its death grip on Momoshiro's arm—there doesn't seem to be much cause to worry about him going anywhere anymore—and slides up to his shoulder and then cups Momoshiro's jaw to tilt his face so Kaidoh can look at him. He sees anger flaring in Momoshiro's eyes, and Kaidoh feels that same fire coursing through his own veins, like an insatiable urge. And he can't tell if that urge is one to make Momoshiro hurt, or to simply make him feel good. Or maybe both. Because they're becoming blurred for Kaidoh as well. Everything Momoshiro is doing to him is just making Kaidoh feel really good. For some bizarre reason, he's into it all of it, and he sure as hell doesn't want it to stop.

But he also kind of needs a break. He feels dizzy, his insides feel pressurized, and if Momoshiro bites him again right now, Kaidoh's pretty sure his brain might implode from all the sensations.

So he splays his fingers out over Momoshiro's cheek and then uses them to pulls him close so Kaidoh can press his lips, which feel swollen and abused, against Momoshiro's mouth. It feels like returning to familiar territory, and he sucks at Momoshiro's lips eagerly, because he can't help himself. It's stupid how good it feels.

It _is_ a nice break from the previous scratching and biting, Momoshiro almost feels relieved how soft Kaidoh's lips feel against his. The fingers on his cheek also feel nice, and sort of gentle—they're not scratching him at least. So Momoshiro kisses back, not as angry as before, not putting much force behind it, but the same intensity is still there, after all, Momoshiro likes it.

Momoshiro's little slip up is now already halfway forgotten, memories replaced by feelings that are pounding on his heart's door, demanding attention. Demanding all of it. Kaidoh's doing the demanding, lips pressing against his like he needs Momoshiro, which makes Momoshiro feel like his insides are being thrown around in this weird mixture of wants and needs. Yeah, Momoshiro sort of needs it too, and he shows it in the way his lips won't pull away from Kaidoh. Swiping across the throbbing flesh, then pushing his tongue against it, until Kaidoh's mouth opens up, and they're once more overwhelmed by the feelings of their hot tongues meshing together. Momoshiro can still not quite get used to it, the way it makes him shudder, and lean in closer, the way it's making his breathing act all weird, and his voice keeps making funny noises.

At least Kaidoh's making funny noises too.

And hopefully Momoshiro won't be forming words anytime soon. He doesn't want that to happen again. Nor does he want to be reminded of it.

They might be going slower right now, falling into a steady pace of rubbing their tongues together, then pulling away and sucking at their lips, but it's still making Momoshiro feel like he's on edge. Like his entire body is on fire, and he needs _something_ to help him relieve himself of this annoying and growing urge.

Which is mostly just his hard boner in his pants. It's being ignored.

Momoshiro presses his hips up against Kaidoh's stomach, so that he _can't_ keep ignoring it, and because it feels good to get some sort of stimulation. It's like he's communicating that there's a problem in his pants, and Kaidoh needs to do something about it.

Kaidoh reacts immediately, like it's an instinct, and, well, reacting to Momoshiro kind of is. He rolls his own hips forward, trying to press their bodies closer together, and huffs against Momoshiro's mouth, a little disgruntled, because, really, it's just not enough. With Momoshiro, Kaidoh never can seem to get enough. It's been a fact that's lurked around like a mortifying secret for years, and it's still there, a constant thud in the back of Kaidoh's mind, only now it's turned from mortifying to … kind of exciting.

Everything he does with Momoshiro is exciting, and Kaidoh doesn't want to stop. He wants to do more. The hand at Momoshiro's back slides down to rest at his hip. He grips onto Momoshiro, fingers digging into his skin, urging him to press against him again, closer this time, harder. And when Momoshiro does, when he follows Kaidoh's cue, Kaidoh hisses against Momoshiro's mouth, his lips curling. Then he sucks Momoshiro's bottom lip into his mouth.

He likes this side of Momoshiro, all rough and needy, and what he needs right now seems to be _Kaidoh_, which feels totally unreal and weird, and pretty amazing. And Kaidoh isn't immune either. He loves the friction, the closeness, the sweaty contact. He craves it, needs it. He needs Momoshiro. It's this desperate thing he can't seem to control even if he wanted to. And by the way Momoshiro is pressed so tight against him, Kaidoh's pretty sure he can't control himself either.

Yeah. About that.

Kaidoh's hand leaves Momoshiro's hip and trails along the waistband of his shorts until it stops in front of the prominent bulge at Momoshiro's crotch. Kaidoh lets go of Momoshiro's lip, choosing to attack Momoshiro's tongue instead, pulling it into his mouth with his teeth and swiping his tongue urgently against it.

And then, just as abruptly, he pulls back and locks eyes with Momoshiro, giving him a challenging expression, eyes dark and narrowed. His pulse leaps wildly in his chest, and something fizzles inside of him like the fuse to a bomb. He sucks in a breath, and his cheeks heat up, but can't seem to tear his gaze away. He can't explain why, but he wants to see Momoshiro's face when he does this, like it's somehow important for him to know exactly what he's making Momoshiro feel.

His knuckles press into Momoshiro's stomach as he presses his fingers under the waistband, and then his hand turns over and slides lower, into Momoshiro's shorts, and makes contact with Momoshiro's hot and needy erection.

The contact of Kaidoh's slightly colder skin makes Momoshiro suck in a breath between his lips which he's biting down on, as if this is preventing him from making any other sounds. He looks right back at Kaidoh, feeling like he can't lose, that if he looks away, he'll have lost, and Kaidoh has the upper hand. But it's sort of embarrassing too; Kaidoh can see all the reactions he's drawing out of Momoshiro, and those are kind of … a lot.

From the shivering of his body, to his face heating up with blood, and to his unconscious movements that are pushing himself closer against Kaidoh's hand, his hips moving against his own will. And there are embarrassing—mortifying really—sounds just waiting to burst out of him, but Momoshiro tries hard to keep them in check. He doesn't want to blurt out Kaidoh's name again on accident. But he does whimper like this needy puppy dog who's waiting for his bowl of food. It's disgusting, and Kaidoh should stop looking at him like that.

But Kaidoh's still _staring_ at him, not doing anything but slide his hand over his needy and hard penis, just pulsating with blood. _Move, damnit_. Do something. Stop staring at him, that's embarrassing, it's making his heart race painfully. Without Kaidoh's face to hide behind, he feels so exposed. Momoshiro doesn't want Kaidoh to see him like this, so out of control, so dependent on the friction of Kaidoh's hand, but he can't look away either. He can see Kaidoh too, whose face is just as red and sweaty as his, whose lips are parted and panting for air—but at least he's not the one who is trying to roll his hips against a certain someone's hand.

Momoshiro places his hand on top of Kaidoh's shoulder and grips it tightly, holding onto him and giving him some support, he feels a little lost just sitting on Kaidoh, waiting for him to start. Waiting for him to do something, because damn, he wants him to. He remembers the last time they did this, and while certainly embarrassing afterwards, it was amazing. They had both wanted it, both done it, it was like this weird connection between them that kept them going.

He's done a lot of jerking off to just that memory, and has been secretly wishing it would happen again.

But now it's not a memory anymore, now it's a reality. Kaidoh is here with him again, hand down Momoshiro's pants, and grabbing hold of his penis which twitches in anticipation. Anticipation that has built up for weeks. And now they're finally doing it again, but Kaidoh refuses to do anything but grip his hand around the warm flesh.

_Just move already!_

Momoshiro growls before he bucks his hips forward, causing his erection to slide in Kaidoh's hand. He sighs out in pleasure from the sensation, eyes narrowed and eyebrows furrowed; finally some friction. His grip on Kaidoh's shoulder becomes tighter, he's shaking a bit now, it's overwhelming. He almost closes his eyes to focus on Kaidoh's hand, but then remembers they're holding some sort of staring contest, and he's not going to lose.

He mouths out something wordlessly to Kaidoh with his red lips. He could have said _move_ or _fuck you_, either one probably works. All he wants is for Kaidoh to touch him again, he's almost begging for it. And that's really gross, but Momoshiro can't help it.

Kaidoh's fingers curl around Momoshiro's penis and he twists his wrist as he strokes up at it, pulling it out of Momoshiro's shorts. He keeps staring at Momoshiro, like Momoshiro's reactions are his encouragement. He doesn't need to look down to know what he's doing. He can feel the weight and heat of Momoshiro's erection against his palm as his hand squeezes and pulls, feels Momoshiro's hips thrust a little, pushing the head of his penis against Kaidoh's fingertips.

And Momoshiro's eyes seem to be speaking volumes, suddenly exposed and vulnerable and asking for all kinds of things. The way they look at Kaidoh, widening in surprise, squinting in concentration. The way Momoshiro's cheeks flush and his mouth pulls open to pant out little bursts of air, making dirty little sounds that burn Kaidoh's ears. It's turning Kaidoh on in ways he never expected. He's doing all this to Momoshiro. He's making Momoshiro like this. It's crazy. It's embarrassing too, and Kaidoh keeps fighting the instinct to close his eyes or look away in shame, because now it's like some kind of competition he started and he's not going to break eye contact for anything. He can't be the one to back down.

His fingers slip up over the tip of Momoshiro's penis, feeling it throb meaningfully against his fingertips. He circles the slit, now slick with pre-cum, and Momoshiro shudders out a breath and Kaidoh sees his teeth biting against his lip. He looks desperate and undone. It'll be a hard image for Kaidoh to shake from his mind later, but maybe that's the point, maybe that's why he's staring at Momoshiro in the first place.

He slides his hand back down again, pumping his fingers around the shaft, and starts to move in a building rhythm until the sound of their breaths is joined by the familiar rubbing sound.

Which should be disgusting.

In fact, part of Kaidoh _wants_ to feel disgusted with this, too, because that would be more … normal and excusable, and wouldn't tie Kaidoh's insides up in knots. But he isn't. He likes it. He likes being the one to do this to Momoshiro, and he likes that Momoshiro is letting him.

But just watching Momoshiro is starting to make Kaidoh feel overwhelmed, like he's seeing something he shouldn't, like he's seeing too much. So he lets his gaze drop from Momoshiro's eyes to his mouth, which looks red, swollen, and somehow inviting, and Kaidoh's other hand slides back around Momoshiro's head so he can pull him close and kiss those stupidly tempting lips, feeling Momoshiro's breath puff out, warm, wet, and ragged against him as he does.

And Momoshiro devours Kaidoh in return, glad to not be sitting in front of him anymore, exposed and needy. Now he can close his eyes, and make sure Kaidoh does too, or at least can't see him make any weird faces anymore. He's trembling because Kaidoh just keeps pulling at him, and it was really weird to be staring at each other while he did that. Like he was just jerking him around, both figuratively and literally.

He can't let Kaidoh get away with that, even though he sort of wants him to. He feels like doing nothing at all, and let Kaidoh have his way—because his way feels fantastic. But there's still that instinct buried deep within Momoshiro, the need to compete, the urge to never let Kaidoh be on top. And he guesses it counts for this activity as well.

At least he's literally on top of Kaidoh, that counts for something.

Momoshiro pushes his lips against Kaidoh's, forcing him back up against the wall, and thrusting his hips up so that his penis slides through Kaidoh's tight grip on him. He's seeing stars for a second, and simply gasps for air as he pries his lips away from Kaidoh's. His mind is spinning numbingly fast; every sensation is heightened, and Kaidoh is the one that's doing it. Fingers slipping over the base of his penis, up and then down, becoming slightly wet because Momoshiro is so turned on, he can't help but leak pre-cum all over Kaidoh's hand.

It's really fucking nasty, but Momoshiro can't seem to care at the moment. After all, it's the best fucking feeling in the world, a hundred times better than if he did it alone in the bushes.

But Momoshiro has to do something too. As much as he wants to experience this weird handjob from Kaidoh, and kiss his lips like there's no tomorrow, he feels like he has to give it back to Kaidoh. To make him feel the same things, to have him gasp for air as well, and look needy and writhe against his body. Yes, that's exactly what he wants Kaidoh to do. As his tongue pushes into Kaidoh's mouth to collide with the other wet muscle, his free hand falls into Kaidoh's lap, right on top of the bulge between them. He can feel Kaidoh twitch away, his tongue getting more demanding from him, and the grip on his own penis getting tighter, and the pace faster.

Ah fuck, maybe he _should_ just let Kaidoh get away with it, keep touching him like this—it feels too good. It feels great. Momoshiro slumps his body against Kaidoh's, not leaving him much room to move his hand between them, but he doesn't care, he feels like his energy has left him, there's nothing left in him but suddery breaths. Then Kaidoh continues to play around with his tongue, even sucking it into his own mouth and biting down on it, making Momoshiro hiss and groan. Why does this even feel good?

Why does he even try to rationalize it?

But no, he can't let Kaidoh do everything. He can't enjoy himself without giving something back, because that's what they do. It's what they've always done. Momoshiro finally turns his hand over, his hand cupping Kaidoh through his shorts; it's a little damp. Good, at least he's just as turned on as Momoshiro is. Though Momoshiro is the one who is letting out embarrassing little gasps as Kaidoh pulls at him. He moves back a bit, giving them both room to maneuver around, his tongue sliding out of Kaidoh's mouth, but he coaxes Kaidoh to meet him halfway instead, licking at his lips. When Kaidoh's tongue darts out to touch Momoshiro's, he finally leaves the bulge alone, and slips his hand inside the shorts to finally make contact with Kaidoh's hard penis.

Momoshiro feels empowered when Kaidoh tries to hiss at his fingers slipping around him, but it ends up as a failure, what with his tongue being out and busy with Momoshiro's and all. Good, good, he can draw out reactions from Kaidoh as well.

Then they are finally there, meeting halfway, hands around their erections, and tongues messily slipping up against one another.

Momoshiro tries very hard to control his breathing—or fuck, control _anything_, but it's almost impossible to. Kaidoh's hand just keeps bobbing up and down, the friction driving him absolutely crazy. He starts to work on Kaidoh as well, wrapping his fingers around the shaft tightly, and then he pulls up, his palm gliding up on the glans to spread out Kaidoh's pre-cum so that his hand can slide easier, and easier it becomes. Soon enough, Momoshiro is matching up with Kaidoh's pace, jerking each other off in a sloppy rhythm, but it's a good rhythm.

It's making all of Momoshiro's muscles contract, and relax, and his breath is going haywire. Every sense is magnified just because they're still touching each other with their tongues. Momoshiro would have never known he'd like someone else's tongue like this. Much less like Kaidoh's hand jerking him off, but god does it feel good. He probably won't last long, even though he wants to.

Then Momoshiro pulls back, their tongues finally parting, and his eyelids flutter open; they feel heavy, and he wants to close them again. But he has to look at Kaidoh right now, it's payback. He wants to see his face as he squeezes Kaidoh's penis harder, before he brings his hand down, with his nails scraping along the base of it.

Kaidoh opens his eyes and glares at Momoshiro, his lips pulling into a snarl, but it's hard to look convincingly angry when his face is bright red and the sound that's stripped from his throat when Momoshiro does _that_ sounds like a desperate and wild whine, like he's practically begging Momoshiro to keep going. He doesn't like being this out of control, this dependent on anyone. In fact, he wants to hate it … but he doesn't, because he isn't the only one going crazy here, and that fact is propelling him forward, keeping his hand moving, and his heart from bursting out of his chest from beating too fast.

This is like some kind of silent agreement between the two of them, a secret only they know, and Kaidoh doesn't hate it. Not at all. The needy pulse of energy through his bloodstream is slowly winning out over his mind's excuses and embarrassment, and he stares back at Momoshiro, panting out short, sharp breaths into the thick and heavy air between them, not looking away, not backing down.

He sucks in a sharp breath through his teeth, and his whole body seems to follow the curve of his inhalation, arching up against Momoshiro's hand, and Kaidoh's neck tenses and arches too, and he grimaces, irritated that he can't hide anything from Momoshiro.

It's like Momoshiro knows just how to touch him, just what to do. Even the fact that he's there staring at Kaidoh, eyes dark with the same need Kaidoh's feeling thrumming through him, even the way Momoshiro looks at Kaidoh makes him shiver, makes his penis throb harder and twitch against Momoshiro's fingers. Because Momoshiro doesn't look at anyone else like that. And he definitely doesn't do this with anyone else. This is just for Kaidoh. And Kaidoh's reactions are only for Momoshiro, too. And it will just stay between them, tied up in this moment and never spoken of or acknowledged. It's like a secret they can both block out later, if only to ignore how exposed they both are in this moment. Because ignoring that is the only way they can keep doing this.

But it's getting harder to block out or ignore. Momoshiro is an insistent and pervasive thought in Kaidoh's every waking moment. And that's only going to get worse the more they do this, the more memories Kaidoh has to fill up his mind with, until it's brimming over with Momoshiro. Kaidoh isn't sure what he'll do then. It already feels like so much, like he's _feeling_ so much, and it's coming through now in the way he holds Momoshiro's stare, the way his voice keeps ripping out of him in hitched gasps and low, angry moans, the way his fingers squeeze around Momoshiro's penis and the hand at the back of Momoshiro's neck tangles up into his hair, clinging needily. Everything he feels is out there in the open, Momoshiro's seeing all of it.

And even now, Kaidoh refuses to be the first one to look away. He's going to force Momoshiro to, somehow. He moves his fingers around Momoshiro's penis, wrist twisting as they wind their way from the base and back to the tip, lingering there a moment as his thumb slides over the slit and then his whole hand is moving again, pumping up and down, gaining momentum.

Kaidoh rocks his hips forward, so that his own erection pushes against Momoshiro's hand, coaxingly, like he wants Momoshiro to speed up too. The fingers at the back of Momoshiro's neck scrape a line from his nape into Momoshiro's scalp, like now he's not just coaxing but demanding.

And just like that, another throaty moan escapes Momoshiro's mouth, his eyes almost closing down just to focus on the feeling of Kaidoh's fingers on his neck, and wrapped around his penis. It's really too much, especially when Kaidoh isn't looking away. Momoshiro finds he doesn't want him to anymore.

Seeing Kaidoh stare back at him keeps him grounded, prevents him from thinking this is a fantasy, some sick and twisted fantasy he's thought about one too many times during the day.

This is better than a fantasy. The thick scraping of Kaidoh's nails, scratching down on his soft skin, and his bony fingers sliding up and down, working some kind of magic on him. And this intense stare, with half open eyes, and exhaustion displayed on his face—it's leaving Momoshiro almost breathless.

Almost, because he's actually trying to hold his breath. It always seems to heighten all his sensations, and everything feels better. Like it'll make him snap if everything builds up too much.

With whatever is left of his working brain, Momoshiro yanks on Kaidoh's penis, faster to keep up with Kaidoh as well, and he loves seeing Kaidoh's face twist and his body squirm in response. Kaidoh won't look away though, no matter how much pressure Momoshiro exerts on his erection, or how fast he goes. Momoshiro won't look away either; this is kind of a turn on. A real big turn on, even if it's thoroughly embarrassing, and it makes him want to crawl underneath his blanket to hide in shame. Just the fact that Kaidoh's doing it too, probably feeling the same, keeps him looking back. Because it's also kind of erotic to see what his actions are causing Kaidoh to do, like taking in sharp and uneven breaths, and rocking his hips closer to his hand—and hissing has never seemed so sexy before. What was once a source of annoyance, simply spurs Momoshiro on; hissing reminds him they're here together, and this is Kaidoh, who is doing this to him, and he's doing it too.

There's this very weird strange pull in his chest, it feels sort of light, but also heavy, and it's drumming along with their erratic pace. It gets heavier with each breath he takes, but Momoshiro finds it's a good feeling, though a bit new. It starts to bounce around in his ribcage when he sees Kaidoh bite his lips, and thrust his hips forward again. This is so exciting. He can't believe he's still doing this, that they're _both_ doing it.

Jerking each other off. Who knew?

It's almost enough to make Momoshiro come. In fact, everything is, he feels like he's waiting to burst for a while now, but he's trying his best to hold back. He wants to enjoy this longer, for as long as he can. And perhaps have Kaidoh finished first. Look right back at Kaidoh's face, and see him do all this funny but strangely exciting stuff with his face; those images are permanently burned into Momoshiro's mind now. He can close his eyes and see Kaidoh's face still in front of him, hot and red, and trying to breathe—but he doesn't close his eyes. He doesn't want to. He's going to finish this while looking him in the eye.

Momoshiro bucks his hips in tune with Kaidoh's strokes. His legs feel heavy and used, but it's not slowing him down or discouraging him at all. He can't help but let out a harsh moan as Kaidoh brings his hand down hard and fast. It's loud and fills up the air, and it makes his cheeks sting painfully because it makes him blush more, since Kaidoh saw all of that, heard all of that. He can't keep anything hidden from Kaidoh anymore. But Kaidoh can't either, so that makes him get over his embarrassment and continue to stroke Kaidoh, from his pubic bone, up till the glans, where it's wet and slippery, and pulls it down again, making sure Kaidoh can feel his nails too. Kaidoh's face twists up as he tries to breathe but groan at the same time.

See? It's not just Momoshiro that is on display here. Kaidoh is too. Momoshiro almost, _almost_ wants to try calling out his name again, just to see how he'd react this time, when they're caught up in this moment and each action simply causes another reaction. He wants to find out all the reactions Kaidoh can make.

And Kaidoh can't really hold in any of his reactions anymore. Half the sounds he's making are completely foreign to him—the ragged growls, the needy little gasps, the strangled moans and whimpers—he's pretty sure his voice has never sounded like this before. It's raw and embarrassing, and even under Momoshiro's intense gaze, Kaidoh can't seem to keep his vocal cords in check. Or maybe it's _because_ Momoshiro's looking at him that Kaidoh can't, like Momoshiro is forcing the sounds out of him with some weird power.

If Kaidoh had it his way, he wouldn't be making sounds at all, but he's not even thinking about it anymore; there's no place for self-conscious thoughts here now. His breath has a mind of its own, and Kaidoh's simply grateful that air is flowing in and out of him, because the things Momoshiro is doing to him are making it hard to breathe at all.

Things seem hazy and Kaidoh feels light-headed, but Momoshiro's stare keeps him grounded. Kaidoh simply focuses on those piercing eyes and stares back at him with the same angry energy, because it's the only way to keep himself from losing it. He's already close though, he can feel it. He thinks Momoshiro is, too, and right now they're both just holding on with pure will, waiting to see which one of them is going to topple first.

Kaidoh doesn't want to lose.

He keeps jerking at Momoshiro's penis, rhythm fast and slick, the sound of their hands ringing sloppily in the air. He doesn't even need to ask Momoshiro to match him, because Momoshiro speeds up automatically as Kaidoh does, does everything Kaidoh does and more. And Kaidoh wants to give it all back. The hand at Momoshiro's neck scratches fingers into Momoshiro's hair, and at the same time, Kaidoh runs his fingernails down Momoshiro's penis, tracing along one of the veins. It makes Momoshiro's hips jerk forward against him and Kaidoh sees him shudder, face scrunching up. So Kaidoh figures it's a good idea to try that again, squeezing his palm around him as he does, tugging along the sensitive skin.

"Shh …" _Shit._ Is what Momoshiro tried to say. But the breath that he released from its hold is jittery, and his body is shuddering and jerking at Kaidoh's touch, that he can't do anything but sound like he's trying to mimic Kaidoh's hiss.

The sound of skin rubbing against skin becomes louder, until it's thrumming in Momoshiro's ears and it's all he hears. This is … he's not going to hold on for long. He wants to squeeze his eyes shut and throw his head back because Kaidoh's hand is this godsend, it's a warm and insistent presence that won't go away, it won't stop until he's done.

But not yet!

Momoshiro is still holding Kaidoh's gaze—however difficult that seems to be at the moment—but he can't look away now. Not when Kaidoh's going just as crazy as he is, unrestrained in what his body wants to do, what he's feeling. Momoshiro has never seen Kaidoh this expressive before, and he loves every bit of it. And it's all because of _him_ that Kaidoh is scrunching up his face and making needy little gasps, his body responding to everything Momoshiro does to him.

Not that Momoshiro can restrain himself, he's going along with everything just like Kaidoh is. From the nails that run along the sensitive skin of his penis, to the nails that are scraping against his scalp. It feels good, it's so thrilling and exciting, but mostly just feels _really_ good. Momoshiro's own hand has definitely never felt like this, and it shows on his face. How desperate he is for Kaidoh to continue jerking him off, to keep that hand on the back of his head, and to keep looking at him too.

Momoshiro releases his death grip on Kaidoh's shoulder, then slides his hand up towards his neck, where the bitemarks are, the skin looks red, and you can clearly see the row of teeth that he left there. With his fingertips, he presses down on it. Kaidoh makes this weird whining sound in response, and jerks Momoshiro's penis around, which makes _him_ in return hiss once more.

"Ahh." Crap, that was really loud. Momoshiro tilts his face a bit to the right as if to hide his embarrassment, but it soon washes away when Kaidoh looks at him as if he enjoyed that.

Aside from reaching his climax, what Momoshiro wants to do as well is kiss Kaidoh. It's not because he isn't already overwhelmed by what is being done to him at the moment; kissing Kaidoh just seems … nice. And it does feel nice, it's a good feeling no matter how many times their lips are pressed up against one another, sloppy or slow or rough—he doesn't care. He'll take it all.

His lips are already parted from taking in shallow breaths, but this time he wants to reach over and pull Kaidoh into a kiss. He can't though … they're doing this stupid thing where they're looking each other in the eye, not breaking eye contact, because whoever does first, loses, and Momoshiro doesn't lose.

Suddenly he wants to lose very badly though. Those lips just look so damn inviting, and Momoshiro's mind isn't running correctly anymore, being thrown into a tizzy because Kaidoh just keeps stroking, harder and faster, and uses his nails every once in a while too. Momoshiro reciprocates; also sliding his nails along the shaft of Kaidoh's penis, and pulling hard at the skin. Ahh, he wants to kiss him—go and lose already, Kaidoh. Stupid snake. Doesn't he want to kiss too?

And Kaidoh does, but he doesn't want to break this either, he doesn't want to be the one to forfeit the competition. But he's painfully aware of Momoshiro's hot and swollen lips, just waiting there in front of him, parted slightly like they're deliberately taunting Kaidoh. Fucking asshole. Well, Kaidoh's not just going to take that.

His fingernails at the back of Momoshiro's neck press harsh crescent indentations into the skin, and he keeps tugging at Momoshiro's erection like it's all he knows how to do. And right now, it kind of is. He's caught up in the rhythm, moving automatically, urgently. Stopping is not an option, not until they're both finished. Just a little bit faster, a little bit harder, a little more.

Momoshiro is helping him out, both with his own hand, and with the movement of his hips, which feels more and more ragged with each little thrust, and it's driving Kaidoh wild. Momoshiro's expressions are too. Kaidoh feels a little like he's going to come just from watching Momoshiro's face pull and twist each time he reacts, because he's never seen Momoshiro's face look quite like that, and he really likes it. He should be disgusted with himself, and maybe he will be later, but right now he's too turned on by everything he's seeing and hearing to care. He's too caught up in Momoshiro for anything else to matter.

His tongue flicks out to wet his lips, which feel like they've gone dry from hanging open in the air, his breath puffing out through them over and over in shallow gasps. They're a bit raw from everything Momoshiro's put them through, and still throbbing slightly. He narrows his eyes at Momoshiro, looking at him like he's hungry for more, and he licks his lips again, leaning forward, just a little, still staring into Momoshiro's eyes, unfaltering and determined. He's testing his limits now, seeing how far he can push before Momoshiro will push back.

Once more his fingers scratch into Momoshiro's scalp, and Kaidoh arches forward so they're even closer, their foreheads nearly touching now, and he lets out a needy hiss as his penis slips through Momoshiro's sliding fingers.

That's close enough.

Momoshiro jams his face into Kaidoh's, putting in a lot of force behind it because he wants it, he wants it _now_. Their teeth collide painfully, but with all the things Kaidoh has done to him already, with his raw back, this feels like nothing. He grips his hand tighter on Kaidoh's penis, feeling it almost slip out as their bodies try to move closer, because their lips are moving so extravagantly, and it's simply fast and urgent, like a complete whirlwind of movements.

So what Momoshiro lost, so what his eyes are closed—he doesn't fucking care. He's swiping his lips and sucking the day lights out of Kaidoh's, simultaneously being pleasured by the pumping of their hands. Nothing really matters anymore, as long as Kaidoh stays here, in this moment, doing this with him, Momoshiro doesn't care what happens.

All he cares about is feeling good, and touching Kaidoh wherever he can. And touching he does.

Momoshiro's lips don't stay gentle at all, they're rough and demanding, they're pulling and tugging at Kaidoh's lips just like before. Which proves to be a little bit hard to do, because his body refuses to cooperate most of the time, as he's busy focusing on what's happening below, and whenever Kaidoh pulls at his throbbing erection again, his body simply shuts down for a second and then boots back up again, ready for more. Oh yeah, he definitely wants more. So his tongue forces its way into Kaidoh's mouth, and if Kaidoh was waiting for it, he meets him halfway. It's slippery and slimy, sort of gross, but it's warm and exciting, and it's sending his heart out of control. He can feel his own penis throb harder and harder against Kaidoh's moving hand. The calluses of Kaidoh's hand slide over the softened skin, and it's kind of rough and a tiny bit painful, but Momoshiro likes it that way. He doesn't think he could ever hate something Kaidoh does to him right now.

The same thing seems to be true to Kaidoh. Momoshiro can see he likes and reacts to just about anything Momoshiro does—even if he isn't trying. Whenever another moan is ripped out of his throat, it seems to encourage Kaidoh to go on, and the stroking becomes more intense, which leaves Momoshiro biting down on Kaidoh's tongue in pleasure. Biting seems to be the only way to cope with this, to prevent himself from coming right then and there; he still wants to enjoy this. Enjoy it as long as possible, because he's having the time of his life.

Also, Momoshiro simply wants Kaidoh to come first. The bastard came second last time, and that's just not acceptable to Momoshiro in this hazy state.

It's like he's secretly taunting Momoshiro, saying he's better at this, at lasting longer. Well. Momoshiro can too. And he'll make him come, he'll be damn sure of that.

Momoshiro goes all out, replicating all the things he's done before to get Kaidoh to shudder in pleasure. He wants to hear him moan just because of him. Nails scratch the bitemarks on Kaidoh's neck, as he rips Kaidoh's tongue out of his mouth and takes it into his own, biting down on the tip of it, letting out a frazzled gasp for air. His wrist turns and twists and pumps Kaidoh's warm penis up and down, also leaving out his nails to pinch the skin where Kaidoh likes it the most. Momoshiro's body just instinctively knows how to do all this, how to make Kaidoh feel good. It's not something he'd ever thought he would know, or do, but here he is, sucking on Kaidoh's tongue to nurse his wound, and palm riding up and down, smeared with his pre-cum.

Just come already, Momoshiro wants to say. But it's a bit hard when Kaidoh's making him feel good too. Well shit, he's going to come soon if Kaidoh doesn't!

Kaidoh is trying his best to keep up, but it's hard because everything Momoshiro is doing, all of it together, is so intense that it's becoming unbearable. Kaidoh can't take it. He tears his mouth away from Momoshiro's, neck arching back until his head hits the wall, and then he just sits there panting and screws his eyes shut, trying to hold on. He feels like he's got a fever spreading through him. His whole body is burning up. And it's like Momoshiro can sense that he's close to the edge, because he keeps speeding up, curling his fingers harder, scraping his nails in just the right place. It's aggravating. Kaidoh can't really do anything but sit there and take it.

His body is still moving though, hips jerking up against Momoshiro's touches, because he wants more friction. He needs it. He can feel it coming and he scrapes his fingers through Momoshiro's hair, tugging a bit at the ends like he's warning him, urging him to keep going, to please go faster.

And Momoshiro does, pumping hard, his nails scraping maddeningly along Kaidoh's penis, and suddenly Kaidoh's whole body tenses up, both his hands stops moving and just clutch at Momoshiro, and he comes, eyes still closed and mouth open. There's blood pounding in his ear drums so loud that he doesn't even register the sound he makes—a low, strained cry—like his voice is being torn out of him along with his orgasm. He shudders, trying to breathe. His forehead creases in concentration, focused only on what he's feeling. His face is flushed and sweaty. His mouth twitches, pulling into a grimace as he feels his penis pulse again and again into Momoshiro's hand and then go empty.

And then Kaidoh lets out a long, exhausted sounding breath and lets his eyelids flutter open. He tries to glare at Momoshiro, but he feels bleary and dazed so he doesn't quite manage it. But he's still determined, even now, even after that, and he starts jerking Momoshiro again, fast, almost like he's angry, and he kind of is, angry that Momoshiro was able to do all that to him.

But Kaidoh won't let him get away with it without fighting back. He's still panting hard, and feeling dizzy and tingly all over, but his hand is firm and clenches around Momoshiro's penis, tugging hard at the sensitive skin.

It doesn't take that much for Momoshiro to buck his hips in tune with Kaidoh's strokes; he's on edge and now it's his turn. He feels hot all over, like he's already had his orgasm, but it's still on its way, and it's coming fast, speeding up and accelerating all throughout his body, making him clench all his muscles.

Momoshiro tries to look at Kaidoh, to keep him in that moment, but it's kind of hard. He keeps seeing the image of Kaidoh's face crying out as he came, and that sends all his impulses running. The thought alone, that he made Kaidoh look like that, that he made him come—sperm still covering his hand—is enough for Momoshiro to screw his eyes shut and hold his breath as he focuses on Kaidoh's hand.

The skin goes up and down, frantic and desperate, and Momoshiro's desperate too, his eyes feel heavy and he's sweating all over his body. Kaidoh's making him feel way too hot, like he's sick, and it'll just keep getting worse, it's spreading over his entire body. Like some sort of Kaidoh disease. But it feels _good_. And then Kaidoh yanks at him like that, with his nails, and Momoshiro loses it. He flies towards Kaidoh's mouth, capturing him as he silences his own—probably very loud and embarrassing—moan that erupts from his throat. He arches his hips up against Kaidoh's hand, and his entire body starts shivering and twitching, in tune with the spasms that course through him and are making his brain blackout. He pushes hard against Kaidoh's mouth, determined to hang on, when the warm liquid starts emerging from the inside, along with all the wonderful explosive feelings, and Kaidoh's fingers are helping it along.

Momoshiro feels like his body has short circuited from the massive collide of crazy sensations.

He does blackout, for a couple of seconds, completely in a daze, doing nothing but lick Kaidoh's tongue, and both his hands are desperately clinging to his shoulders. His orgasm leaves him frozen, it's like his brain has fireworks going off on it, hence why he's seeing black spots in front of his eyes, and he can hear whistles in his ear going off, it's deafening. Momoshiro can barely do anything else besides focus on the feelings that are making him like this. Kaidoh keeps rubbing at him until Momoshiro is completely empty, he's got nothing left to give anymore, and Kaidoh slows down. Momoshiro feels his heart slow down too, breathing shuddery breaths through his nose.

But he continues to kiss Kaidoh, tongue still eagerly swirling around his, despite the need for taking in more oxygen. His brain is already fried, so who cares, it can do without the extra oxygen. Momoshiro just wants to enjoy this, as everything is starting to feel very relaxed and comfortable, like he could curl up against Kaidoh right now and fall asleep. He sort of is already, leaning into Kaidoh's body, despite the sweat, despite his sticky hand, and the stickiness between them, he doesn't care about that. Just cares about Kaidoh's mouth, which is like his lifeline.

Momoshiro finally does part from Kaidoh, resting his forehead against his. They're both taking in deep breaths, as if they've been underwater for so long and they had just broken through the surface to breathe. He tries to look at Kaidoh, but can't seem to focus on anything that close, so everything looks blurry. Or maybe his vision is just blurry. Momoshiro can feel himself start to shake. Or maybe that's Kaidoh. Or perhaps they're both shaking, he can't really tell. He runs his hands up (after a quick wipe on Kaidoh's shorts) against Kaidoh's neck and wraps his fingers around it, sliding into his dark hair, so he can keep Kaidoh steady as he kisses him on the lips again, this time less rough, less needy, but a bit more gentle and relaxed.

It makes something funny creep in his chest and stomach when Kaidoh kisses him back with the same kind of gentleness. He tries to not pay it any attention; his mind is full of Kaidoh, and that extremely good orgasm is still leaving him completely satisfied and in a bliss.

Momoshiro lets out a relaxed sigh against Kaidoh's lips. That was quite a workout.

Kaidoh feels himself winding down as well. Momoshiro's fingers dragged the fight right out of him and now he just feels heavy and tired, his energy completely spent. There's no competitiveness left in either of them. The game is over and maybe they both lost, but it feels like both of them won. And they're still kissing each other, mouths smacking together, slow and relaxed now, and Kaidoh's heart pounds, because he feels like this is just as important somehow.

His hand slides from Momoshiro's neck around to his cheek, cupping his face, fingers brushing at the short strands of hair that cling sweatily to Momoshiro's face. His skin is so warm, so soft, and Kaidoh can feel his pulse, thrumming rhythmically at his temple. And Momoshiro just lets Kaidoh touch him, sighing softly against Kaidoh's lips like he's enjoying it. It's nice, and Kaidoh shifts to press his mouth closer against Momoshiro, making a soft contented noise of his own.

Maybe they're both still too out of it to realize what they're doing—how they're no longer desperate for release but are still pressed tightly together like they want to be—or maybe they both actually like it. Hurting each other is one thing, the angry, frantic movements, but somehow Kaidoh likes this too. Maybe just as much. Maybe more.

He disentangles his other hand and wipes the stickiness off on the front of Momoshiro's shorts before tracing his fingers up Momoshiro's chest, pressing into the bare skin as he goes, and wrapping it around Momoshiro's shoulder to pull them closer together. Momoshiro just kind of fits against him. He doesn't even need to try.

Momoshiro winces as Kaidoh's arm grazes the scratchmarks on his back. They're not bleeding anymore, but they are still sensitive to the touch. Kaidoh really went all out … which still doesn't seem as disgusting as it should be. Everything should be disgusting and weird and Momoshiro should really get up and clean himself—pretend this never happened, but it doesn't. It's not. He feels relaxed and content, and it feels nice instead of disgusting. He wonders why that is, but shuts his mind down; he doesn't need to think about this. As long as they're still doing this together, lips moving soundlessly, he doesn't need to think at all.

The beat of Momoshiro's heart slows down, and the shaking subsides a little bit, that pumping adrenaline he felt not too long ago is finally sizzling away. He feels a bit exposed like this, sitting in Kaidoh's lap (god his thighs hurt!), with his flaccid penis still sitting out there. That's a little uncomfortable.

Momoshiro angles his face to the right, softly sucking on Kaidoh's lips, then removes one hand from Kaidoh's neck, which he moves in between them. With one quick motion, he's tucked himself away. It's a bit gross, since it's not like he wiped himself off.

Speaking of wiping himself off … didn't Kaidoh have a towel not too long ago? Momoshiro cracks one eye open and scans the area for a bit, until he sees the pointy end of the towel in the corner of his eye; it's behind him. He shuffles around a bit, pressing back against Kaidoh's arm wrapped around him, until Kaidoh loosens his grip and Momoshiro briefly slips away from his lips. He bends over backwards, completely separated from Kaidoh at this point, and he snatches the towel lying on the floor. Then he's back, eyes closed and quickly zoning in on Kaidoh's waiting lips, because they still feel good, and nice—everything still feels nice. Kaidoh quickly wraps his arm around him again, as if he doesn't want Momoshiro to leave again, and this makes Momoshiro's heart bounce around in his chest.

If Kaidoh wants him to stay, then he'll stay.

Momoshiro uses the towel to clean off his dirty hand, as well as any residue still left on his penis. He moves onto Kaidoh's, and he can feel him flinch when he touches it, but still continues to suck on Momoshiro's lips. Good, as long as Kaidoh keeps doing this, then nothing will feel weird and gross. Momoshiro runs the towel across the tip, cleaning it off, before he gently shoves it back into Kaidoh's shorts. He leaves the towel resting on his lap, in case Kaidoh still wants it, and he brings both hands back to Kaidoh's neck, fingers fluttering over the bitemark, and toying around with his hair.

Now Momoshiro can concentrate again on this wonderful relaxing feeling. He wonders if this is what Buddhists feel like when they meditate; completely in the zone and all muscles are relaxed and almost lulling him to sleep. But Momoshiro doesn't want to sleep, he wants to kiss Kaidoh, for whatever bizarre reason. It's all feeling really gentle, like the last time they kissed each other, and the same feelings from before are back, just brewing inside of him, making him feel like he's got a sugar rush; he simply feels high and light. Like he can do anything right now.

Maybe Kaidoh is his superpower. It _feels_ like Kaidoh is giving him power. Momoshiro is simply brimming with the feeling.

Kaidoh is feeling a lot of things too. For once, his mind is not racing to analyze and worry over what any of this means. For once, he's not trying to spin excuses and justify his actions or emotions. For once, he doesn't even want to deny how much he likes this. He just feels relaxed and carefree, like he and Momoshiro are, at least temporarily, safe in their own little world and it will last as long as they keep touching. Kaidoh doesn't want to have to pull away and break the spell.

But they're running out of time to still get away with this, write it off as an extension of the weird fight they were having, because both of them are well aware that they're not fighting now, far from it, and they probably weren't really even fighting to begin with. But at the moment, as long as neither one calls attention to it, they can pretend that that's all it is. The way Kaidoh's chest pulls tight at the press of Momoshiro's lips against his mouth suggests otherwise, but for now, he doesn't have to think about what any of it means. His mind is clouded over with fluffy, good feelings instead. And even the way his chest clenches up doesn't feel as bad as it once did.

His fingers slide over Momoshiro's shoulder blades, down his back, and he traces one of the scratches he left earlier with his fingernails, feeling Momoshiro tense up against him like it's painful, and that makes Kaidoh feel weird—both excited that he did that, and also a little guilty too. But he knows Momoshiro can take it, and besides, it isn't like Kaidoh escaped unscathed. His hands leave the scratches alone and move up to the back of Momoshiro's head, slipping into Momoshiro's hair which is kind of a mess and damp with sweat. He feels like he's allowed to touch Momoshiro wherever he wants, which is good since right now that's all Kaidoh wants to do.

He wonders why Momoshiro isn't stopping him though, why he isn't pulling away, why he's letting Kaidoh get away with this like Kaidoh has some kind of right to Momoshiro's skin. Is it because he likes it just as much? Or is he simply too caught up in the haze to even think about it? Maybe it's part of their silent agreement. Until this moment breaks and they finally pull apart, anything is allowed, anything goes, and neither one will judge or question it. In that case, Kaidoh would be happy to just sit here for hours, just holding on, just pretending. Like this is how things could be all the time.

But that would probably get uncomfortable after a while. Already he's torn between the instinct to move and the desire to stay put. He shifts under Momoshiro's body—his legs seem to be falling asleep under Momoshiro's weight, trapped in position, and it's making him feel funny and tingly. Every part of him feels kind of like it's fallen asleep, because this feels too much like a dream for him to still be wide awake.

Kaidoh never thought holding onto Momoshiro and kissing him gently would feel so … normal. All of the second-guessing and worry he's used to having buzz around in his stomach when he's with Momoshiro has gone silent now, left him overwhelmed with a light and floaty feeling instead, like nothing's wrong. Like there's nothing wrong with this at all.

It's a new feeling, and at the same time one Kaidoh is well acquainted with. Touching Momoshiro is something that comes so easy to him. He's not pushing himself, isn't forcing himself to do this. No, he wants to. Which is in itself kind of strange to him. Kaidoh's never wanted to touch anyone as much as he wants to touch Momoshiro. Well, Kaidoh's never really wanted to touch _anyone_ in the first place.

Physical contact has always been a constant source of stress and annoyance for him. He's always avoided it. But he's never avoided Momoshiro. From the very beginning, he's confronted him head on, fists raised, fire in his eyes. And he's never backed away from that. He's never stopped to think that touching Momoshiro is something he shouldn't be doing. It's always come naturally to him, and even when it left him embarrassed or petrified with fear, it was still an impulse he could never resist for very long.

Now that they're here, doing this, Kaidoh wonders what the hell he was so scared of all those years. Why he waited so long. Because this is the opposite of scary. It's the best thing ever.

And Momoshiro agrees, it pretty much _is_ the best thing ever. After a really hot handjob, which probably gave him the best orgasm in his life, now they're just kissing slowly, staying together like this. Momoshiro's mind is still not questioning it. For as long as they stay together, Momoshiro won't think it's weird or disgusting, but something preferable, something he wants to do all the time. Just being close to Kaidoh, and moving his lips against his.

By the second, Momoshiro's muscles grow more tired, and his legs are killing him for sitting on Kaidoh all this time. He sort of wants to move, get into a more comfortable position—but knows that if either of them move away, then the magic will be broken, and they'll go back to being 'normal' again, whatever that means. And with Kaidoh's hands massaging his scalp, holding him close, kissing him like it's all he wants, Momoshiro doesn't want to go back to normal.

Why can't this be normal?

Just holding each other close, lips smacked together, like there's nothing wrong with it, as if Momoshiro was meant to do this with Kaidoh.

It's a small moment in time where Momoshiro is allowed to enjoy this, to want this, and to touch Kaidoh without any repercussions. Kaidoh's letting him anyway; he's allowing everything at the moment, and so is Momoshiro. It's a comfortable feeling, yet an exciting one as well. If only he could touch Kaidoh like this all the time, without some necessary build-up, then that would be great, he'd be touching Kaidoh pretty much non-stop if he could. Kiss him whenever he wants to, without getting pushed away or punched in the face.

But has that ever happened in the first place?

Momoshiro starts to frown, as his mind is starting to work again. The times he's kissed Kaidoh … Kaidoh hasn't punched him at all, or pushed him away. In fact, he kissed him back—every single time. He hasn't been punched once. Doesn't that mean he _can_ kiss Kaidoh whenever he wants?

Suddenly Momoshiro's heart feels very warm and all his limbs feel like jelly.

Yeah, Kaidoh never rejected it. He wants it too. Of all the things in the world, he wants to kiss Momoshiro.

This simple revelation sends butterflies swarming in his chest. Well. Fuck.

Momoshiro sighs against Kaidoh's lips, feeling like this is a lot more meaningful than it should be, that it's a lot more important than what it looks like. He pulls away, dragging his lips across Kaidoh's cheeks, until he buries his face into Kaidoh's neck, right where his bruise is. He kisses it too, lips planted gently on the mark, and gives it a soft suck. He can feel Kaidoh's pulse throb against his lips, it's kind of a reassuring feeling, a relaxing one. He slides his hands out of Kaidoh's hair, until he worms them behind Kaidoh's back, hands pressing down on his shoulder blades, holding him close, just like this. No words, no second guessing, just him and Kaidoh, two sticky bodies pressed together, cuddling.

Wait, _cuddling?_

Momoshiro realizes he's been nuzzling his face into the crook of Kaidoh's neck, as if he's some kind of sick, gross, lost puppy curling up against something for warmth and protection. He doesn't _need_ protection, or Kaidoh's warmth—but his body isn't pulling away, it isn't feeling repulsed. In fact, he feels really happy, like there's nothing wrong with it. So Momoshiro tries to push any weird thoughts from his mind, and leans into Kaidoh's neck again, his body slumped entirely against Kaidoh's for support. It's like he's trying to hide himself using Kaidoh's body.

Another shift of Kaidoh's legs, makes Momoshiro aware he's probably getting too heavy for Kaidoh. But he kind of likes sitting on Kaidoh like this … but he doesn't want to spoil the moment, he wants it to last for as long as it can. So the ever helpful Momoshiro, sits back, stretches out his legs so he's no longer resting on them (they were beginning to hurt!), and wraps them around Kaidoh's waist. He wiggles around a bit so Kaidoh opens up his legs as well, so he can sit between Kaidoh's legs and on the ground instead. He pushes himself closer to Kaidoh—sticky sweaty crotches now touching. Everything is touching, really, and Momoshiro refuses to leave the safety spot that is Kaidoh's neck. Now he can just hold him. For now.

Kaidoh breathes in and out, inhaling Momoshiro's smell. It shouldn't be pleasant or appealing but for some reason it is. Everything about Momoshiro is appealing to him right now.

He can't find any reason to be irritated.

Although that realization alone is making Kaidoh feel a little bit itchy because really, shouldn't he be irritated? Shouldn't he be annoyed that Momoshiro's crowding into his personal space, hands all over him and arms wrapped tightly around his body? Shouldn't that really piss him off? Instead, Kaidoh's just sitting here and taking it, not putting up a fight at all. No, in fact, he's even got his arms around Momoshiro too, his fingers against Momoshiro's soft neck and up in his hair.

A few minutes ago, he could excuse the closeness as just them getting caught up in a very primally charged moment, one that was totally out of their control, driven simply on instinct. But now? Well, now Kaidoh's mind feels clear—completely clear in fact—and that's what's making him feel so strange. Because he's thinking, and even though he's thinking, he's still doing this.

And if he's thinking, doesn't that mean Momoshiro is, too? But Momoshiro is still here with him. He's staying put. And that makes Kaidoh's chest warm and fluttery. The feeling of Momoshiro's soft, warm breaths against his neck, the way their bodies press like puzzle pieces, the way Momoshiro's limbs all circle around Kaidoh like it's all he wants … it's kind of overwhelming. Almost _more_ overwhelming than what they were just doing, because that was fast and urgent, but this is slowed down, relaxed, and everything feels deliberate, and that makes it much harder to ignore or push aside.

It's like Kaidoh's mind is trying to catch up with everything his body is doing, everything it wants to do, and he doesn't know how to process this. It's not something he has any precedent for. He doesn't know what it's supposed to mean. He doesn't know what he's supposed to do now. He feels confused, but scared to show it, because as long as Momoshiro keeps this up, Kaidoh won't pull away either. Although he knows that soon they'll have to. They have to go back to normal, to the way they're supposed to be around each other. Which isn't this. Although Kaidoh's not sure why it's not.

He lets out a soft hiss into Momoshiro's hair because he can't find any words for this, refuses to use words for what this is, and it's not like he'd be able to form them anyway. His voice seems to be hiding somewhere behind his pounding heartbeat.

Momoshiro feels himself shiver a bit when Kaidoh lets out his trademark hiss. On one hand, it's kind of comforting to hear something so familiar in this strange and foreign territory. On the other hand, it's pulling Momoshiro out of his stupidly happy daze, because it's _Kaidoh's_ hiss. And they don't do this together. They _shouldn't_ do this together. Why is he wrapped around Kaidoh again?

Sure, before he could push all blame onto his own idiotic hormones, and he simply surrendered to them. He could be doing this with anyone—yeah! Kaidoh just … happened to be there. At the right moment. With cake on his lips. Like he was teasing him, seducing him. He didn't do _that_ with Kaidoh because it was Kaidoh. It could have been anyone willing, anyone who would go as far as Kaidoh did. Like Echizen for example.

Ew, fuck, no that's really gross. He doesn't want to think about doing this with Echizen. It makes his stomach churn inside out, like he's going to make himself so sick he'll throw up.

Momoshiro presses his nose against Kaidoh's sweaty neck, eyes open and staring at the wooden wall in front of him, focusing on the detail of the grains. Well okay—so he wouldn't do this with Echizen. Not with anyone younger at least. He starts to think of anyone else who'd be able, but he just feels weird and disgusted when he thinks of it, thinks of doing the things he's done with Kaidoh. Kissing, scratching, biting, humping, jerking off, and now hugging. Anyone else seems wrong for all of this. But with Kaidoh …

None of it feels disgusting. Even now, when he's thinking way too deep into this, he's still hanging onto Kaidoh and not budging from his position. Like it's normal, as if they do this every day (that'd be kind of awesome). Maybe it's just because Momoshiro can't imagine doing something as dirty as this with anyone else. With Kaidoh it doesn't matter, he doesn't need to treat him as anything special, and Momoshiro can do whatever he wants with him. Because after all, this is pretty gross.

Ugh, this is making Momoshiro's brain hurt. He's thinking too much. Thinking really is evil. He shouldn't question this. He shouldn't rake through his mind what it all means. He should just enjoy it for what it is. For now at least.

"My back hurts," Momoshiro mumbles against Kaidoh's neck. And it does. It stings. He can feel at least five stinging scratch marks going from his shoulder blades, down to the small of his back. He's sure there's more.

Kaidoh's cheeks go red and hot and he drops his face against Momoshiro's shoulder, his nose pressing into the skin. _Shut up_, he wants to say, but doesn't. His fingers loosen their hold at Momoshiro's neck until they drop from it entirely, arms resting at his sides, like they've been called out as the guilty party and Kaidoh suddenly feels embarrassed by them and what they've done.

"I—" he starts, as though he's going to explain himself, maybe even apologize, but he doesn't know how to. "Yeah …" he breathes instead. He can't really explain why he does any of the things he does with Momoshiro when they're like this together. It just feels, in the moment that it happens, like what he should be doing. That and it feels good so he doesn't think to question it. He doesn't really think at all. Or tries not to, anyway.

Besides, he wants to point out that _his_ neck hurts too, but he doesn't really want to say anything to make Momoshiro move from where he's nestled against it. Because it feels nice.

"I deserve a massage for that," says Momoshiro. Since they're already talking, why not get Kaidoh to do something else for him. So they won't focus on what's happened before.

_And put those arms back,_ Momoshiro also wants to say, holding him didn't hurt, but that sounds needy and clingy and disgusting, so he doesn't. He just nestles his face into Kaidoh's neck, his long eyelashes fluttering against the skin.

Kaidoh tilts his head up. "Idiot," he says, the insult half-hearted. "I don't do massages." But … he thought he didn't do this either, so maybe Kaidoh needs to amend that.

Momoshiro snorts, then he licks his lips in thought; Kaidoh lifting up his head left his neck more exposed. Well. If Kaidoh doesn't do massages, he won't say no to … "I'm fine with this too," he says in a brave voice. Brave because he's calling out attention to the fact he's pressing his lips on Kaidoh's neck again, and sucking it very gently, careful to not touch the bitemarks. He releases the warm skin, and now he feels a little embarrassed. He did that for no reason. Other than wanting to. Is that a reason?

Well, Momoshiro certainly wouldn't mind if Kaidoh did this to him again. Even if it's gross and disgusting, and all sorts of wrong. It feels like all kinds of right with Kaidoh.

Kaidoh shivers a little, pulling back from Momoshiro's shoulder and lifting a hand between them to turn Momoshiro's face. He just kind of looks at him for a moment, like he's searching his eyes to see if Momoshiro's really in there. Because … He's fine with this? Does that mean he likes it too? Does it mean something for Momoshiro, the way it means something for Kaidoh?

This is making him dizzy.

There are suddenly a hundred hopeful strings tugging in Kaidoh's chest, and he's not going to give them the chance to snap. He's not going to give Momoshiro the chance to retract his statement. Instead, he presses his lips against Momoshiro's mouth and hums softly against them, like a murmur of agreement.

He's fine with this too. He's more than fine with it.

Momoshiro responds accordingly, pushing back a little bit desperately, as if their kiss means something a lot more important. And it does. It's an agreement.

Yeah, alright. They can do this. They can continue with this.

As long as Momoshiro switches his mind off, and doesn't think too hard on what it's supposed to mean, why he's doing all of this and going along with it, then they can make this their 'thing'. He can continue to live in this delusion that it's alright to do this, it's alright to kiss Kaidoh as if he enjoys it, and Kaidoh kisses him back. It's okay to jerk each other off—no one has to know but them. Momoshiro can live with that.

Momoshiro places his hand on top of Kaidoh's, leaning his face into the palm of his hand. He moves his lips and sucks, just as Kaidoh does too. In fact, he'd rather not live without this.

He pulls back, then looks Kaidoh in the eye, their foreheads nearly resting against one another. There's a hint of fear, anxiety, but also excitement and longing reflecting in Kaidoh's eyes. Momoshiro is sure he probably looks the same. He closes his own eyes with a sigh, and softly bumps his head into Kaidoh, his finger intertwining with Kaidoh's.

What has he gotten himself into?


	34. Sleep Walking

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **MomoKai cuteness! Momo not only sleep talks, but sleepwalks!

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** K

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- A day before this log, Momo got cold during the night, and tried to crawl inside of Kaidoh's bed. To which Kaidoh woke up alarmingly and punched Momo in the face  
- The next day, Momo laments that his face hurts, and Kaidoh says that's because he punched it. They argue whether or not Momo actually tried to get in Kaidoh's bed, and Momo says he definitely does not sleepwalk, then goes to bed that night to prove it

**Date:** September 28, 2012

* * *

There's no way Momoshiro sleepwalks.

At least, that's what Momoshiro thinks, and hopes. He's already found out before—through Echizen—that he sleep _talks._ About embarrassing things, or just really insane things. Either way, sleep talking is already enough, but sleepwalking? There's just no way. Kaidoh was making things up. He did _not_ try to steal Kaidoh's blanket or try to get in his bed when it got cold last night.

There's just no way. And that's what he told Kaidoh; that he dreamt it. Yes, it was all just a dream. Kaidoh was dreaming that Momoshiro tried to get on his side of the hut, and into his bed. Freak.

Which is why he's curled up in his own bed tonight, blanket wrapped tightly around him. It's cold, which is weird for a tropical island, and it's kind of lonely; Kaidoh hasn't come back yet from his late night run. Fucking Kaidoh. He _so_ does not sleep walk. And why does he always insist on coming home so late? Momoshiro ends up grumbling himself to sleep.

Kaidoh gets back to the hut, feeling exhausted and satisfied at the same time, the way he always is after a good run. He feels cool, too, because, to appease Momoshiro's stupid whining, he'd gone to dunk his head in the river and wash himself off a bit. Kaidoh really doesn't see what the big deal is about sweat. He keeps clean enough otherwise. Sweat is just sweat. It's healthy besides. And Kaidoh's pretty sure his sweat doesn't smell all that different from anyone else's. Momoshiro is just an asshole.

Not that his effort even really matters, because when Kaidoh enters the hut, Momoshiro is already asleep. Kaidoh glares at the lumpy Momoshiro shape under the blanket and then gets changed for bed, setting his sneakers and folded bandana neatly by the doorway.

He lies down and rolls over onto his side, facing the wall, where he can see his name scrawled there in Momoshiro's stupid marker writing. He stares at it for a while before letting his eyes close and trying to sleep, his fingers clutching at the fabric of his blanket.

If Momoshiro decides to be stupid again, he's going to have to really work to pry it away from him.

The hut is quiet for about half an hour, only their shared breathing fills up the space. Momoshiro is fast asleep, and probably dreaming about palm trees filled with hamburgers. Much like Kaidoh had suggested he was living on the first time they met again on this island. Momoshiro cuddles closer to his blanket; he feels cold.

And just like last night, he rolls over out of his bed, eyes open and he finally gets up. He staggers over to Kaidoh's bed, wobbling all the way over there, before he almost topples over Kaidoh's limp body, but manages to stay upright. Instead he crouches down and happily tries to get underneath Kaidoh's blanket without a word.

Kaidoh's reaction isn't as instantaneous as it was the night before—punching is kind of an instinct for him, especially if it's punching _Momoshiro_ —because this time, it takes him a moment to realize what's even happening, and then his eyelids flutter open and he rolls over, fist ready to punch Momoshiro in the face. Maybe the other cheek this time, so that he'll be sore on both sides.

Only … Momoshiro's got this weird, lop-sided smile on his face and he looks totally out of it, and Kaidoh's fist stops in mid-air and he just blinks at Momoshiro in confusion. Is he _really_ sleep-walking? Or is this just some kind of dumb prank? Momoshiro isn't bursting into laughter though. Instead he's still trying to pull Kaidoh's blanket over himself, completely oblivious to the fact that Kaidoh's staring up at him. Stupid moron.

Kaidoh's fist uncurls and he shoves at Momoshiro's chest before he can get any closer. "What the hell?" he accuses.

Like some kind of deaf robot, Momoshiro simply tries to grab Kaidoh's blanket again, completely ignoring the shove. His eyes are open, but unfocused on anything, and he keeps grinning. His grin is accompanied by a happy little squeal as he manages to worm himself underneath Kaidoh's blanket, which is warm and comforting.

He even tries to cuddle against Kaidoh, whose body is indeed a miniature powerplant, and it's a heat source sleepy Momoshiro wants.

Kaidoh squawks indignantly and pushes Momoshiro away from him, grabbing his blanket and pulling until it slides off of Momoshiro, no longer covering him. Momoshiro was right, Kaidoh doesn't really use it, but now he clutches it possessively in his fists and narrows his eyes at Momoshiro.

"Get out of my bed," he growls.

Momoshiro is sprawled half across the floor and half still in Kaidoh's bed, smiling stupidly up at the ceiling. He scratches his stomach and then just lies there, doing nothing. He spreads his arm out, and accidentally hits Kaidoh's head.

Kaidoh hisses and bats Momoshiro's arm away. He stretches a leg out to kick Momoshiro in the side, trying to nudge him all the way out of his bed. This is stupid. He just wants to sleep undisturbed!

He watches Momoshiro warily for a moment, like he's scared he's going to suddenly spring up at him, but he's just lying there, smiling like an idiot. Kaidoh wonders if Momoshiro always looks that happy when he's asleep. What a weirdo.

"Your bed is over there," Kaidoh says, pointing across the room. Momoshiro's eyes don't follow his finger at all.

Instead, Momoshiro latches onto Kaidoh's leg, wrapping his legs around it and claiming it as his property. He hums softly in delight, and then tries to scoot closer to Kaidoh once more, so that he's on the bed again.

"What the—" Kaidoh spits, eyes wide. He shakes his leg violently but Momoshiro won't let go. Momoshiro may be sleeping contentedly but Kaidoh is now, to his annoyance, very wide awake. And there's no way he's getting back to sleep as long as Momoshiro is anywhere near his bed.

"Let go of me!" he demands, and starts trying to pry Momoshiro off with his hands instead. "I'm not a pillow, dumbass."

"Ice cream!" Momoshiro blurts out, with a blissful look on his face. He reaches out to Kaidoh, his hand grabbing hold of Kaidoh's arm, so that he stops trying to pry him off. He pulls himself closer and yanks Kaidoh's arm to his face so he can rub his cheek against it.

"Hmm, warm ice cream," he mumbles.

Kaidoh scowls. Of _course_ he's thinking about food. Wait a minute. Does that mean Momoshiro thinks _Kaidoh_ is food right now? What the hell. That's really fucked up.

His arm twists around Momoshiro's neck so that he's got him half in a headlock, which is kind of weird, but better than having Momoshiro rub his face all over it like he's some kind of animal. He squirms and hisses, sounding tired and grumpy, and starts pushing with his other arm, trying to disentangle Momoshiro from him. It's kind of surprising how much strength he can still have when he's not really conscious. Surprising and really annoying.

Momoshiro doesn't budge though, he's enjoying the warmth that he's craving, so he doesn't want to let go of that. Refuses to, really. The arm around his neck feel nice and warm, kind of comforting, like Kaidoh's holding him. Like he's being wrapped in warm ice cream.

Hey, it makes sense to him.

But Kaidoh is insistent on getting him to leave, so Momoshiro can crawl back into his own bed, but Momoshiro doesn't want to. He manages to catch Kaidoh's wrist, and he pulls it, pulls on it _hard_, until he's pulled Kaidoh on top of him, who is kind of crushing him with his entire weight. It doesn't seem to faze Momoshiro though, who simply nuzzles his face into Kaidoh's neck, mumbling something about tasty palm burgers. His other arm wraps itself around Kaidoh so he can stay there, like a warm blanket. Kaidoh wouldn't give him his in the first place, so this will do.

Kaidoh grumbles, just wanting to sleep and annoyed that he's even entertaining the idea of sleeping here like this, because god, if Momoshiro were to wake up right now, that would be completely mortifying.

No, he has to get Momoshiro out of his bed.

Kaidoh wiggles around a bit until he can dislodge Momoshiro's arm from around him, pinning it above Momoshiro's head where it can't try to grab at Kaidoh again, and then, before Momoshiro can react and do anything, Kaidoh rolls off and to the other side of the bed. Which isn't all that far away, since it's a small bed, made even smaller by stupid Momoshiro's presence.

"But you promised to feed me cake!" Momoshiro whines as Kaidoh's warm body leaves him. He fumbles around trying to get back to that heat source. He's being constricted by Kaidoh though, and ends up looking like a baby throwing a tantrum, whining for cake. He reaches out for Kaidoh with one of his free hands, and ends up facepalming Kaidoh right in the face.

Kaidoh snarls and shoves at Momoshiro again, managing to throw him off the bed. He's starting to lose patience, feeling tired and cranky. And annoyed that Momoshiro is able to sleep through all of this.

If Kaidoh were sleeping and Momoshiro were doing any of this to _him_, he's pretty sure he'd wake up instantly. Well, that's kind of what happened last night, and Momoshiro ended up with a fist in his face because of Kaidoh's trigger-happy punching.

"You already had your damn cake," he points out, and flings his blanket at Momoshiro's head. "Now go back to your bed already."

Momoshiro shoves his face into the warm blanket and sighs. "Hmm," he says, not moving, still lying on the cold wooden floor with his shirt halfway up his chest. "Your cake," he speaks into the blanket. Then it's silent for a bit, Momoshiro not moving or saying anything. He seems to be content for now.

But the floor is cold, and it's not very comfortable, so Momoshiro wiggles around his body, trying to wrap himself in the blanket, but failing. He looks like a fish on dry land, flopping around aimlessly. And just as suddenly, he stops, staying dead still, except for the slight shivering of his body because he's cold, and can't get the blanket around himself.

Kaidoh rolls his eyes. As much as he really doesn't have much sympathy for Momoshiro's weird sleep walking problem, the idiot does look kind of pitiful just lying there on the floor. Kind of cold too. Which Kaidoh doesn't understand, because he doesn't feel cold at all, but that's probably just because Kaidoh is tough and Momoshiro is a wimp. Obviously.

The blanket is all bunched up, not really covering much of Momoshiro's body, so Kaidoh crawls off his bed and pulls it down over him. He feels kind of like he's wrapping up a baby. That's what Momoshiro seems like right now; a big dumb baby who keeps whining incoherently about food. It should be really annoying, but for some reason Kaidoh can't find it in himself to glare at him, simply because Momoshiro just looks really helpless, and he's still shivering a bit. The wooden floor is cool under Kaidoh's feet, so it must be cold to lie down on, too.

Kaidoh gives Momoshiro an appraising look like he's trying to decide whether to just leave him there, try and roll or carry him back to his own bed, or give up and let him sleep in Kaidoh's bed instead. Kaidoh knows the floor isn't comfortable, but it's Momoshiro's own fault for coming over to his side of the hut in the first place, so he'd kind of deserve it.

Maybe there's some kind of code word he has to say, like a hypnotist would. Something he can do to just make Momoshiro go away on his own. The punch seemed to work pretty effectively last time, but if Kaidoh does that again Momoshiro will wake up hurting and probably accuse Kaidoh of having more weird dreams about him. Which Kaidoh certainly isn't. At least, not dreams specifically about Momoshiro climbing into his bed. Well, at least not recently.

He leans down, face close to Momoshiro's and says, in his best attempt at a compelling voice, "Don't you want to go back to sleep in your own bed?" He grimaces, feeling totally idiotic. It's not like Momoshiro will listen to him. He'd have a better shot getting Momoshiro to take advice from an ice cream cone right now.

"Hmmm," says Momoshiro as if he's contemplating the question. He pulls the blankets closer to himself, feeling warm and comfy. "No. I want to sleep with K-chan," he says with a pleasant giggle.

One of Momoshiro's hands slip out from underneath the blanket, and he reaches Kaidoh's ankle. He rests his hand on top of Kaidoh's bare foot, with his fingers brushing against the skin. "K-chan," he murmurs. K-chan's feet smell, he wants to say, but is too tired to talk much this time.

For several seconds, Kaidoh can't seem to do anything but blink down at Momoshiro. No one's called Kaidoh that since, well, kindergarten, and even if Momoshiro is just dreaming, and probably talking to some imaginary hamburger superhero instead of Kaidoh, it still makes Kaidoh's insides feel kind of weird and tingly and warm. It's not just the old nickname, but the way Momoshiro said it that riles Kaidoh up, because it sounds strangely familiar.

But that's probably just a general feeling of nostalgia, and anyway Momoshiro isn't talking to _Kaidoh_. He hasn't been this whole time. Hell, he probably thinks Kaidoh's blanket is named K-chan, for all Kaidoh knows. He's off in his own stupid little world, talking to food, trying to steal blankets, mistaking Kaidoh for ice cream. And now he's just saying random names.

And anyway, Kaidoh isn't K-chan anymore. He hasn't been for a long time now.

Kaidoh kicks Momoshiro's hand with his foot. "Get off the floor, moron, or you'll regret it in the morning."

Momoshiro bats his hand away on instinct, slapping at his ankle. "It _is_ morning, what are you talking about K-chan, you're crazy," Momoshiro says with an annoyed huff. "Now let's nap, I'm cold, and this dirt isn't comfortable."

In Momoshiro's mind, he's having some kind of picnic with Kaidoh, eating ice cream, but Kaidoh threw him off the blanket, and now he's lying down in the dirt, away from the blanket _and_ his food. And he's tired too. And Kaidoh's being a big meanie.

"Smells like cheese in here," Momoshiro notes as he sniffs Kaidoh's foot. "Did you bring cheese? We could make a cheeseburger with it!" And cheeseburgers are always good in Momoshiro's mind. "Or cheesecake. Yes, let's make a cheesecake, you like cakes anyway."

Kaidoh rolls his eyes. How the hell is Momoshiro capable of talking this much even when he's asleep? And who does he think he's talking to anyway? And damn, is he _always_ hungry?

He tugs his foot away from Momoshiro's face. "Shut up," he grumbles. This is all kind of messing with his head now. Stop calling him K-chan! It's making Kaidoh feel weird, bringing up all these old memories, only now they're getting mixed up with Momoshiro too, and maybe it's because Kaidoh's tired so he's not really thinking clearly, but somehow … that could almost make sense.

No. No, it couldn't. That's idiotic … Right? Kaidoh's stomach flips nervously. That would be … that would mean … What the hell. Now Kaidoh's starting to feel like maybe _he's_ the one who's dreaming, like his subconscious is pulling things together like puzzle pieces, and for some bizarre reason, it all fits.

But this isn't his dream. It's Momoshiro's. And who knows how Momoshiro's brain works. He's smelling Kaidoh's foot, after all. Obviously there's no actual meaning behind all the stuff he's saying. It's probably completely random.

"I'm going back to bed," Kaidoh says in annoyance.

"Me too!" says Momoshiro happily. He struggles against the blanket in vain, trying to get up, but he's still just a helpless baby. "I'm stuck," he says in a frustrated voice. "Help me unstuck, K-chan."

"I'm not—" Kaidoh starts to protest, but Momoshiro's voice is so plaintive and he's saying Kaidoh's childhood nickname like it comes naturally to him, and Kaidoh really can't resist it. Whatever, it's just a dumb dream he's having anyway, so maybe Kaidoh can indulge him. It's not like it's real.

He bends down and helps Momoshiro out of the blanket, since he really is hopeless, struggling against it like he's tied up in knots. Stupid idiot. It's almost a little endearing.

"C'mon, time for sleep, okay?" he says, in a tone he'd never use if Momoshiro were awake. But, well, shoving didn't work, kicking didn't work, so maybe if Kaidoh just tries to be nice he can get Momoshiro back into bed and quiet again.

And yes, that is exactly a tone that gets Momoshiro to agree with anything. "Okay," he says with a smile.

Free from his constraints, Momoshiro manages to stand up straight again—wobbling on his feet, gravity is messing up here a bit—then he picks up at the blanket as well. He wraps it around himself, and staggers back to Kaidoh's bed and falls down like a dead corpse.

"Naptime!" he exclaims. He's patiently waiting for Kaidoh to return as well, so they can be warm together, and take a nice comfy nap.

Kaidoh huffs, and looks across the hut at Momoshiro's vacant bed. Then he looks at his own which is now occupied by a very happy-looking Momoshiro. His head is telling him that he should just go take Momoshiro's bed, get back at this dumbass for stealing his, and get a decent night's rest. But the rest of his body is saying otherwise. His chest is squeezing up at the thought of just lying next to Momoshiro, warm and close, all night long. It sounds nice. And Momoshiro's face looks soft and content, like maybe he wouldn't hate the idea either.

And, well, Kaidoh's bed _is_ closer at the moment. And it's his damn bed. He shouldn't have to go sleep somewhere else! Sure, that's as good a reason as any. And somehow Kaidoh manages to persuade his brain that it's a good idea. His pulse is already leaping in agreement.

He crawls into the bed, sliding next to Momoshiro. It's kind of impossible for them to not be touching at least a little, since this was made as a single bed, after all. Kaidoh sighs as his shoulder brushes against Momoshiro's, feeling a warm current spread through him all the way down his arm to his fingertips. He closes his eyes and relaxes a little.

When Kaidoh has settled down enough, Momoshiro spreads his smile even wider. He rolls over onto his side, so that he's facing Kaidoh, which is his warm heat source. And after all, he's cold, so why not take advantage of that fact? Kaidoh doesn't need to hog all his heat! So Momoshiro slips one arm around Kaidoh's waist, and the other one is pressed up against Kaidoh's warm chest. He moves closer, curling up against Kaidoh's warm body, it's like a body pillow to him.

"We eat cake when we wake up, right, K-chan?" Momoshiro murmurs against Kaidoh's chest, his face almost squashed up against it.

Kaidoh sighs, not even trying to move away from Momoshiro this time. "Sure, whatever," he says, playing along with Momoshiro's weird dream, and answering as K-chan. It doesn't feel wrong for Momoshiro to call him that—probably because Momoshiro calls him a whole slew of different things, so Kaidoh's used to it. Yeah, that must be it. But more than that, it feels nice. It really does feel like suddenly Kaidoh's been pulled into a dream himself. And he doesn't see the harm in enjoying it while it lasts.

Momoshiro hiccups and giggles in response. "Good, good. I'll give you a flower afterwards … now sleeptime … you're warm." Momoshiro rests his face against Kaidoh's collarbone, sighing against it as his muscles relax, and his legs try to tangle themselves with Kaidoh's (he's seeking heat, of course).

And just like that, Momoshiro finally drifts off into sleep for real this time, his body unmoving and his breathing steady.

Kaidoh lies awake for a while longer, just feeling Momoshiro against him, warm and solid and holding him close. It's really nice, and really unexpected, since if Momoshiro were awake and coherent this would just be embarrassing. Well, Momoshiro wouldn't be doing it in the first place, in that case. But right now he is, just sleeping contentedly against Kaidoh and it feels so comfortable Kaidoh doesn't want to ever have to wake up.

He can feel Momoshiro's heartbeat thumping reassuringly, feel his breath coming out, soft and steady against his neck. It's lulling Kaidoh to sleep, and much as Kaidoh wants to hold onto this—this weird imagined parallel universe where he's suddenly five-years-old again—before it disappears, he's too tired to stay awake, and eventually gives in to sleep.

He'll forget about it by morning, he's sure. After all, it's not real. Momoshiro is just rambling as usual, saying things that have no meaning. K-chan is just a random name his subconscious came up with. It could have been anything.

There's still a small insistent knot at the pit of Kaidoh's stomach, but he's sleeping now, so it goes ignored.

Together they sleep for a while, simply cuddled up against each other (mostly Momo grabbing onto Kaidoh for dear life), and Momoshiro has a very nice and comfortable sleep. When the sun slowly starts to rise though, it gets warmer, and Kaidoh's body already feels really warm, that Momoshiro starts to get a little sweaty, until it gets really hot and he rolls away from Kaidoh. He crawls over Kaidoh's body—not being gentle at all—and goes back to his own bed, which is nice and cool now. He's had his heater for the night, now he can sleep alone again.

So Momoshiro drops himself on top of his bed, completely unaware that he did anything at all that night, and goes back to sleep.

When he wakes up again that morning, he has no recollection that he sleepwalked at all. Instead, Momoshiro thinks he had a very nice dream about being hugged by ice cream. Which was fucking weird.

Momoshiro proudly declares Kaidoh's making it all up, because he woke up in his own bed, which is proof he doesn't sleepwalk—and he certainly never tried to grab his blanket!

Kaidoh just sputters at him in confusion, then glares and goes out for his run.

Maybe Momoshiro is right and Kaidoh really is imagining all of it. Maybe his subconscious is simply going haywire and inventing weird dreams where Momoshiro wants to sleep in his bed at night and calls him K-chan and smiles at him all the time.

Well, if it was just a dream, it was a really nice one.


	35. Birthday Boy

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **logs have finally caught up to real time, as of now, we're still in the middle of writing new ones, so expect slower updates.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo, Hazue) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** K+

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Momo slept in Kaidoh's bed once more  
- Hazue's birthday isn't known, so I set it to October 4.

**Date:** October 4, 2012

* * *

"Happy birthday!" Momoshiro throws fake confetti (shredded paper flakes) into the air, which lands on top of Hazue's head.

"Uhh," Hazue says. He's a bit perplexed, standing awkwardly at the entrance of Kaidoh's and Momoshiro's hut.

"Come on in, come on in!" Momoshiro slides an arm around Hazue's shoulders and pulls him inside of their hut, where he and Kaidoh had been waiting for the younger boy to show up. But today, he turns into a man, an eighteen year old one.

Hazue gives a tiny little wave at his brother Kaidoh, who is sitting down at the makeshift table at the center. On top of the table is a plate with a little cupcake. It has a candle stuck in the middle of it. Hazue guesses that's his birthday cake. Momoshiro forces him to sit down on the opposite side of Kaidoh, and he eagerly sits on the side. Hazue feels a bit shy with all the attention he's getting, and clenches his fingers around the hem of his shirt; it's a habit when he's feeling nervous.

Kaidoh gives his brother a small smile.

"Happy birthday," he says. He knows this island probably isn't the ideal place to spend his birthday, so Kaidoh wants to do his best to make it a good and memorable day for him. He's even skipped his training—reluctantly, but it's only one day out of the year, and he'll make up for it tomorrow. Besides, Hazue had said he wants to do things together today, and maybe that will include some running. That's how Kaidoh spent his birthday this year, after all.

"Thank you," mumbles Hazue bashfully. "I'd have liked to spend it with mom and dad too though," he says.

Momoshiro leans over to mess up Hazue's hair. "Cheer up—you're both alive at least. You'll see them soon again."

Hazue manages to feel a little relieved at that. "Yeah, I guess that's true." He certainly doesn't want to spend his entire life running on the beach and eating fish. "So uhm, is this cupcake for me?" He points at it.

"_Cake_," Momoshiro corrects him. He slips his hand into the pocket of his shorts and pulls out his zippo lighter (which he has gotten quite dependent on). He lights the small blue candle on the cupcake, then sits back and brims at Hazue, waiting for him to blow it out.

"Well, go on, blow it out!" Momoshiro urges him.

Hazue chuckles, before leaning over the crate, puckering out his lips and blowing at the candle. The flame wickers, before it sizzles out. He looks up at Kaidoh with a smile on his face. Perhaps he'll get some presents? Not that he could get any real good presents … but if Momoshiro can get rainbow roses, Hazue expects something better than simply cake.

Kaidoh's cheeks go a little pink and he reaches behind himself to pull something out and slide it across the floor to his brother. Momoshiro lets out a snort when he sees, and Kaidoh glares at him, before looking back at Hazue and saying, "I made you a set of dumbbells. They're just like the ones I have, but now you can have your own so you won't have to always borrow mine when you want to train."

Not that Hazue has ever really asked to borrow them. But maybe he just felt uncomfortable doing so since they were Kaidoh's … Well, he doesn't need to anymore. And his brother _has_ been training on his own, he even posted to his journal about it! So Kaidoh's sure he'll appreciate the gift. At least he hopes he will. He looks at Hazue expectantly.

Hazue looks at the coconuts fastened on a stick with a look of horror in his face. He quickly turns away and covers his face with his hand, pretending to be happy.

"T-thank you," he manages to say. Great. More training. Hazue doesn't know if he'll survive as much as Kaidoh wants him to train, but he really doesn't have it in him to go against Kaidoh's wishes either. Not after the storm, and putting his brother into danger because he lied his way out of training. That won't happen anymore. That, and Kaidoh looks really happy, and he doesn't want to make him sad by not liking his present.

Hazue slides it over to his side, and puts it beside himself. It looks like one big joke, but he knows Kaidoh is humourless, so he tries to smile at him. "I hope it won't break." He hopes it does.

Momoshiro huffs out loud to get his attention. "I told him not to give it to you. Come on Kaidoh, can't you give your little brother something better? Those dumbnuts are stupid as hell."

"Shut up," Kaidoh growls, "no they aren't." He looks to Hazue for reassurance. They aren't stupid. _Momoshiro_ is stupid.

Hazue thinks they're stupid. "No, they're fine. You're very crafty." He hopes by paying compliments to Kaidoh's tendency to make things, it'll divert attention to the fact he doesn't want to train at all.

"Well, _I_ think they're still stupid. Stupid dumbnuts. Can't you make something else? Give him a bandana, hehe."

Kaidoh grimaces. What kind of suggestion is that? He's never seen Hazue wear a bandana. Does his brother even like them? Kaidoh realizes he's never actually asked. Just like he never asked his brother if he liked running as much as he did, just assumed he would.

"Do you, uh, want a bandana?" he asks hesitantly, then before his brother can answer, Kaidoh volunteers, "I'll make you one if you like."

This time Hazue's eyes light up, and he nods his head up and down. "Yeah! A cool blue one! Can I have my name sewed in it too, I know you can do things like that … hope it's not too much trouble." After all, Kaidoh already gave him a present—albeit one he doesn't like—he shouldn't be giving him more. He bashfully reaches for the cupcake and breaks a piece off, stuffing it into his mouth.

"Oh, so you _can_ sew names," says Momoshiro, and he looks pointedly at Kaidoh. His eyes saying; so you could have sewn in Momo-chan in mine.

Kaidoh shrugs. "Of course I can sew names," he replies, narrowing his eyes at Momoshiro. "It's not like it's hard." He returns his gaze to his brother and his eyes soften, because Kaidoh's actually really happy that his brother seems so enthusiastic about the idea. He likes seeing Hazue excited about things, especially something Kaidoh likes, like bandanas.

"I'll make you a really nice one," he promises.

"No rush or anything," says Hazue, not wanting to burden his brother. "But thank you, I'll really treasure it! And uhm," he looks at the coconuts, "those too. I will use them … sometime. Maybe after I've run." Which would be never, hopefully. Though Hazue _has_ been running, which was his way of making up to his brother that he lied to him about his ankle.

"Well if you're going to do that, I want my name on mine too," says Momoshiro, feeling left out. "Since it already says Momo, just add the chan part after it."

"It's not _your_ birthday," Kaidoh grumbles at him.

"It was before! All I got was a fake cake."

"You've had a real one since then," Kaidoh points out. "_And_ you got a hammock." He glances awkwardly at his brother, hoping Hazue doesn't want one of those too, since it kind of took a lot of work to put together—and Hazue already managed to build one of those himself.

Hazue simply stays quiet; he's gotten a bit used to their quarreling. Though the insults, he probably could never get used to hearing those come out of his brother's mouth. He simply continues to eat the pretty decent cupcake on his own, completely quiet.

"So what, that wasn't a birthday cake, besides, we made it together, so that doesn't count as a gift. And sure, I have the hammock, but I asked for my name! And burgers. But since I don't have burgers, I want my name. Shouldn't be too hard, it's only a few letters." Momoshiro's been wanting his name stitched into the bandana for months now. If Hazue is getting his, then, well, Momoshiro wants his too! It's just so _unfair._ Stupid Kaidoh.

Why is he acting so nice to his brother anyway, why can't he act this nice and accommodating to Momoshiro?

Kaidoh looks down at the floor of the hut and then huffs.

Maybe it's because Hazue is here and it's his birthday and it would be rude to fight, or maybe it's because Momoshiro's simply getting better at wearing Kaidoh down and making him bend to his every whim, because Kaidoh says, "Fine, whatever." Stupid Momoshiro can be so demanding … But it's not like Kaidoh's doing anything to discourage it.

"_If_ I have time …" he adds dismissively, lips pulling into frown. It seems like a pointless thing to say, a futile effort to sound less agreeable. They both know Kaidoh has the time.

"Alright!" Momoshiro cheers. He throws a fist into the air, before he points it at Kaidoh; he deserves a fistbump.

Kaidoh rolls his eyes but his hand moves on instinct and bumps Momoshiro's fist. Even if it's for something stupid, he's not going to leave him hanging.

Then he looks back at his brother, who's just been sitting there quietly and patiently, with his cake, probably similarly annoyed that Momoshiro had to go and whine selfishly about presents for himself. It's _Hazue's_ birthday after all.

"Okay, enough about Momoshiro," Kaidoh says, throwing a cursory glare at Momoshiro as he mentions him before returning his gaze to his brother. "What do _you_ want to do today?"

"Uhm, uhh." Hazue feels put on the spot. He hadn't really thought about what he'd do, as long as he was doing it with Kaidoh he'd be fine with anything. Well no, that's a lie, as long as it doesn't include training, then Hazue will be fine with anything else.

"How about, uhm, going to see someplace nice? Or just walk around a bit, exploring areas we haven't been to yet." Though Hazue doubts Kaidoh hasn't run all around the island by now, he should know pretty much everything by now.

"Sounds good to me!" says Momoshiro.

"Yeah, okay," Kaidoh agrees. He wants to suggest that they _jog_ around a bit instead, but it's Hazue's choice, and if he wants to walk then that's fine too. Kaidoh won't make him do anything he doesn't want to do on his birthday.

"Great, but let's not walk too far, I don't want to get us lost or anything," say Hazue. He bashfully continues to eat the rest of the small cupcake.

"Hey, hey, Kaidoh." Momoshiro nudges his knee which is right next to him in his reach. "Let's take him to Dumbnuts Cove instead. He hasn't been there yet. And it's cool!" Though the reason why he hasn't been there yet, is that it was basically Kaidoh's and Momoshiro's 'secret' spot. Or something like that. But it's Hazue's birthday, he should be getting to see something exciting.

"Dumbnuts ... cove?" Hazue repeats slowly.

"That's just what Momoshiro calls it," Kaidoh says flatly. "It's pretty nice though, yeah."

"What do you mean that's just what _I_ call it," Momoshiro throws back at him. "It's what we both call it." Momoshiro named it, and Kaidoh didn't have any objections to it.

Kaidoh scowls, wanting to bat Momoshiro in the shoulder for insisting on giving everything a stupid name, but he stops himself, because it would be impolite to fight in front of his brother on his birthday.

Instead he just shrugs and says, "Whatever," then looks at Hazue and adds, "But anyway, it's not that far from here."

"Yes, come on, let's get out of this boring hut." Momoshiro gets up, being really enthusiastic about the entire proposal, and simply dashes out of the hut before anyone else can get a word in.

Hazue stares at the entrance as a small piece of cake falls out of his open mouth. He clears his throat and looks back to Kaidoh. "I guess, we should follow?" he suggests.

Kaidoh nods. "Yeah, let's go." He stands up and toes the table with his sneaker. "Do you want to run there?"

"Uh, uh." Quick, think of an excuse, Hazue—you can do it! "Why don't you go run alone with Momo-nii-chan? He seems eager to run, and it gives you two something to do again." There, play on Kaidoh's feelings for Momoshiro, totally legit and fair.

"Uhh…" Kaidoh stutters. He knows what happens when he's alone with Momoshiro and it isn't exactly something he can say out loud. Ever. Especially not to his _brother_.

"No, that's okay," he says. His face suddenly feels a little warm so he quickly adds, "Because it's your birthday after all. I'd rather spend time with you. Come on, we can just walk it. It's not that far."

Hearing his big brother say he wants to spend time with him makes Hazue break out into a smile. It looks rather uncharacteristic on a Kaidoh's face—they naturally look rather scary—but Hazue is not one to hide his smiles. He nods at his brother before he eats the rest of the cake and stands up.

"Alright, let's go follow Momo-nii-chan then," then with a laugh he adds, "if he isn't there already. He looks rather excited for it not being his own birthday."

Kaidoh snorts. "Yeah, he's an idiot," he says, but his tone is more fond than annoyed. He heads to the doorway and waits for his brother to follow. He can see Momoshiro in the distance, halfway down the beach already.

Hazue follows, going out and down the steps, walking into the sand alongside his brother. This is actually kind of nice. When he's not being forced to run for hours. He still looks up to his brother, after all. He certainly has a kind of determination that he hasn't seen in anyone else. And now he's here, spending time on Hazue's birthday. It makes him happy.

It also makes Hazue happy to see Kaidoh being more relaxed around other people. Other people referring to Momoshiro of course (he hasn't really seen Kaidoh with anyone else, he wonders why that is). But then again, it's because Kaidoh _likes_ him, so obviously he's going to give him special treatment. Hazue wants to help his big brother out in this regard.

"Did you do any more runs with Momo-nii-chan after that one time?" Hazue asks with a big knowing smile on his face.

Kaidoh stuffs his hands into his pockets as he starts walking. "No … um, I haven't gone running with him." It's a true statement but for some reason Kaidoh feels like he's telling a gigantic lie. He kicks up a clump of sand as he walks. "The weather's pretty nice today, huh," he observes, straining to find something else to talk about.

"Doesn't that mean today's a good day to ask Momo-nii-chan for another run?" Meaning not him. He can help his brother _and_ get out of running. Two birds with one stone!

"I don't know," Kaidoh says, feeling his face heat up again. He glances over at his brother who's walking beside him and looking up at him hopefully. Maybe if he agrees then Hazue won't ask any more questions about Momoshiro, because Kaidoh would really like to stop blushing.

Anytime now. That would be great.

"Yeah, maybe," he agrees.

"That's great! You should definitely ask him then. See, I told you he'd agree if you'd ask, wasn't I right?" says Hazue in an excited voice.

Kaidoh gives his brother a slight smile in return, like he's trying to appease him, and then turns to look ahead of him again. "I … I guess so," he says dismissively, because this isn't the kind of conversation that comes easy for him.

Momoshiro who had been running ahead, finally turns around to see if he's actually being followed. He sees the Kaidoh brothers walking towards him at their own leisure. He waves at them, trying to get them to hurry up. He sees Hazue wave back, to which he rolls his eyes; he isn't saying _hello_, he's saying _walk faster_. He turns back around and starts walking again.

"Have you … you know, tried anything else besides running with him?" Hazue asks innocently. He could be doing other things with Momoshiro as well. Like fishing or cooking or something.

Kaidoh's cheeks burn. "What?! No. _No_ …" He unconsciously starts walking faster like he's trying to escape. "Nothing," he says firmly. Biggest lie in the world. Kaidoh glares at Momoshiro's back up ahead, because somehow this is his fault for leaving him alone with his brother and all these weird questions.

Hazue tries to keep up. "Oh that's okay, no need to be embarrassed about it. It'll take time, I guess. Have you tried something like cooking together? Or perhaps fishing together? Those kind of things means you can spend more time together."

"Oh ... yeah," Kaidoh replies, sounding distracted. "That kind of stuff. Sure, we do things like that sometimes." He huffs, then adds in what he hopes is a casual tone, "And well, we share a hut so I guess that's ... spending time together." He wonders if he sounds at all convincing.

Suddenly Hazue's ears burn with red. He looks down at the sand and clenches his t-shirt with his hands, feeling completely awkward all of the sudden. "Oh. You mean privately. Y-yeah, that's ... spending time together … uhm ... yeah." Maybe his brother wasn't as innocent as he thought?

Kaidoh looks equally horrified and sputters a little before he's able to speak, all his defensive instincts kicking in.

"Don't say it like that! That... We don't... No! I _meant_ I have to see him all the time since he lives in my hut. I didn't mean ..." He turns his head and hisses. He can't say what it was he didn't mean, because it's not something he can say out loud. It's not really something he even wants to think about. But now he's sort of stuck on it. Which is mortifying. Hazue's interrogation is making it hard for Kaidoh to focus on other things.

"Didn't mean …?" Hazue echoes, a bit curious. But he quickly drops the issue. "Seeing someone is not the same as spending time together. You talk to him, right? I'm sure you two have loads to talk about!"

Kaidoh shrugs. "Of course I talk to him." Although it's often just Momoshiro rambling about something stupid and Kaidoh interjecting with an insult every now and then but that counts. Probably. At any rate, he still talks to Momoshiro more than other people.

Except for where their whole weird _thing_ is concerned. They don't talk about that at all.

"Well," Kaidoh adds, looking hesitantly at his brother, "I don't talk to him about everything ... But I don't have to, right?" Maybe there's some kind of rule about spending time with people that Kaidoh doesn't know about.

"Well, no you don't _have_ to, but …" Hazue looks at Momoshiro's retreating back. "Talking to someone you like about various kinds of things is fun and exciting …" He looks at Kaidoh this time.

"Don't you want to know more about Momo-nii-chan?" Not that Kaidoh didn't already have enough information about him (Hazue knows of his 'habit' concerning Momoshiro), but finding things out through general conversation is always a good thing.

"Yeah," Kaidoh admits. But Kaidoh isn't really the type to just come out and ask questions. If he's curious about something he usually expresses it with indifference, maybe even outright annoyance. Starting conversations is not Kaidoh's strong point. Neither is steering them toward specific topics.

He looks down at his shoes which are sinking into the sand as he walks along. "But I'm not really that great at ..." He trails off, grasping for words. "... talking about things." Great, he can't even seem to talk about talking.

Hazue shrugs with a chuckle. "I guess with Momo-nii-chan around, that doesn't seem to matter much. But you should definitely try! Ask him how his day went, or perhaps if he would like something for dinner, or if he's sleeping alright—wasn't he complaining he was cold a few days ago—or even ask him what he does for a hobby." Or perhaps ask him if he has a girlfriend. That's something Hazue doesn't know about either, and it's a pretty important fact. So he nudges Kaidoh softly in his side.

"Have you asked … if he has a girlfriend already?"

"G-girlfriend?" Kaidoh repeats. He hadn't thought about it until just now but his brother has a point ... What if Momoshiro is dating someone? What if there's some girl waiting for him back in Japan? What then?

"I don't ... I don't know if he does," Kaidoh says. Momoshiro's never mentioned a girlfriend, but there are a lot of things he doesn't mention so maybe it's just another weird secret.

He doesn't _think_ Momoshiro has a girlfriend ... He'd better not ... Just the thought of it makes Kaidoh kind of want to punch Momoshiro in the face and he screws his mouth into a grimace.

"Oh …" Hazue hangs his head down. "That's kind of important to know if you want to … you know." He doesn't want to outright say it, but yeah, he means being together with Momoshiro. If Momoshiro has a girlfriend waiting for him back in Japan, that means all hope is lost. That, and Momoshiro kind of needs to be gay too. Well, Hazue is hoping for the best.

"You should ask him that first before you do anything else … it'd be a bit weird to try anything if he's already in a relationship with someone else."

_Kind of late for that_, Kaidoh wants to say. Why hadn't he thought about this before? Why hadn't it ever even occurred to him? It makes him feel kind of sour and annoyed and sick to his stomach.

But Momoshiro wouldn't just do those things with Kaidoh if he had a girlfriend waiting for him ... Right? He's an asshole but he's not _that kind_ of asshole. At least, Kaidoh doesn't think so. But even his attempts to reassure himself leave him feeling on edge. He needs to find out.

But he can't just walk up to Momoshiro and demand an answer. "That's kind of a strange question to just ask ..." he thinks out loud, "after all this time ..." And all the things that have happened.

"All the more reason to ask him, Kaoru-nii-chan. Just, uhm, start up a conversation about what you'd do if you'd get back home. Ask him if he's got someone waiting for him. That sounds good, right? You don't have to outright ask him … I don't think so."

"But that sounds like ..." Like Kaidoh cares about what Momoshiro does once they get off this island. And he does. He doesn't want to just part ways again and go back to the radio silence he'd never gotten used to these past five years.

But saying that outright sounds embarrassing. Even suggesting it seems weird. And Kaidoh definitely doesn't want to sound like he's jealous of whatever hypothetical girlfriend Momoshiro might have.

Because Kaidoh doesn't want to be Momoshiro's girlfriend. Gross.

He looks at his brother, his face a mess of confused emotions. "I can't."

"Uhh … do you want me to ask then?" Hazue helpfully suggests. He knows his brother probably wouldn't have the guts to even ask Momoshiro in an indirect way.

Kaidoh frowns. "Y-yeah ..." he says, sounding quiet and defeated. It's just a dumb question. It shouldn't be this hard.

"Don't ... um ... tell him I want to know. Or anything." It's already embarrassing enough that he needs his little brother to talk to Momoshiro for him.

"Alright, I won't." Hazue gives him a confident nod. "Momo-nii-chan, wait up!" he calls out, and then starts sprinting towards the other man.

Momoshiro had been happily walking ahead so far, not paying much attention to the brothers talking (hey, he's giving them both brotherly time!) He slows down and turns his head around to see Hazue catching up to him. Hm. He was under the impression Hazue hated running, maybe he doesn't?

"Hey, what's up? Looking to score another present out of me for your birthday?" he asks teasingly when Hazue runs up next to him.

"Oh no, I could never ask for more, the muffin was already nice." Hazue gives him a slight smile.

"Cake. That was a cake," Momoshiro corrects him. Well, it _would_ have been a bigger cake if they had more flour left.

"Alright, cake then. Tasted good too. Do you cook a lot at home?" Smooth Hazue, talk about home, then he can ask about Momoshiro's hypothetical girlfriend.

"No, not really. Don't have the money for it, you know. I mostly live off of instant ramen … and other things that are cheap at the conbi."

There, now's your chance Hazue! "Oh, so you don't have a girlfriend who cooks for you at home?" Wow, he's surprised how easy that sounded. Kaidoh should be taking notes from this.

Momoshiro frowns at Hazue, but then goes slightly pink, feeling a bit embarrassed that he'll have to say no to this question. "No … I don't have a girlfriend." Since about five years ago? Not to mention … that … _thing_ … with Kaidoh. That would never happen if he had a girlfriend. Yeah. He's sure of it.

"Oh. That's good. I mean, uhh, cool. No, I mean, uhm, yay single life, right? I don't have one either." Hazue feels his tongue twisting up as he tries to make it sound like he's not glad. "Kaoru-nii-chan doesn't have a girlfriend either."

Again, Momoshiro frowns. He wonders if stuttering and flailing around runs in the family. Then he snorts at what Hazue said. "Well, that much is obvious. He could never get anyone to like him."

Hazue looks crestfallen, and is also insulted at the way Momoshiro is talking about his brother. "Don't say that, Kaoru-nii-chan has many good points. I'm sure he could get plenty of people to like him and date him." He feels like he needs to stand up for Kaidoh and put in a good word. He won't stand for someone slandering him.

Even if said slander might have a grain of truth.

Momoshiro laughs. "Well aren't you adorable. Please, do tell, what are your 'Kaoru-nii-chan's' good points, huh?" Kaidoh sure doesn't have any that Momoshiro knows of. And he knows Kaidoh pretty well.

Hazue gulps. "Uhm. Well. I uhh … he … uhm." He nervously shoots a glance back at Kaidoh; he hadn't expected the conversation to steer in this way. "He can run really well," he says, after grasping as nothing.

"Yeah, I'd call that a bad point. He runs way too fucking much. He's a freak." Momoshiro laughs again. Hazue sure is adorable for thinking anyone could ever like his brother and want to _date_ him. Hah! Preposterous! He doesn't even know what that word means!

"He's not a freak!" Hazue immediately replies. "He just … really likes it. He has good focus. That's a good thing."

"That just means he's obsessed with it, squirt. Being obsessed with something isn't a good point."

Hazue pouts. Momoshiro is messing everything up. He's supposed to _like_ Kaidoh, and be impressed by him. Not … this, where he seems to not think much of Kaidoh at all. "He's very kind!" he squeaks out.

"Not to me," Momoshiro grumbles. Kaidoh's never 'kind' to him. "Kaidoh's just a stupid grump all the time. I don't think anyone could ever tolerate him enough to like him. He'll just be forever alone, picking up dumbnuts day in and day out—and running every other chance he gets. He never does anything different anyway, and he certainly isn't kind to people! He just seems to hate everyone instead, or tolerate them enough to not want to punch them. He was like that in middle school as well. Obsessed with training, never made friends, never knew how to have fun—hah! While I was trying to get him to do things for fun, he would just reject any offer and go training instead. Fucking freak." Momoshiro suddenly turns around to face Kaidoh who is walking behind them.

"You hear that Kaidoh? You're a fucking freak!"

Kaidoh stops in his tracks and all the color drains from his face. "What the hell?!" he spits, and glares accusingly at his brother—_What did he say to him anyway?_—before quickly stomping towards both of them.

"_You're_ the freak!" he shoots back, immaturely poking his finger into Momoshiro's chest. He's annoyed that he doesn't even have enough context to properly defend himself.

Momoshiro huffs and slaps Kaidoh's finger away, shoving at his chest. "I'm not the one with the obsession. Freak."

Hazue looks at the both of them with worried eyes. He looks at Kaidoh. "Momo-nii-chan doesn't mean that …"

"What obsession?!" Kaidoh demands. He glances frantically between Momoshiro and his brother. "There is no obsession!" His voice cracks a little with panic and nerves.

He eyes his brother with a look of betrayal. "Hazue…?" He said he wasn't going to say anything!

"Momo-nii-chan means—"

"You _do_ have an obsession! Obsession with training!" Momoshiro yells at him. "Always training all the damn time. It's all you do. And you force Hazue-chan to do it too. That makes you a fucking freak."

Hazue tugs on Momoshiro's shirt. "I don't think that's wise to—"

Kaidoh cuts in with a growl, completely ignoring Hazue's attempt to mediate. He's too busy trying to shove his fist into Momoshiro's shirt so he can pull him close and yell in his face. "If _I_ have an obsession with training then _you_ have an obsession with complaining about it, dumbass!"

He hisses and lets go of Momoshiro's shirt, shoving him back again. "You're probably just jealous I have more strength and endurance than you!"

"Kaoru-nii-chan, I don't think that's what he—"

"What the hell—who would be jealous of the results from your stupid training!? It's the dumbest thing in the world!" This time Momoshiro grabs Kaidoh's shirt and shakes him around. "I am _not_ jealous, you freak!"

"It's not dumb, asshole!" Kaidoh seizes Momoshiro by the collar and glares at him, his face all angry and contorted. "And you'd know that if you actually _tried_ it sometimes, you lazy idiot."

There's a small voice in his brain telling him that he should stop before he pummels Momoshiro in the face with his fist—because Hazue is right there, and that's a terrible example for an older brother to set—but that voice is currently being drowned out entirely by irritation.

"If you're not jealous then what the hell is your problem?! It's not like it's bothering you! You don't even have to see me do it!"

Momoshiro feels like he's going to punch Kaidoh in the face soon—Hazue entirely forgotten. "Yeah, that's right, I _don't_ see you! Asshole!" he snarls at him. They're so close to each other now, they're breathing in each other's faces, as if he's trying to punch Kaidoh with his face.

Hazue stands there next to them, hands going back and forth, wanting to pull either of them apart. This was not how it was supposed to go … He was supposed to find out Momoshiro had no girlfriend, and then happily share the news with Kaidoh. Not end up causing a weird fight between them. And if he doesn't stop them soon, it'll turn into a brawl!

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kaidoh demands, his fingers twisted up in Momoshiro's shirt like he's going to rip it. "I'm not going to do my training in the middle of the hut just so you can call it stupid to my face!"

"I don't want you to in the first place—because it _would_ be stupid!" Momoshiro tries to get a good grip on Kaidoh's shirt at all, but they're so close it's kind of useless either way.

"Can you two just please—"

Kaidoh snarls back. "You're the one who's stupid!"

"You should really—"

"_You're_ stupid!"

"You're stupid_er_!"

Momoshiro shoves at Kaidoh's chest. "Fuck you!"

"Oh yeah?" Kaidoh shoves him right back. "Well, fuck you too, asshole!"

"Why you …" Momoshiro growls at Kaidoh, before he pulls back one of his arms, hand tightened in a fist. He's ready to punch the lights out of this moron. He's sick of it.

"ENOUGH!"

Momoshiro and Kaidoh both stop and blink at tiny little Hazue who's standing next to them, fuming.

"You two are just—ugh! Can't you behave like normal friends!? Or at least pretend you're friends for my birthday!?" Hazue's face by now is completely red, he's just so angry and annoyed at the moment. Annoyed at these two knuckleheads. He never knew his brother could act this … this .. juvenile! He glares at Momoshiro. "You—be honest and just say that you want to spend more time with Kaoru-nii-chan, instead of insulting his training and hope he'll get the hint." Then he glares at his own brother. "And you should realize Momo-nii-chan is only begging for attention, and to not fight with him straight away!"

"But I don't want his—"

"Oh shut up." Hazue turns on his heel, and he angrily stomps away.

Momoshiro simply stares as Kaidoh's little brother disappears from sight. Suddenly the fingers around Kaidoh's collar feel awkward. Well actually, the entire situation feels awkward.

Kaidoh scowls and drops his hand, his fingers tingly from clenching Momoshiro's shirt. "Now look what you did," he grumbles.

"What do you mean, _I_ did it." Momoshiro lets go of Kaidoh's shirt as well, then flicks his forehead with his finger. "If you weren't such an ass, Hazue-chan wouldn't have stomped off. It's his birthday, you know. You could stand to be a bit nicer."

Kaidoh huffs and his mouth curves into a grimace. "Well, it's kind of hard when you're acting like my training is the worst thing in the world …" His brow furrows. Why does Momoshiro always do that anyway? Is there any truth to what Hazue said … Or does Momoshiro really just think running is that dumb?

Momoshiro huffs too. "Well, you just do it too much." He folds his arms over his chest and looks away from Kaidoh. "There's other things you can do."

"I know _that_," Kaidoh replies, scuffing his shoe in the sand. "I don't do it because it's the only thing to do. I do it because I want to."

"Aren't there _more_ things you want to do, huh?" Momoshiro asks in a sarcastic tone.

"I do other things too!" Kaidoh protests, still feeling vaguely annoyed.

"Like?" Momoshiro rolls his eyes.

Kaidoh glares. "Why does it even matter? I don't tell _you_ what to do!"

This time, Momoshiro simply stares at Kaidoh, eyes slightly narrowed, and his lips pulled in a thin line. No, Kaidoh doesn't tell Momoshiro what to do. He doesn't ask him to do anything, and he never does anything besides training. Hazue was right on the mark; Momoshiro was simply fighting for the attention that Kaidoh gives to his running. But it's not like he's going to say this to Kaidoh. Or even admit it. That's stupid. It's not that he _wants_ to spend time with Kaidoh, not at all. He just wants him around more so he can bother him whenever Momoshiro feels like it. When Kaidoh is out running most of the time, this is hard to do.

And the hut becomes really silent and lonely.

So he ends up pissing Kaidoh off, one way or another, just to get him to come back to the hut (seems to work). To cut his training short. It's stupid, but it works. He just wishes Kaidoh would cut it short on his own. Or hang around more. Do less stupid running. Can he not bear to hang around Momoshiro for longer than an hour or something? Is that why he's gone most of the time? Well. Fuck him.

"No, no you don't." Momoshiro sighs. "Let's go find Hazue-chan, you stupid dumbass." He pushes past Kaidoh, knocking into his shoulder, and walks into the direction Hazue stomped off in.

"Yeah," Kaidoh agrees. He's deflated, like the fight has fizzled right out of him and been replaced by some weird, indiscernible feeling. He still doesn't understand why Momoshiro is so annoyed. It's just running. And it gives Momoshiro some space, which Kaidoh thinks Momoshiro would appreciate. Kaidoh would, anyway.

Whatever, if Momoshiro has such a problem with it, then that's _his_ problem. There's nothing wrong with Kaidoh's training schedule. He's done it for years. Momoshiro is just an idiot.

But he might also be an idiot who wants Kaidoh's attention, if his brother's words have any grain of truth to them, and that makes Kaidoh feel even stranger, like his insides are tying together. He's used to Momoshiro just saying whatever he wants and thinks. So if he says Kaidoh's running is stupid then it's probably just because he _thinks it's stupid_, and not because of some weird hidden reason like he wants to spend time with Kaidoh. Probably. It feels too much like wishful thinking to see it any other way.

Kaidoh shrugs it off, trying to uncoil the knot of tension in his chest, and follows after Momoshiro, catching up to him and just walking alongside him silently. He steals a glance over at him, but Momoshiro's expression doesn't seem to reveal much. Kaidoh still doesn't know why the hell they were even fighting just now.

Hazue was on his way back to his own hut, still annoyed that his birthday had to end that way. Though somewhere along the line, he forgot which way to go, so instead he just sits underneath a palm tree for protection from the sun. Well this is stupid. He should have paid attention to where they were going (but it's kind of hard to when there's two adult men arguing with each other). He sighs, he feels as if watching that unravel took off ten years from his lifespan.

Now Hazue can clearly see though, why Kaidoh seems to be struggling to make progress with Momoshiro. They're both idiots. Hazue had always known his brother didn't have many social skills, but to the point of outright arguing with someone? No, he didn't expect that. Certainly not. And Momoshiro isn't helping. Despite being able to get along great with everyone, he has a quick temper and is childishly stubborn. How is Hazue going to help out his brother when both of them are doing whatever they can to ruin everything?

Maybe Hazue should just stop helping out his brother. Leave them to their own devices. Which probably means nothing will ever happen. But. That's not his fault. At least he's _trying_. He doesn't see Kaidoh trying.

And all this just had to happen on his birthday. Hazue sighs again.

Momoshiro has been silently walking next to Kaidoh all this time. He feels on edge. Like there wasn't a definite conclusion to their stupid fight, and it's still lingering in the air, unsolved, and annoying as hell. He wants to pull on Kaidoh's shirt again and punch him in the face, but that's probably not a good idea. It's all Kaidoh's fault. He had to go and pick a fight with him in front of Hazue (it doesn't matter Momoshiro started it by calling him a freak, those are just silly nicknames). If only the snake had more control.

And ran less. Momoshiro huffs and kicks some sand with his shoe, secretly aiming it towards Kaidoh's legs.

Kaidoh really has no good points at all. Hazue was lying, Momoshiro knows it. Whatever good point Kaidoh might have, it's ruined by his excessive need to pump out testosterone, all the damn time. Momoshiro would be a lot happier if Kaidoh simply spent that time sewing something girly. At least that's more productive. And could be done inside. And then maybe he could sew something cool for Momoshiro. If Kaidoh can stand him enough to want to spend that much time together.

Not that Momoshiro would ask this time. He's already been disheartened by the fact Kaidoh still hasn't given him a medal or anything, and it seems getting _chan_ stitched onto his bandana is a lost cause now. It's like he suddenly lost his superpower. Kaidoh won't do it anymore, not after that stupid fight, which is still leaving Momoshiro restless.

More annoyed this time, Momoshiro kicks up some sand, and this time it definitely hits Kaidoh's shoes.

"What the hell," Kaidoh grumbles, knocking his elbow into Momoshiro's side. "Stop being such a jerk." Is Momoshiro trying to get Kaidoh to fight with him again? Is he still pissed off about … whatever it is—actually, Momoshiro is stupid enough to probably not even need a reason.

Momoshiro slaps Kaidoh's arm. "And you stop being, uhh—you," he says, not coming up with a good insult at the moment.

"Who am I supposed to be then, idiot?"

"Someone less annoying!"

Kaidoh scowls. "I'm not doing anything annoying. You're the one kicking sand everywhere!"

Momoshiro huffs, then he starts walking faster to get away from Kaidoh.

Kaidoh is right on his heels and then shoves past him, his shoulder knocking against Momoshiro's, even though the beach is wide enough they don't even need to be touching. Okay, now that is him being deliberately annoying.

And in turn, Momoshiro runs faster, speeding ahead of Kaidoh, and jabs his elbow into his side as he passes him by. But Kaidoh is not one to turn down a challenge, and he simply chases after Momoshiro, elbows jabbing everywhere, and Momoshiro ends up in this bizarre competition to see who can run faster, while trying to shove the other one into the ocean. Not that they're close to the ocean, there's enough sand on the beach for hundreds of people—but they _have_ to mess around with each other.

It might not show, but Momoshiro is starting to feel less annoyed. This is how their fights are supposed to be. Stupid and moronic, with no thought behind it. It should never be about something … important. Or something stupid like that. Not that Momoshiro cares enough to fight for real with Kaidoh. He snorts, then places both of his palms against Kaidoh's side and gives him one forceful shove, enough to break the two apart.

"Hah, I win," says Momoshiro with an out of breath voice.

"Dumbass," Kaidoh says, heart pounding. He socks Momoshiro lightly in the shoulder. "You can't beat me."

"I just did," says Momoshiro. He points at their feet. Momoshiro is running a bit further ahead than Kaidoh. Only slightly.

Kaidoh hisses in challenge, not about to be outdone—especially not where running is concerned. He speeds up until he's ahead of Momoshiro, then swerves across the narrow stretch of beach between them to cut him off, his shoes kicking sand everywhere. Just as abruptly, he stops in the middle of Momoshiro's path, like a roadblock, and spins around so that Momoshiro doesn't have anywhere to run but right into Kaidoh.

"Loser," he breathes, feeling satisfied with himself.

And Momoshiro crashes right into Kaidoh with such force it knocks him off his feet. They land together in the sand, and Momoshiro whines when Kaidoh's elbow hits him in his ribs, and his knee manages to hit a sharp seashell hidden beneath the sand. He props himself up, knees and hands in sand, with Kaidoh trapped beneath. He glares at Kaidoh, since this is all his fault.

"Asshole. This just means I'm still on top, and I win. Idiot."

"Yeah well, don't get comfortable like that, you won't be on top for long," Kaidoh warns, and then lets out a growl as his hands fly to Momoshiro's shoulders to try and push him off, his leg hooking behind Momoshiro's knee so he can roll them both over. It works, like some kind of weird wrestling move he's perfected, and Momoshiro ends up on his back in the sand.

Kaidoh looks down at Momoshiro from his new position and presses his knuckles into the front of Momoshiro's shirt. He narrows his eyes and says, "I'm not going to let you win that easily."

Momoshiro narrows his eyes at Kaidoh—partly because the sun is right behind him and it's blinding him—and tries to yank his fist away from his chest, but Kaidoh is being stubborn. He huffs as he stops struggling and simply looks back at Kaidoh.

"You know I'm going to throw you off in a second, right?" Momoshiro asks. His voice sounds annoyed, but it's more pent up irritation than anything else.

There's something that's going through Momoshiro's mind as he looks at Kaidoh like that. How many times have they done this already? Their eternal power struggle, the push and pull, always throwing each other on the ground and trying to get on top. It seems like there will never be an end to it; neither is going to accept the loser position, nor do they want the other to be the winner.

Not that there ever was a winner before. Momoshiro would like to say of course he's better than Kaidoh, but truth is, he's not. Not because he's _worse_ than Kaidoh, in whatever situation he can come up with, it's because Kaidoh's always matching up with him. Always in for a challenge, never backing down, and in the end, both of them are too tired to continue and break it off. There's never a clear winner with them. Never. Because Kaidoh is not just his rival, but also his equal. More and more, Momoshiro realizes this. Especially as of late, when they're doing things like kissing each other, or acting on their horny hormones (a subject that he still tries his best to avoid), Momoshiro can't help but think the only reason why he can do something like that with Kaidoh, is because they're on the same level.

It's not a matter of being on top, or being the winner.

Momoshiro stays true to his word, and after a few long seconds of staring at Kaidoh, he throws him off, but doesn't roll back on him, instead he stays still. Lying next to Kaidoh who's also down in the sand. He looks at him, a slight smirk gracing his face.

No, it's a matter of being by each other's sides.

_That's_ always been the thing that Momoshiro liked most about his rivalry with Kaidoh. Not on top, not in the bottom—but side by side. Doing all sorts of things together. Yeah. He likes that.

He likes it a lot. Which is why Momoshiro doesn't like it when Kaidoh uses most of his free time to go running instead. He doesn't mind hanging out more with Kaidoh. Or perhaps he should say, he'd like it if they did, but his stupid training always seems to come first. He wakes up alone in the morning, and goes to bed alone—simply because Kaidoh is busy running. And yeah, Momoshiro is kind of growing resentful at it. A stupid and childish thing to do. But it's not like Momoshiro can come out and say 'hey, I want to spend time with you', because that's not how they talk, and it sounds gross, and it's not true. And okay, well, maybe it is. But still. He's not going to tell Kaidoh that. That would seem so needy and girly, as if he _cares_ what Kaidoh does. And he certainly doesn't! He thinks. Maybe.

He still ends up throwing some sand on Kaidoh's shirt though. Just because he's an asshole for stopping in the middle while running.

Kaidoh lies there, just breathing, still scowling a bit despite the fact that he doesn't really feel annoyed, or defeated, but just like things have been evened out again and the air has been cleared. And he feels kind of relieved that the urge to punch Momoshiro's lights out has faded.

He brushes the sand off his shirt, muttering, "Moron," as he does, and then flicks some sand back at Momoshiro's arm, which is an easy target since it's just lying there. He glances over at Momoshiro, who doesn't look as pissed off anymore either, and somehow that also helps to settle Kaidoh's restless pulse.

He still feels kind of twisted up though, from the weird argument before, and he doesn't know why, but it's not really something he can mention or ask about. If they were to both just honestly lay out all their issues and frustrations then they wouldn't have a reason to fight anymore, and the fighting is a constant Kaidoh's come to rely on. It isn't that he _wants_ to fight with Momoshiro, at least not all the time, but it's just what they do. It's like a weird comfort zone for them to both fall into, a language they both know.

So whatever, he'll just chock this fight up to Momoshiro being an idiot, and maybe Kaidoh being an idiot too. And they can both forget about it. That's always the way their fights seem to go. Neither one of them holds a grudge and by the next time it happens they've both forgotten what they were fighting about the time before.

Even if it is something especially stupid.

Kaidoh looks up at the sky. It really is a nice day. And Hazue ...

"We should … probably apologize to my brother when we find him," Kaidoh thinks aloud, feeling guilty—for fighting in front of Hazue, not for fighting in the first place. Because yeah, the whole thing might be partly his fault after all.

"Probably," Momoshiro repeats. He doesn't really think there's anything to apologize about. They always fight, it's just their thing. He turns his head over, cheek rubbing against the sand, and he looks at Kaidoh's face.

He sort of wants to tell him, that he's not sorry. He's only sorry for Hazue having to witness it on his birthday. This is how Momoshiro works with Kaidoh. They just argue, over silly stuff. They usually don't mean it, and it's always forgotten again by the next time they fight. It's never about anything important, or anything serious. When they get serious … well, Momoshiro can barely remember a time when they were in a real argument. It might have been the last time when he and Kaidoh were training the tennis club members to gain a regular spot on the team. Yeah, back then both of them had been frustrated—but not with each other. They just, took it out on each other. That's the only time Momoshiro can remember them being serious though.

Then again, what Hazue said during his burst of anger did have a grain of truth in it, and Momoshiro wonders if Kaidoh realizes this. The thing about wanting to spend more time together (he totally doesn't!). Well. It's a stupid thing to argue about anyway, and Kaidoh's too stupid to realize it.

"I'm not sorry," says Momoshiro. He isn't. Not for fighting. He continues to stare at Kaidoh, and sees him turning his head to look back at him. There's this weird bloated feeling filling him up as he looks Kaidoh in the eye. That wasn't there before.

Momoshiro moves his hand closer to Kaidoh's, which had been resting next to his. His pinky brushes up against Kaidoh's, and he almost feels like pulling away, but doesn't. Does nothing but hold Kaidoh's gaze and feels his heart starting to speed up at the thought about what he's going to do next. He curls his pinky ever so slightly, lifting it up, so that it's hooked around Kaidoh's, and he keeps it there, resting it on top.

"... I think," Momoshiro adds a bit unsure. Suddenly he feels kind of embarrassed, so he turns his head away.

Kaidoh tenses up a little, his heart thudding in his chest, and his eyes flick down to their hands. His fingers itch to push closer to Momoshiro's, and at the same time he wants to jerk them away. He settles for just letting his hand rest there, palm awkwardly frozen in place against the sand.

He keeps looking at their hands as he slowly says, "Yeah, me neither," and realizes that it's true. And that he's agreeing with Momoshiro on something, which is weird. Sure, he's embarrassed that his brother saw him get into a stupid fight, but as for the stupid fight itself? Well, Kaidoh's not going to be sorry for the things he does with Momoshiro. Stupid or otherwise.

And as long as Momoshiro isn't either, then they're good.

So Kaidoh doesn't say anything else, just sucks in a long breath like he's working up all his courage, and then moves his hand, sliding it away at first and then returning it, this time covering the back of Momoshiro's hand with his palm.

"Yeah …" says Momoshiro in a low breath. He can feel his face becoming uncomfortably warm, and it's a good thing he decided to turn away from Kaidoh before, since he's sure he's making some kind of embarrassing expression.

Kaidoh's hand feels like a solid weight on top of his own. It's not like they haven't done a whole lot more already—things his imagination wouldn't even have let him think of—but this simple gesture is stirring up a whole lot of things inside of Momoshiro. It's kind of crazy, the way it's making him feel like his body temperature shot through the roof, and it's uncomfortable, but at the same time it's an addicting kind of feeling. Like he wants more of it, like he doesn't want it to go away.

He's felt it before. It started on his birthday—or maybe that's just when he started paying attention to it—and it's popped up every once in a while since then, growing more intense each time. Like it's digging a spot inside of his chest and making itself comfortable over there. Even now it's a constant current flowing through him. Safe and secure, it feels right like this, as if they won't be separated and they'll face anything together, however cheesy that may sound. But it's also scary, because Momoshiro has never felt like this before, and it's _Kaidoh_ who's eliciting these feelings out of him. It's all new and confusing, but Momoshiro isn't going to run away from it. Not like the first time this happened.

Instead, Momoshiro spreads his fingers apart across the sand, so that Kaidoh's fall in between his, and he slowly squeezes them shut. All five fingers curl around those of Kaidoh's, and this time he can't pretend it's an accidental bump. Or an extension of fighting by grabbing his hand and holding him down. No, this time Momoshiro can't pretend it's anything but holding Kaidoh's hand. A scary and foreign thought, but he's not pulling away, even if his heart is speeding up dangerously fast as if he's treading forbidden territory.

"Guess we should … find him," says Momoshiro. He sounds like that's the last thing he wants to do; get up and find Hazue.

Kaidoh grunts in agreement, momentarily at a loss for words. He doesn't really make any effort to move right away though, because he's enjoying the feeling of his hand against Momoshiro's, and the light and buoyant sensation it's causing in his chest. He doesn't know when he'll get the chance to feel that again, so he's trying to stretch each second out for as long as he can. He squeezes his fingers against Momoshiro's and they feel so warm and reassuring that Kaidoh doesn't want to let go. It feels like where his hand is supposed to be. His heart pounds out a steady, rising rhythm, like it thinks so too.

Eventually, though, Kaidoh does slip his fingers out from Momoshiro's and sits up, then rises to his feet, brushing the sand off his shorts and shirt. He doesn't look at Momoshiro, in part because his own face feels hot and is probably red, and also because he's nervous to; he's not really sure what kind of expression he'd find if he did. Instead he just looks at the sand, hisses, and offers out his hand—the same one—to Momoshiro to pull him up.

Momoshiro's hand reaches out for Kaidoh's, as if there's a magnetic force pulling him along. He doesn't really want to lose the sensation of Kaidoh's warm hand, strong and sturdy, holding his own. His fingers wrap around the palm of Kaidoh's hand; it gets easier each time he does it, but it still makes something hopeful thump in his chest. He lets himself get pulled up by Kaidoh, fast and steady, until he's on his feet, standing in front of him, but neither are looking at each other. The sand suddenly looks very fascinating to the both of them.

Momoshiro looks at their hands instead, still loosely hanging together by a thin thread. The slightest movement of either of them could make his fingers slip out of Kaidoh's hold. But they're standing very still. He should pull away, separate from each other, and go find Hazue. But he's finding it harder and harder to do, because at the moment, yeah, he sort of wants to continue holding it. To continue feeling that fluttering breeze pulsing through his body. He wonders if Kaidoh's thinking the same. Perhaps even feeling the same. Both their fingers are hanging onto each other so hopefully, that Momoshiro thinks that maybe, Kaidoh doesn't want to let go either.

But it still has to happen. Momoshiro looks back down to the ground, he doesn't want to be the first one to pull away. That task is laid upon Kaidoh; he can be the first. Momoshiro isn't going to. Doesn't want to. His chest feels kind of tight.

Kaidoh doesn't want to let go either, but he feels like he should because it's starting to tip over from being something incidental to becoming something deliberate. Some kind of _thing_. Something with meaning and consequences and Kaidoh's not sure what those might be, just feels both frightened and excited thinking about them. And his palm is getting all sweaty like Momoshiro's hand is conducting heat through him, zapping him with electrical currents and leaving his fingers feeling fried and warm all over.

He's thought about this before, sure, maybe even fantasized about it, although calling it that makes him feel embarrassed. It's just something he's imagined in his head—recently more and more, like continued proximity to Momoshiro is making his mind kick into overdrive. It's a stupid thing to want, one he's not willing to admit to wanting, but that doesn't change the fact that he likes it all the same. He likes being close to Momoshiro, wishes it could always be simple like this, like their two hands against each other, wishes he didn't have to find excuses to do it. And maybe he doesn't. After all, Momoshiro didn't jerk away from him, didn't glare or yell at him, didn't stop holding his hand. Maybe Momoshiro doesn't need an excuse either. Maybe Momoshiro likes it just as much.

But Kaidoh knows they have to let go, because they can't exactly walk around holding hands all the time. That would be … Kaidoh's mind wants to supply a lot of adjectives for what it would be, ones that make his insides feel fluffy and tingly, but he settles on "dumb". Yes, it would be dumb. And he can't really wrap his head around how it would work, if it would work, if it's how they're supposed to be.

But it feels like it is.

He squeezes Momoshiro's hand once, like this is some kind of weird secret handshake, and then lets his hand loosen and drop to his side, hating the way his fingers feel as they slide away. Immediately, he wants to pull Momoshiro back again but feels like that's suddenly, abruptly, off-limits.

"Come on," he says gruffly, tilting his head in the direction he knows his hut is in, further up the beach, and to Echizen and Hazue's further beyond that.

Momoshiro feels himself snapping out of the warm daze he was in. As if the balance of will they or won't they was tipped over, and Kaidoh made the decision. They won't.

"Right," says Momoshiro. He feels his voice cracking up, as if he hasn't used it in a while. He covers his face with the hand that was grasped in Kaidoh's hold moments before; it's kind of sweaty and feels so warm it's embarrassing. The entire thing is.

They start walking into the direction Hazue dashed off in, sticking close to one another. Momoshiro drops the hand away from his face, and is acutely aware of where it is in proximity to Kaidoh's. Not that he needs to imagine this, since Kaidoh is _right there_ and it's like the back of his hand is radiating heat that's wrapping around Momoshiro's sweaty one. Suddenly, Momoshiro forgot why this had looked like a good thing to do. Maybe he was just caught in the moment—which is how he explains all the other times he's done things with Kaidoh—but there's still this itching feeling to link their hands again.

Which should be a disgusting feeling.

Nevertheless, as they walk back across the sand, silent and strained, still refusing to look at each other, Momoshiro's hand bumps into the back of Kaidoh's several times. It's like they're glued together, neither one willing to separate very far from the other.

It's a scary thought and desire to Momoshiro, that he wants to slip his fingers between Kaidoh's again, because it did feel nice. But now it feels like the hardest thing to do on earth. Not to mention it's a desire he shouldn't be having. This doesn't stop him from brushing his hand up against Kaidoh's once again, in a way that's deliberate and not on accident at all. That's one way to do it, he guesses. Better than skipping around in the sand with their hands linked together. That's just gross. What would Hazue think?

Kaidoh tries to re-focus his thoughts, force himself to think about anything that isn't Momoshiro's hand swinging next to his. Which is difficult because he's acutely aware of how close they are, and how easy it would be to just take Momoshiro's fingers between his own again. But at the same time it no longer feels easy at all. And as much as Kaidoh would like to do it, he doesn't. He just walks next to Momoshiro, side by side, along the beach. His skin seems to tingle each time it brushes against Momoshiro's but it's not unpleasant, and he doesn't make any effort to walk further away from him. It's like he's being drawn to him by gravity, like it's simply inevitable.

As they walk around the beach's curving peninsula, Kaidoh spots a small Hazue-shaped shadow seated under a palm tree and nudges Momoshiro in the side until he sees him too. Suddenly that embarrassment he'd felt earlier comes back, but he's not fighting with Momoshiro anymore—sort of the opposite, in fact—and hopefully Hazue isn't too annoyed, and the day is still salvageable.

"Hazue!" Kaidoh calls out, and for some reason he takes a step away from Momoshiro as he does, like he's got something to feel guilty for and is trying to cover it up or hide it. Like he doesn't trust his hand not to try and reach for Momoshiro's again.

Momoshiro side-eyes him a bit, seeing how fast Kaidoh springs away from him as if suddenly it's toxic to be around him. Well, fine, understandable. He doesn't really want anyone seeing him so close to Kaidoh either. He especially doesn't want anyone seeing them holding hands. Not that they were. Definitely not. That was just a long extended brofist, except it was sort of not. But whatever, it's a small detail that Momoshiro can overlook. He's not sure if anyone else can.

Hazue looks up and sees Kaidoh and Momoshiro heading towards him. He sighs and nods his head at them; he hopes they're not fighting anymore, and came to apologize.

Momoshiro is definitely not apologizing. For brofisting Kaidoh. He stops as he squints his eyes in thought; that doesn't sound right.

"Kaoru-nii-chan, Momo-nii-chan—are you both cooled down now?"

"Actually—" Momoshiro starts, but stops himself. He wanted to say that he in fact, feels pretty hot. It's over a hundred degrees outside, and well, he just had a nice brofist thing with Kaidoh going on which left him rather sunburned. He should really take care of that sunburn. He sighs and looks down at the sand, standing next to Kaidoh, and hopes his hand won't suddenly reach out for his. That's enough for today.

"Yeah uhm, Kaidoh admits to being a loser, and he apologizes. And stuff. Wanna go to Dumbnuts Cove?"

"Momoshiro is the lo—" Kaidoh starts to say, but stops himself, because they're not supposed to be fighting anymore. At least not while Hazue is around. He hisses and hangs his head. "I mean, uh. Sorry," he says instead, and looks away from his brother to give Momoshiro a pointed scowl. "Momoshiro admits it's his _own_ fault though."

Then he looks back at Hazue and tries to smile, although the expression doesn't quite sit right on his face. "But forget about that … It's still your birthday, let's go celebrate it."

Hazue doesn't think either of them are sorry at all, nor do they look like they've made up. Is this how they act all the time? Always fighting? Then why is he trying to get his brother to confess to this man who does nothing but rile him up? Is that actually a good idea? Perhaps it's not. Hazue certainly has never seen his brother act this vulgar. He'd prefer it if he didn't act like that. He stands up and rises to his feet, facing the both of them.

"No more fighting with each other, okay?" he says with a stern voice, as if he's a mother scolding her children.

Momoshiro happily slings an arm around Kaidoh's shoulder, acting as if they're best buds. "Deal! We're best friends already, see?" He gives Hazue a big smile.

But Hazue looks at them with serious eyes. "Never again," he says this time.

Kaidoh's eyes widen. Never again? Is his brother insane? Does he have any idea how impossible that would be? Fighting with Momoshiro feels like a fundamental part of Kaidoh's existence. As essential as running. It isn't something he can just switch off. Kaidoh is pretty sure Momoshiro wouldn't be able to either.

He's too busy feeling horrified at Hazue's request to even acknowledge Momoshiro's arm around him, and just looks nervously back at his brother.

"Uh," he says hesitantly. "That's really …" He trails off and hisses again, this time looking at Momoshiro for some kind of help. He's never had to explain or justify their fights to anyone before. No one else would get it.

"Not possible," Momoshiro finishes in a deadpan voice.

He looks back at Kaidoh. Well, it isn't! Fighting with Kaidoh is like a natural course of action. No matter what they end up doing, it's always going to end up with one of them arguing. Or well, mostly it's just both of them doing stupid things and saying stupid things. Momoshiro can't help it. Kaidoh's just stupid most of the time, so of course Momoshiro's going to call him out for being stupid. Or being a freak. Besides, he likes the fights.

It's probably the easiest thing to understand about them. A lot easier to explain than the sudden desire to keep his arm hanging around Kaidoh for no reason.

Hazue looks at Momoshiro, wondering if he really means that. "You can't stop fighting each other, really?"

Momoshiro wants to say that's simple because Kaidoh is made up out of 70 percent idiocy, but that's probably not a good thing to say in front of Hazue, who is his brother. Instead he just pats Kaidoh's shoulder.

"We don't fight _all_ the time, right Kaidoh?" No, they pretty much do.

"Obviously not, moron," Kaidoh retorts with a growl, then his cheeks go a little pink as he realizes he's not really doing much to defend their point if he's already arguing with Momoshiro again over something.

He looks guiltily at his brother. "We _don't_," he stresses, and hopes it sounds at least somewhat convincing, and then says, "It's really not something you should worry about …" which sounds a little bit too much like 'mind your own business', so he adds, "because it's not that big of a deal." And it isn't. To them, anyway. It's just what they do. It's just how they are together. It's always felt normal. It's everyone else who's strange for not understanding it.

"Yeah, we get along just _fine_, don't we, Kaidoh?" Momoshiro tightens his grip on Kaidoh some more, almost choking him, and pushes Kaidoh into his side. "This is just how we act. But we're sorry for confusing you, or something, okay? We promise to behave a little more around you."

Hazue sighs. "I guess I'll have to concede to that, don't I?" He looks at his brother, who's half being choked by Momoshiro, and shakes his head. "But can you both try to act a bit nicer to each other?" Especially his brother, he can tone it down on his language.

Then Hazue looks at Momoshiro, with a slight playful smile on his face. "I mean, Momo-nii-chan, you like Kaoru-nii-chan, right?"

Momoshiro feels his entire face heat up, and he immediately pushes Kaidoh away from him with a, "No I don't." When he sees Hazue looking at him with a raised eyebrow, and Kaidoh's already hissing at him for shoving him away, he pulls Kaidoh back. "No, I mean, yes. I like him." And with that, he pushes Kaidoh away _again_. "As a punching buddy," he stresses. Definitely not in any other way than that.

It's hard for Kaidoh to hide the sour expression that pulls across his face, but lucky for him he usually looks like that anyway so maybe it doesn't show much. He should be happy that Momoshiro says he likes him at all, but what the hell is a punching buddy supposed to be? He narrows his eyes, feeling confused.

"Well yeah, same goes for you," he grumbles. Stupid idiot.

Momoshiro leans closer to Kaidoh again, raising his hand and pinching Kaidoh's cheek, _hard_. "See, we get along." He pinches harder, just because he feels like messing with Kaidoh.

Hazue simply rolls his eyes. "No more fighting, okay?"

"Fine," Kaidoh agrees reluctantly, but not before he's smacked away Momoshiro's hand and given him an annoyed glare.

Momoshiro steps on Kaidoh's foot when Hazue isn't looking. There. Asshole. He deserves it. For being grumpy.

Kaidoh bites back an insult, which turns out to be kind of a challenge—he has to physically screw up his mouth to keep words from coming out. Instead, he knocks his shoulder into Momoshiro's in a way he hopes will pass as accidental. Because he has to do _something_.

"Well then, let's finally go to Dumbnuts Cove!" Momoshiro cries out. He steps forward, pressing his entire hand into Kaidoh's face, pushing him back. Revenge.

"Yes, alright," says Hazue with a slight smile. He notices the way Momoshiro and Kaidoh seem to be having a power struggle, but as long as no punches or swear words are being thrown around, then it should be fine. "Lead the way."

Kaidoh pushes past Momoshiro, elbowing him sharply in the side as he does, and starts taking long strides in the sand, blazing a trail of footprints along the beach. Even though he isn't running, he's still moving fast; he doesn't see the point in wasting time with walking.

He looks back over his shoulder and calls out, "We've still got a bit of a ways to go," and then gives Momoshiro a narrowed glance like he's taunting him to hurry the hell up, like he's taken the lead in their weird race from before.

Momoshiro chases after him, an evil grin displaying on his face. He elbows Kaidoh as well when he passes him—payback. It's simply something he cannot control, and something he won't stop, no matter who's asking.

Hazue stays back a bit and slaps his own forehead; these two are not going to stop acting like children. Maybe he should just learn to deal with it.


	36. Home Sick

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **this took forever to write! But it's pretty long and significant, so enjoy.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** MA

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- The vegetables in the garden are ready to be harvested, which Kaidoh ends up doing  
- Momo eats a mango, but it's infested with white larva inside. He asks Kaidoh to come home and take care of him

**Date:** October 15, 2012

* * *

So maybe Momoshiro should have waited until Kaidoh was done harvesting all the new vegetables that have grown in their garden. But he was hungry, and it's in his nature to be impatient, so Momoshiro had an afternoon snack, which was just a simple mango. Seemed harmless enough, and hey, it was freshly picked for the day.

It wasn't harmless.

He took a few bites out of the mango before he realized the fruit was _crawling_ with little white worms—larva. He'd spit out whatever was left in his mouth as fast as he could, and then threw the mango away, into the ocean. Momoshiro felt sick and his entire stomach started churning in disgust. That was fucking gross. Worms. And he _ate_ from it.

And so now Momoshiro is lying in his bed, holding his stomach, and hoping Kaidoh will come home soon and help him or something. An said he'd be fine if he rests some and drinks water, but Momoshiro thinks it's the end of the world. He feels sick to his stomach, as if he's going to throw up. He entertains the idea for a few seconds; throwing up would mean he didn't have any creepy crawly worms in his stomach, but it also means … to throw up. He doesn't really like to do that. But ugh, why did it have to be worms!? He's going to _die_ if Kaidoh doesn't hurry up and come back. He pulls the entire blanket over his helpless limp body and sits there in the corner of the hut, on his bed, shivering slightly.

Kaidoh should hurry the hell up, and do something to make him feel better. It's what Momoshiro deserves after being subjected to eating live worms. Or larva, or whatever the hell those white things were. They were disgusting, that's what they were. Regardless, Momoshiro deserves someone watching after him as he feels his stomach flip flopping up and down.

Luckily Kaidoh wasn't too far from the hut this time and he makes it back quickly. Or, he thinks he's quick. He's sure Momoshiro will still complain that he took too long anyway. But whatever, Kaidoh isn't Momoshiro's personal nurse. And he's probably not even really that sick.

At least, Kaidoh hopes he isn't.

And he hopes that mango isn't still in the hut, because that would be gross.

He jogs up the steps and through the hut's entrance and looks around until he sees Momoshiro huddled in the corner, looking pretty pathetic. Kaidoh surveys him with a look of concern, although on Kaidoh the expression reads very similar to the face one might make at the sight of a pile of garbage. His lips curl a little and then he just looks like he's grimacing. He's pretty terrible at comfort.

"You haven't thrown up on anything, have you?" he asks hesitantly. Which is Kaidoh's way of asking how Momoshiro is feeling.

Momoshiro peeks his head out of the blanket, keeping it mostly covering his face still, and he looks at Kaidoh with sad eyes.

"N-no, I haven't …" What took you so long, he wants to ask, but figures it's probably not a good idea to start a fight right away with Kaidoh when he wants to be looked after. "I feel sick to my stomach though … ugh, that mango was fucking gross. Can you … get me some water?"

Kaidoh looks at the bottles of water lined up on the floor against the wall of the hut. Then he looks back at where Momoshiro is sitting expectantly on his bed. There's probably no more than a couple of meters between the two.

_So helpless_, Kaidoh thinks, his mouth pulling into a frown. But he doesn't refuse the request, just grumbles and retrieves one of the bottles and holds it out in front of Momoshiro, eyeing him skeptically. He feels like he's offering food to some poor, defenseless animal. And that's kind of what Momoshiro looks like at the moment, all wrapped up and looking back at Kaidoh with weird puppy dog eyes.

"Idiot," Kaidoh breathes, as he unscrews the cap and pushes the bottle against the front of Momoshiro's blanket.

"Thanks!" Momoshiro eagerly pulls out his hands from underneath the blanket, and reaches for the bottle. His hands wrap around the cool plastic, and also around Kaidoh's slender fingers, which slip away once Momoshiro's got a good grip on it. He knew asking for Kaidoh to come take care of him was a good idea. He probably can't resist a sick Momoshiro. He even unscrewed the cap!

The cool taste of water feels good, but Momoshiro has to admit he'd already drowned himself in water the moment he saw the white larva swimming around in his fruit. He's not going to tell Kaidoh that though. Besides, he didn't drink anything while he was waiting for Kaidoh to return, so that counts. The water is plain, but it does make him feel a little bit better. Or maybe that's because Kaidoh's here, looking like a grumpy snake, but he's there for Momoshiro's sake, and he sort of looks worried too. That makes Momoshiro feel _a lot_ better. It makes something giddy flutter in his chest each time he realizes Kaidoh actually cares.

With a pop, the plastic bottle is torn away from Momoshiro's lips. He looks up at Kaidoh, pushing the halfway empty bottle back at him, while remaining seated underneath his blanket. It's his nice comfy blanket, giving him protection. He wouldn't mind if Kaidoh joined him, maybe snakes can chase away worms. Snakes eat worms, right? Wait, that's kind of a disgusting thing to picture. He doesn't want Kaidoh to eat them instead. He simply wants them out of his stomach. And An's comment about it being 'extra protein' did not help!

Kaidoh takes the bottle back, caps it, and sets it down on the floor next to the bed, close at hand in case Momoshiro decides he's still thirsty. But this time Momoshiro can get it on his own; Kaidoh's not here to wait on him hand and foot.

Or. He's not going to admit he is anyway.

"Feel any better?" he asks, and no matter how rough his voice sounds, it's unable to mask the edge of concern, the weird and inexplicable instinct he has to want to take care of Momoshiro. This time he isn't even thinking about the running he's given up to be here.

"A little," says Momoshiro in his best sympathetic voice. He wipes his lips dry, then looks up at Kaidoh with eyebrows knitted together sadly.

Momoshiro hugs the blanket closer to his chest, pulling the blanket away and scoots up too, to make some room on his right. "Come sit with me," he says. After all, Momoshiro would feel a lot better if Kaidoh didn't look like he was about to turn around and continue with his run.

Kaidoh hisses and sits down on the edge of the bed and then, after a second of looking like he's rethinking it, slides a little bit closer to Momoshiro.

"Lend me your lap," Momoshiro asks in a pitiful voice, and hopeful sparkling eyes. That might just be because his eyes are starting to water though; he clearly doesn't feel well.

Kaidoh opens his mouth to point out that there's a perfectly good pillow already there on the bed next to Momoshiro, but the words dry up in his throat. It's really hard to find it in himself to argue with Momoshiro when he looks like this. Kaidoh should be annoyed with how pathetic Momoshiro is being but instead every bone in his body just finds it weirdly endearing.

"Fine," he says, and stretches his legs out in front of him.

Feeling a lot better already, Momoshiro slides across the bed towards Kaidoh, and drops his head on top of Kaidoh's lap, nuzzling his face into the fabric of his shorts. It smells sweet; as always he reeks of sweat. But this time Momoshiro doesn't mind.

"Thanks," he murmurs as he closes his eyes. It's the second time he's thanked Kaidoh already in a span of only ten minutes. Maybe he should stop, it'll get to his inflated head otherwise.

Momoshiro can feel something else make his stomach twist and turn, but this doesn't feel as uncomfortable as it does when he thinks there's a bunch of little white dudes swimming around in it. Ahh, now he's thinking about it again! Momoshiro slides his left arm on top of Kaidoh's lap as well, putting it right in front of his own face, and he clenches his fingers around Kaidoh's shorts, as if he doesn't want him to leave. Well, that's probably true; he did call Kaidoh to come over, obviously he doesn't want him to leave straight away. Besides, this is helping him calm his stomach down a bit. Just a bit.

"You smell," says Momoshiro. He feels like he needs to say _something_, instead of sitting there with his head on Kaidoh's lap, and looking like he enjoys it.

Kaidoh scowls and flicks a finger against Momoshiro's neck. "Shut up," he says. "You're the one who wanted to lie here, dumbass." Then he leans back, palms pressed into the bed for support, and huffs dismissively, indicating that Momoshiro's free to move if he wants. Kaidoh hopes he doesn't though.

True, Momoshiro is the one that asked, after all. He says nothing, but stares at a little white thread coming loose at the hem of Kaidoh's shorts. He sort of wants to pick at it, cut it off, but knows it'll just make Kaidoh annoyed at him, so he blows air at it instead, seeing it wiggle around. He tries to reach for it with his fingers, but decides against it, leaving them splayed across Kaidoh's knee. It feels warm. The entire side of his face feels warm too.

That gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach subsides a bit, replaced by something more pleasant. They don't feel like worms this time, it feels like a bunch of butterflies instead. It's sort of making Momoshiro a bit aware of what he's doing, and what Kaidoh is letting him get away with. Well, he could always press his luck even more.

Momoshiro turns his head a tiny bit, eyes rolling to the corner of his eye to look at Kaidoh. "..." He can't say it. Of all the things he's asked for already, this is the one time he can't.

_Pet my head._ Yeah, he can't ask something as stupid as that. He feels stupid too, for thinking that would be a good idea. Especially from grumpy Kaidoh.

Momoshiro sighs, looks away again, and rubs his cheek on Kaidoh's thigh. Then his fingers start picking at the little thread sticking out anyway; he can't resist it.

Kaidoh can't easily ignore Momoshiro's fidgeting. Not when it's happening in his own lap. Which is, in and of itself, pretty weird. But kind of nice. And weird that it's nice. How did he agree to this again? How did they get to this point?

"Stop messing with my shorts," he grumbles. He sits forward a little and reaches out to cover Momoshiro's hand with his own to make his fingers stop moving, because he doesn't put it past Momoshiro to keep pulling until the whole thing is unraveled. Seems like something an idiot like him would do.

Momoshiro stops fiddling around with the small thread, eyes focused on Kaidoh's hand which is covering his own, warm and fighting for his attention. He's immediately brought back to Hazue's birthday, the sensation feels nostalgic, and somehow, really calms him down. The way it seems to be so effortless, as if this isn't wrong at all.

Can they … do that again? With no one else around? It's just the two of them right now.

Bravely, Momoshiro stretches out his fingers up against Kaidoh's palm, and then slips them in between Kaidoh's. They move and wiggle, playing around with them, as if it's something of interest, a toy perhaps. The feeling in his stomach intensifies, and he can feel his face heat up. Good thing he's turned away from Kaidoh, though his cheek is feeling awfully exposed right about now. This is the one time he wishes he had long hair still; just so he could cover it up.

Maybe blushing is contagious, because Kaidoh feels his own cheeks burning too. Or maybe that's just Momoshiro's hand, sending gentle pulses of heat out of his fingertips that circulate through Kaidoh's whole body, making him feel warm all over. It's a little embarrassing, but the fact that they're in this together, that Momoshiro's holding Kaidoh's hand every bit as much as Kaidoh is holding his, is keeping Kaidoh from flinching or shying away.

The embarrassment is replaced by a new and hopeful fluttering in his chest, like something's trying to fly out of him if he'd only give it the chance. It's like bottled up nervousness but it feels good, instead of stressful, and Kaidoh squeezes his hand against Momoshiro's, liking the way their fingers push together.

He looks down at the way Momoshiro's hair falls over the back of his neck, the short, soft-looking strands all inky and jagged against his skin. It's strange to have Momoshiro so close and be able to stare at him freely and not be judged for it, and Kaidoh tears his gaze away a moment later, feeling kind of like a freak for just sitting there, silently fixating on the back of Momoshiro's head. But at least he's not the one with his head in another guy's lap! ... Although he may be the one allowing it to happen. It's not something he's ever thought he'd tolerate, let alone like, but here he is, perfectly content. There's even a slight smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

And well, Momoshiro is sick right now, isn't he? So it's not like this really counts as a ... a ... thing.

Although Kaidoh isn't sure what the handholding counts as.

The inability to define things sets him a little on edge, especially in quiet moments like these. He likes things that fit into simple boxes, easy to discern and unchanging, like a well-planned training route. But he also likes this, and can't seem to make sense of that discrepancy. He didn't know it was possible to feel both relaxed and anxious at the same time, but it's how feels it now.

He curves his thumb around Momoshiro's hand, stroking it softly over the skin. How can something so seemingly uncomplicated be so confusing? Why can't it be uncomplicated and simple? It _is_ simple. It's just two hands. It's just the two of them.

Momoshiro is being uncharastically quiet. It's his thing to be loud and talk non-stop, but in moments like these, he's silent. He fears that by opening up his stupid mouth he'll break this magical moment, where nothing seems to matter except them, and their intertwined hands.

It's hard not to think about it, not in this quiet moment—aching stomach already forgotten—with their hands touching and rubbing in what feels like slowmotion to Momoshiro. Kaidoh's thumb is stroking the warm flesh of his hand, making circular motions, his eyes are fixated on this. Like he can't imagine it's really happening, but it is. They're both in this moment, his head on Kaidoh's lap, and their hands together like it means something. It scares Momoshiro. He doesn't want to think about it, what it means, what it's supposed to be. He's done a pretty good job of it so far (about over a month now?), refusing to think about it, refusing to attach meaning to it.

It was all supposed to be meaningless. Mindless fun is probably the closest adjective Momoshiro would use to describe what they did together.

Right now, the way Kaidoh's right hand is pressing into his own, it's not just mindless fun. Who holds hands for fun anyway? It's one thing to do … the thing that they do, and get off—it's another to do something that doesn't benefit either of them, unless they attach special meaning to it. Momoshiro doesn't want to attach meaning to it, it scares the hell out of him. Yet he can't seem to pull away either, because it feels _nice_, like something he _should_ be doing. And since Kaidoh's doing it too, maybe it's okay. Maybe they can pretend this is just another meaningless 'thing' again, so that they can continue without thinking too deeply about it. It's only them anyway, no one has to know, Momoshiro doesn't have to know.

He twists his wrist over, so that his fingers slide up against Kaidoh's palm instead, and wraps them around as if it were a handshake. He squeezes it tightly, like a deliberate course of action both of them can't ignore. Then he flips them over, so that his hand is on top of Kaidoh's right now (and a lot more comfortable for him), and his fingers starts tracing the faded lines on Kaidoh's palm. As if he's trying to read his future. It makes Momoshiro chuckle with a light snort. Yeah … Kaidoh's future.

Does it involve this? Does it involve Momoshiro?

No matter how hard Momoshiro tries to rationalize this, utilizing a thousand excuses he can come up for this, and try not to think about it, it still keeps popping back up, like this anxious current brewing in his stomach. Like it's screaming for attention right in his face. Literally; their hands are right in front of his face. Momoshiro really only has two options here; continue holding Kaidoh's hand while feeling slightly anxious, or pull away, and perhaps ruin everything. Well, the right choice is quite clear.

And just like that, in the spur of the moment, where he still feels under the influence of this weird warm daze he's in, Momoshiro moves Kaidoh's hand closer to his face, sliding it across his lap. He turns their hands again, to the side, so that the back of Kaidoh's hand is facing him. He pushes his nose against it, then presses Kaidoh's hand closer until he's nuzzling his cheek against it, almost affectionately. It simply feels really nice, so comforting, almost delicate really. A sensation Momoshiro can't get enough off. He closes his eyes and kisses the back of Kaidoh's hand—lips feeling tingly all over—then removes his lips just as fast.

_Now_ he's certain Kaidoh can see him blushing.

That was uhm … that was … Momoshiro's not quite sure what that was.

But they can stay like this, right? Momoshiro is allowed to do this. He thinks. He'll just blame his actions on alien larva eggs hatching in his brain, turning him into a zombie—if Kaidoh asks. _If_ he ever asks, and Momoshiro doesn't think he will. If no questions are asked, then Momoshiro thinks they can keep this going without it turning weird. No questions, no boundaries. Anything's allowed.

Kaidoh can't help but feel weird about this. He feels like there are power lines zipping through him, crackling with electricity. There's a thunderstorm pounding in his chest and a warmth all over like he's standing too close to the sun. It feels like they're doing something forbidden, like he's suddenly getting everything he wants and he's just waiting for the catch. He's just waiting for Momoshiro to sit bolt upright and laugh in his face for falling for it. But Momoshiro isn't making any indication that he's about to move. He's made himself at home in Kaidoh's lap like he belongs there. Maybe there isn't a catch. Maybe Kaidoh didn't fall for anything. Or else he did, but so did Momoshiro.

Or this could just be how Momoshiro acts when he's not feeling well. Well, whatever the reason, Kaidoh will take it. He'll take what he can get. Which, at the moment, is more than he's ever expected from Momoshiro, so he can't complain.

That's right, what's he doing thinking about this when he should just be enjoying it? This simple moment when they aren't fighting or arguing or even fired up about anything at all. They're just enjoying each other's company. It feels so strange and good, and like it can't last, so Kaidoh closes his eyes for a second like he's trying to freeze the moment in his memory, and then opens them again to check and make sure it's real and not just a dream.

But blinking doesn't make Momoshiro disappear. It doesn't change anything. It's all real. And Kaidoh can hold onto Momoshiro's hand as much as he wants, like there's nothing wrong with it. It gives him some kind of newfound courage and his other hand slides up from where it was resting on the bed to touch Momoshiro's shoulder. For a second, Kaidoh feels Momoshiro tense, and he freezes too, but Momoshiro doesn't move, so Kaidoh continues, letting his fingers trace their way along the seam of Momoshiro's shirt up to the collar where Kaidoh can feel Momoshiro's pulse thrumming in his neck. He holds his fingertips against Momoshiro's warm skin, trailing soft patterns into his neck like they've been magnetized there and tearing them away would require far too much effort.

Not that he'd want to anyway.

It's exactly what Momoshiro wanted, and in turn he closes his eyes and pulls Kaidoh's hand closer again, making it bump against his forehead. It's like he wants to cover himself up so he's not feeling that exposed, and he really does feel naked, sitting on Kaidoh's lap, and letting him do whatever he wants without a care.

The soft pressure of Kaidoh's fingertips pushing against his neck feel almost divine. They're gentle and slow, as if Kaidoh's almost afraid Momoshiro is going to tell him to stop.

Why would Momoshiro want Kaidoh to stop? With the way his heart is thumping in a pleasant beat, and the tingling sensations that are flooding out of Kaidoh's fingertips, it's not likely Momoshiro is going to pull away anytime soon. Or at all. He's always liked having his head stroked or petted, and recently, he's found out he likes the same treatment for the back of his neck as well.

He'd never think he'd found out through _Kaidoh_ of all people.

Though this time, Momoshiro feels there's a difference. He's liked Kaidoh scratching the back of his head—oh yeah, he certainly did. But that was painful, urgent, angry, and demanding of attention. This is much softer, as if Kaidoh is afraid of hurting him, and it's so comfortable, it's almost lulling him to sleep. Which is looking like a pretty good idea right now, but Momoshiro doesn't want to give this moment up to sleep of all things. When he wakes up, he's sure Kaidoh will have moved away, and they can't return to this moment. This one-time deal of letting each other do as they please. It seems Momoshiro pleases a lot of things, feeling stirrings inside of him that he'd never thought he'd had. He'd never thought he'd be here, doing this with Kaidoh.

Momoshiro squeezes Kaidoh's hand again, to check if he's there, and of course he's there. A real, warm body, massaging patterns into the back of his neck. He leans into Kaidoh's touch, wanting more, and not ever wanting it to stop either. He's feeling pretty content, like he doesn't have a care in the world. Maybe they can be like this more often, if only Momoshiro tried. And as long as Kaidoh won't reject his advances, then they can do this again. Yeah, he'd like that.

Slowly though, Momoshiro is fighting a losing battle against the sleep that is trying to take over. Kaidoh's doing everything right; holding his hand and squeezing back, with his fingers now running up his short hair and over his neck. It just feels so nice, really nice. He doesn't want to fall asleep—he wants to enjoy it.

If Momoshiro doesn't do something fast, he will be sleeping on Kaidoh's lap soon. He tries to keep himself awake, eyes open and staring at the tiny wrinkles in the skin of Kaidoh's hand. He opens his mouth, figuring this is probably the best way to keep himself awake.

"D …" He feels like he's trying to swim through an ocean, and all his limbs are exhausted and it's difficult to breathe. What if Kaidoh stops if he talks? What if that's what breaks their moment?

He squeezes Kaidoh's hand hard, holding him hostage so he cannot break free without some sort of struggle. This should be enough to let him know he doesn't want him to stop.

"D-did you … go to the garden already? To get the veggies … I mean." Momoshiro's once pleasant heartbeat is now jumping up in his throat, like a nervous reminder that this could go either way. _Don't stop, don't stop, don't stop._

Kaidoh's fingers still against Momoshiro's neck like they've been caught in the act, called out by the rumbling vibration of Momoshiro's voice. When they move again, they're even more tentative, and Kaidoh feels wary, uncertain if this is still allowed. He lets the pads of his fingertips rest against the back of Momoshiro's neck, pressing just enough to make their presence known, and he lets out a soft hiss of air before replying, like he's checking to make sure he's still able to make sounds.

"Yeah," he says, his voice sounding crackly and weird. "Well, I started to, anyway. There's a lot out there."

Momoshiro can feel the hesitation in Kaidoh's body language, and he's seriously regretting speaking up now. Stupid. If he said nothing, Kaidoh would have just continued like he was. He slightly moves his head back against Kaidoh's fingers—come on, don't stop.

"I was going to help, you know," says Momoshiro. His voice feels kind of nervous, like he's afraid of messing things up even more. "How much is there still left to do?"

Kaidoh tries to separate the two actions in his mind—the conversation they're having and what his hands are doing—because it's the only way he can continue with either and keep himself from just shutting down. And he wants to continue, but talking feels like a spotlight shining down on him, calling attention to the way he's touching Momoshiro, and that's a little scary. He can't hide behind silence anymore, or feigned ignorance. No, they're both perfectly aware of what they're doing.

But his fingers itch to move and Kaidoh gives in and lets them, slipping them into Momoshiro's hair like he's trying to hide them. He feels too exposed now, and his heart feels like it's ricocheting off his ribcage. This felt so natural a few moments ago … Kaidoh doesn't know how to recover that feeling. He focuses instead on Momoshiro's question. Sure, vegetables. Think about them instead, and not what their hands are doing.

"A bit, I guess," replies Kaidoh, sounding more steady this time. "The carrots and potatoes still have to be dug up."

Well, talking certainly woke Momoshiro up. Only a little while ago, he was ready to fall asleep, now he's alert, as if something can change at a moment's notice. And it did, something did. Now they can't hide in their silence anymore. Momoshiro is seriously regretting it, but shutting up now seems weird. He can still blame the alien eggs in his head.

"Okay, I'll help with that." Momoshiro lets his fingers trace the inside of Kaidoh's hand, as if he's saying it's okay to touch him too. And it's more than okay. "Then we make french fries?"

Kaidoh snorts, grateful at least that Momoshiro is talking about food and drawing attention away from the way his hand is still holding onto Kaidoh's, touching it gently in ways that send shivers up Kaidoh's arm.

"Yeah, sure," he agrees, and, feeling temporarily emboldened, strokes his fingers over the back of Momoshiro's head, through his soft hair, like he's petting an animal. And at the same time, it's not like that at all. Because it's Momoshiro he's touching, and that fact is making his pulse jump and leap crazily.

_Calm down_, he tells himself, and tries to focus on something other than the way his fingers are moving. But his hands seem to be demanding his attention. Momoshiro is demanding his attention just by lying there, a solid and tempting warmth. It's stupid how Kaidoh can't seem to resist.

His fingers squeeze around Momoshiro's own, and he tries to sound casual and dismissive as he adds, "I've never made french fries before, but I guess it can't be that hard."

That anxiety Momoshiro was experiencing a second ago now quiets down. Kaidoh's not stopping. Good. Good …

Momoshiro loosens his grip on Kaidoh's hand, letting his fingers move between his, brushing softly against them. He chuckles at what Kaidoh says, which makes his head move against Kaidoh's lap, and that still feels a bit weird.

"Can't be _that_ hard, yeah. Just peel off the skin, cut in strips, and then throw them in boiling hot oil. I think that's how it works." Momoshiro presses his fingertips against Kaidoh's, like he's measuring their hands together. He's certainly not going to stop what feels like something he should be doing. What they _can_ be doing again.

"Can we boil oil enough with just fire? Is that how it even works? Like, don't we need a deep fryer or something for that … I don't know, I've never owned one. But they have them at fast food restaurants! Big deep fryers, where they dunk the fries in. And they came out gold and crispy. Yum." More and more, Momoshiro is feeling at ease again. He doesn't regret it as much anymore, speaking up. Because he still likes to talk, and he likes talking to Kaidoh … and he likes Kaidoh's fingers brushing through his hair … and the way they're curling around his own fingers. Yeah, he likes just about everything.

Kaidoh's fingers stop moving for a moment as he thinks, and then start again as he begins to speak, brushing over Momoshiro's head, his thumb grazing Momoshiro's ear. The action is strangely calming.

"As long as the fire gets hot enough, it should boil," he says, although he's a bit uncertain himself. He tries to remember if this was something he learned in science class. It can't be that different from the tempura-fried things his mother has made that at home before. Kaidoh has seen her make them, but never bothered to try it himself. He kind of regrets not trying to cook more when he was at home—it would have been a useful skill to have out here—but at least now he's not doing it on his own. If they mess up, at least they're messing up together.

But what Momoshiro has described sounds simple enough. If greasy hamburger restaurants can make fries then surely they can, too. "We probably don't need a deep fryer thing," he continues, forehead creased in thought. "Any kind of pot should be fine." He sounds confident when he says it, but he doesn't really have a clue. He's just fumbling through it. He slides his fingers between Momoshiro's own, clasping them around Momoshiro's hand. He's kind of fumbling through that as well, but it feels good enough to keep him from feeling overwhelmed with nerves and he doesn't stop.

And Momoshiro can't do anything that doesn't feel like he's breaking it off, and simply hold Kaidoh's hand in return, fingers wrapped around it securely. He likes the way it looks—it's right in front of his face after all—the way they're joined together, not pulling away, or doing something stupid.

"Fries with a shrimp cutlet burger sounds so nice right now," says Momoshiro with a sigh. He nuzzles his face in Kaidoh's lap, enjoying the warmth he's providing.

Speaking of warmth, Momoshiro is starting to feel a little bit chilly. Or he might just be feeling shivers from the way Kaidoh's fingers are running up and down his head, and circling around on the back of his neck. And that does make him shiver a little. He curls up his legs closer to Kaidoh, like he's some big baby that needs protection.

Not that he is. Or that he wants Kaidoh to protect him.

But Momoshiro definitely wants to stay like this for a while.

"Oh, I just remembered something!" exclaims Momoshiro. He eagerly squeezes Kaidoh's hand, happy to tell him the news. "I found shrimp. Yup. Shrimp. They're actually near Dumbnuts Cove. I haven't tried to catch them, but I did see them! Okay, I didn't really. This dead shrimp washed up on the beach, so I think they're somewhere close at least. It's worth a shot trying to find them, right? Then we can roll them in panko, and deep fry those too! It'll be just like home …"

Momoshiro's eyes feel heavy as they look at Kaidoh's hand. Home. Home sounds nice. Home with Kaidoh perhaps, and that thought makes him feel warm and fuzzy despite the blanket not covering him all the way. He starts playing with Kaidoh's fingers again, not wanting to stay still (though he does enjoy the petting of his head in silence). He sort of wants to pull the blanket to cover his shoulders at least, but that requires separating from Kaidoh's hand, and that's not an option.

"Shrimp won't … be filled with worms, right? They can't, right?" asks Momoshiro. The thought of eating shrimp which had been infested with larva as well makes him feel sick again.

Kaidoh snorts, then smiles a little. Momoshiro can be such a moron sometimes. "I don't see why they would be …" he says flatly, but then he gives Momoshiro's head a reassuring pat—like he's some kind of overeager puppy—and adds, "You probably don't have to worry about anything like that, since they'll be fresh when we catch them."

"The mango was freshly plucked when I ate it," mumbles Momoshiro in disagreement. He curls his index finger around Kaidoh's, hooking him so he can't leave him.

"Well, fruit is different from shrimp," Kaidoh points out. That much should be obvious.

"Guess so … so I can't get them either right? My stomach will kill it … right?" He doesn't want alien larva eggs hatching in his brain. Though it does make a good excuse as to why he's keeping his head on Kaidoh's lap, and letting him pet his head, and holding his hand. "Like with acid and stuff. I think. I don't know, I was asleep mostly for biology."

Kaidoh shrugs. "I think so, yeah. You should be fine." He doesn't really make a habit of reading about gross things like that, so he's never come across anything about people dying from worms in fruit. He guesses it might be possible … and someone like Inui-senpai probably even keeps creepy statistics on that sort of thing, but in this case, Momoshiro is probably just being melodramatic.

That doesn't stop Kaidoh from giving Momoshiro's hand a tight, comforting squeeze. "They can't hurt you," he says firmly, unsure if he means simply that they won't or that he's not going to let them.

"Okay …" Momoshiro sort of wants to say that Kaidoh should stay with him until they're sure he's not turning into some kind of zombie, but it seems neither of them are showing any indication that they want to get up and leave in the first place. Maybe he doesn't have to say it out loud, maybe he can just lie here forever.

Momoshiro snorts. "They were really fucking gross though. I'm never eating mango again. I'll just stick to fish then, they can't get creepy eggs hatched inside of them. I hope." He'll take Kaidoh's word for it that this can't happen, since he was the one who knew that fish were animals. "Stupid fish being animals," he mumbles. Fish shouldn't be animals, in his opinion.

"Hey, hey—" Momoshiro nudges Kaidoh's hand. "Are whales animals too then? Like, they're not just 'fish'?"

"Huh?" Kaidoh narrows his eyes skeptically, his hand stilling on top of Momoshiro's head as he tries to catch up to Momoshiro's random train of thought. "Of course they're animals, dumbass. What else would they be? If they can move around, they're animals." He thinks that's how it works. There's probably some other more scientific explanation, too … something about cells, but he doesn't remember it, and he sort of doubts Momoshiro even knows what a cell is in the first place.

He flicks his index finger against the back of Momoshiro's head. "Fish are just a _kind_ of animal." A creepy and gross kind, most of the time, but an animal nonetheless.

"That's just weird," huffs Momoshiro. "I mean, they don't have legs … and they swim … and breathe underwater. What's next, humans also being animals?" He pouts at their combined hands. "And stop flicking my head." Do that other thing instead! The nicer stuff.

"I'll do whatever I want to your stupid head," Kaidoh retorts automatically, and then his face heats up as he realizes what he's said. His fingers feel frozen in place like he's scared to move them again because that will mean admitting that what he _wants_ is to stroke them softly through Momoshiro's hair and that's just _weird_... not that he hasn't been doing just that this whole time.

Momoshiro tries to hide the smirk appearing on his face. If Kaidoh will do whatever he wants to Momoshiro's head, well, please do then. He's not going to stop him, unless he's flicking against it again. He won't say no to some more petting.

Which is a very gross thought to have, but one Momoshiro doesn't really care about anymore.

Kaidoh tries to deflect attention away from whatever his treacherous hand is wanting to do and grumbles, "Obviously humans are animals. Why else would scientists say humans are related to monkeys?" He snorts pointedly at Momoshiro. "_Some_ people more than others ..." Hey, maybe Kaidoh can excuse all these weird impulses as just latent animal instincts. That would be convenient. But also weird.

"I don't know, I thought they meant monkeys looked the most like humans? Like, with five fingers and stuff … argh—I don't care! I left that stuff behind me when I graduated high school. Or were they teaching this in middle school? I can't remember." Momoshiro is suddenly reminded of the time they fell out of contact with each other, and that's when they were both in high school. Not that Momoshiro could remember which high school Kaidoh went to.

He tugs on Kaidoh's hand again—not wanting to let go in the slightest. "Hey, which high school did you go to again?" He did remember it a long time ago, he might have had visited the school even, wanting to talk to Kaidoh, but waiting around at the school gate seemed stupid and clingy, and besides, he had his own school to think about.

"Uh … Sakuragaoka," Kaidoh says, voice a bit gruff and lacking the fondness that's present when he talks about Seigaku. Not that there was anything wrong with his high school; it was perfectly okay. If pressed, that's how Kaidoh would describe it anyway: Okay.

"Hmm … do you still remember mine?" asks Momoshiro thoughtfully.

Kaidoh hisses. "It was Nishiyama, right?" His tone is dismissive, like he's just guessing, like it isn't some fact about Momoshiro that he has memorized. Since Kaidoh definitely doesn't do things like that.

"Probably," says Momoshiro just as dismissive. He can barely remember. "If you knew, you should have come by."

"I-I …" Kaidoh starts, feeling flustered as he searches for an excuse that isn't just that he was a big coward. His fingers tense, both in Momoshiro's hand and against his scalp. Then his eyes narrow a little in annoyance and he retorts defensively, "What the hell, I was busy with schoolwork and practice and everything, same as you."

This time it's Momoshiro who flicks his finger against Kaidoh, on the inside of his hand. "I wasn't busy at _all_. And you were spending most of your free time running! If you had time for that, you'd have time to come see me. Dumbass. Whatever." He sighs. "I guess you only came that one time because I asked you, huh." Or forced.

Back in high school, Momoshiro had asked Kaidoh to come to his school festival. His class had been in charge of a haunted house, and to Momoshiro, that seemed like a perfect way to scare the hell out of Kaidoh, and be able to get away with it. Obviously at first Kaidoh had refused, called him names, and told him to stop bothering him because he had running—but he showed up anyway. It really was a one time thing only though, he never came again.

Momoshiro curls up more against Kaidoh, feeling a bit sentimental—lots of 'ifs' going through his head—and he's still a bit cold. The blanket is only covering his lower body, and he wants to pull it up to his shoulders, but that requires removing his hand from Kaidoh's, and he's not sure if he can slip them back together just as easily again. It feels like once the connection is severed, it's hard to reform it. That's how everything feels like with Kaidoh, like a small opportunity in time is all he gets to be able to effortlessly engage in things like this.

Kaidoh huffs. "Shut up, that's not true," he says grouchily. "I don't only do things because you tell me to, moron." Although, annoyingly, Momoshiro does make a point—Kaidoh probably wouldn't have gone to Momoshiro's school on his own. That would have been way too embarrassing. Going out of his way to see Momoshiro seemed impossible back then, he'd look like some kind of stalker. Not that he's about to say that to Momoshiro now. He's not ever going to say out loud that he was scared of something as stupid as _feelings_. Not that being scared of ghosts or fish or storms is any better. But Kaidoh's not afraid of those things either, _really_!

He lets his hand slide off Momoshiro's head and rest gently at the back of his neck, his thumb moving in slow circles. "It would have been weird to just show up at a school I don't go to …" Kaidoh argues lamely, his voice sounding just as thin and strained as the excuse is.

Momoshiro grins as he tickles the inside of Kaidoh's hand. "Was Kaoru-chan being _shy?_" he asks in a cooing and obnoxious voice.

"Asshole," Kaidoh growls, curling his fingers into a fist and knocking them, rather ineffectually, against Momoshiro's shoulder.

Momoshiro rolls his shoulder to get Kaidoh's fist off of him, but he laughs as he does it. "You're stupid. I wouldn't have cared if you showed up for no good reason." No, that's probably what Momoshiro would have liked to see Kaidoh doing, but he's not about to tell him that. "And hey, _I_ went to your school once, without being asked!"

Kaidoh returns his hand to Momoshiro's shoulder, undeterred, but he doesn't hit this time, just squeezes it lightly. "Yeah, and you spent the whole time bothering me like an idiot," he grumbles, but he doesn't manage to sound particularly angry about it.

"So, it's not like you had tennis practice that time," says Momoshiro. He doesn't _bother_ people, he entertains people! People just like being around him, and he's sure Kaidoh feels the same way.

After all, Kaidoh's got his arm around Momoshiro, and their hands are still together. Yes, he definitely doesn't think Momoshiro is bothering him. And if he does, Momoshiro will punch him for being a dick.

"You could have at least treated me to some food while I was there. Or maybe offered me some of your bento! Or did you finish that already?" Or it was probably too long ago for Kaidoh to remember. They were fifteen years old. Time sure flies by.

Kaidoh snorts. "It's not my job to feed you." Although he's pretty sure if he'd known Momoshiro was coming he'd have saved some of his bento for him. He wouldn't have been able to help it.

"It is your job to give me water though." Momoshiro removes one finger from Kaidoh's hold, and points it at the bottle of water sitting next to Kaidoh. Then he slips it between Kaidoh's fingers again, grinning mischievously.

"Dumbass," Kaidoh replies. "If you want another drink, you have to sit up." Because at this angle, the water's more likely to end up all over Kaidoh's lap than in Momoshiro's mouth.

And because Momoshiro thinks that they're in this 'zone', that they can return like this with ease, and not seem like an impossible task, he slowly slips his hand away from Kaidoh's, and raises his entire body. He finally pulls himself away from Kaidoh's lap, and sits up straight, his blanket pooling underneath him, resting on his legs. He looks at Kaidoh with a pointed stare. Well, he's sitting up now. And it feels sort of lonely; he wants to lie down again. He hopes he's able to.

Kaidoh huffs and lifts the bottle from the ground and pulls the cap off, holding it between his fingers, because his hand feels empty otherwise.

"Here," he says, and passes it to Momoshiro, trying his best to look annoyed and put upon, like giving him water is some kind of difficult and tedious task, rather than something he doesn't really mind at all.

Well, this time, he's not going to say thanks again (he's done it twice already today!). Momoshiro takes the bottle—fingers touching Kaidoh's on purpose—and he swallows some water. His throat was feeling kind of dry. He closes his eyes as he drinks, looking at Kaidoh in the eyes feels kind of funny, and it's weird seeing Kaidoh look at him as he drinks. When he feels refreshed enough, he pulls the bottle away from his lips and hands it back to Kaidoh while wiping off his mouth with the back of his hand. The hand which is itching to be reunited with Kaidoh. This time, he does look at Kaidoh as he waits for him to take the bottle back, his eyes focused and almost strained.

Kaidoh takes the bottle back and returns it to its place on the floor. Then he looks back at Momoshiro and lets his hands settle awkwardly at his sides, like he's not sure what to do with them next. His palms are open and his lap is empty, like an invitation, but there's no way Kaidoh can just ask.

And boy does Kaidoh's lap look inviting to Momoshiro. He does really, truly, want to lie back down, and let Kaidoh pet his head again, and maybe hold his hand too. It's sort of like he's gotten this sugar addiction, and Kaidoh's nothing but this cavity-inducing sweetness and he's just waiting for him to surrender and lie down. Yeah, that sounds nice.

But something else sounds nicer.

He wonders if this is something Kaidoh wants too, kiss that is. If it's something he can get whenever he wants, because that sounds nice. Being able to kiss without some stupid build-up, or an excuse. He'd like to be able to kiss Kaidoh, simply because he wants to. And yeah, he wants to, and he searches Kaidoh's eyes, asking himself if he wants it too.

Momoshiro lifts one arm, and he leans in closer to Kaidoh. His hand lands on Kaidoh's shoulder, a bit hesitant, as if suddenly this requires a lot more courage than he previously thought was needed. He can feel that same fluttery yet anxious feeling well up inside of him again, but Momoshiro is determined. His hand slides up to Kaidoh's neck, wrapping his fingers around it till they touch Kaidoh's bandana. Then he uses it as leverage to pull himself closer, close enough to put his sort of wet lips on Kaidoh's. Inside he feels like he's going crazy with this stupid sugar rush, despite the fact that he's gently sucking, and it's not fast or urgent at all. He pulls back, breaking their brief kiss, but keeps their heads close together, as if Momoshiro isn't planning on keeping it at just one kiss.

Alien larva hatching eggs inside of his brain is probably the furthest thing on Momoshiro's mind right now.

Kaidoh blinks back at Momoshiro, feeling nervous, exposed, and even a little shy. Maybe it's because somehow, no matter how many times they do this, Kaidoh doesn't expect it to happen again—isn't sure if Momoshiro will continue wanting it to happen—so it takes him by surprise each time it does. In a good, but kind of scary way.

But if Momoshiro can be brave, then so can Kaidoh. He leans forward a little, each millimeter between them seeming to take forever to close, the seconds stretching out as he watches Momoshiro carefully, like he's confirming that it's okay to do this. Finally, there's nowhere left to move, and Kaidoh presses his mouth against Momoshiro's and raises his hand up to Momoshiro's face, his fingers spreading across Momoshiro's cheek to keep him close, so he can't pull back this time.

Not that Momoshiro wants to pull back. They've done this quite a bit by now, yet it still feels good, it still makes him feel high on that sugar rush. This is what he's been trying to protect this whole month, the ability to do this, without any strings attached, without putting any meaning into it—because that's dangerous. It could jeopardize the entire thing between them, and they might not ever do it again if … if … yeah, if one of them were to suddenly pull back and laugh 'haha, that was a joke'. Or asked them _what_ or _why_ they're doing this …

There should be no questions asked if Momoshiro wants to continue this with Kaidoh. So he tries to shut down his stupid brain, and focus instead on the way Kaidoh's lips are moving with his. Warm and wet, they always are. The hand on his cheek feels warm too, and secure, it's letting Momoshiro know that Kaidoh wants this too. That's good. As long as there's a mutual want here, then it should be fine, nothing needs to change, nothing important needs to happen.

All Momoshiro needs to do is concentrate on what they're doing.

And they're doing things slow. Momoshiro uses his fingers to rub circles at the back of Kaidoh's neck this time, returning the favour from before, sort of. He slides his lips across Kaidoh's, a sensation that he still can't get enough of, no matter how many times they've done this already. He feels a bit exhausted, like their actions take way too much energy to complete, or maybe his heart is just beating out of control and leaving him lightheaded and almost breathless. Kaidoh keeps pulling him closer, something which Momoshiro isn't going to struggle against. Soon though, Kaidoh's head is up against the wall, and Momoshiro is almost toppling over his body and falling right on top of him if he doesn't steady himself in time.

Momoshiro remembers the last time he sat in Kaidoh's lap. While of course, nice, he knows the strain it puts on Kaidoh's legs, so this time he is considerate. He pulls his lips away from Kaidoh's, and Kaidoh looks at him as if there's something wrong. He grabs Kaidoh's shirt with his other free hand, then rises to his knees. He flips one over, between Kaidoh's legs, and nudges his thighs to spread them, which Kaidoh does without hesitation. He creates enough space for him to sit, and he does, sitting down between Kaidoh, with his legs arched over the side of Kaidoh's thigh. It's kind of like Kaidoh's holding a kid, but that's certainly not what Momoshiro has in mind. He lets go of Kaidoh's shirt, and snakes his arm around his neck, locking him in an embrace with both arms, and not letting go, then presses their lips together again for another kiss.

Perhaps, Momoshiro thinks as he flicks his tongue over Kaidoh's lips, this can be a regular routine that doesn't need an excuse. Momoshiro would like to be able to walk up to Kaidoh, and simply push him up against the wall and kiss him—without it seeming weird, or worse; with Kaidoh rejecting his advances. But he hasn't so far, so maybe they're good.

Maybe they can do this every day. Momoshiro smiles against Kaidoh's lips. Yeah, sounds nice.

Kaidoh's shoulders relax, his whole body seeming to melt forward against Momoshiro. There's no lingering hesitation or nervousness now that his lips are sucking at Momoshiro's mouth. Instead there's just a soft, warm feeling sweeping through him, sending a shudder clear down to his toes. He feels content and relaxed, and at the same time just as conscious and aware as if he were out running, like there's adrenaline building and bursting under his skin.

His fingertips brush against Momoshiro's cheek, his palm feeling each subtle movement of Momoshiro's jaw that's echoed in the press of his mouth. The way they're kissing is slow and deliberate, almost careful, so different from the way they fight. So different from most things they do together, but somehow it feels just as comfortable, just as right. Kaidoh finds he likes this just as much as all the other things, and he presses his mouth against Momoshiro's a bit harder, like his lips are saying what words cannot.

His other hand slides up and around Momoshiro's back to curl around the back of Momoshiro's head, his fingers resting in his thick dark hair. They sweep through the short strands almost tenderly, like he's touching something precious. Kaidoh takes himself by surprise in moments like this, his eagerness to touch Momoshiro washing over him like a wave he can't anticipate or control. But Momoshiro isn't doing anything to stop him—no, in fact he seems just as caught up in this as Kaidoh is—so it's hard for Kaidoh to feel like he's doing anything wrong.

The way Kaidoh gets when they're like this is something Momoshiro still cannot get used to. Then again, he's the same; mind shuts off and his body moves against his own will. Fingers pressing against the frail skin of Kaidoh's neck, and lips hanging onto Kaidoh's as if it's all that matters. And to Momoshiro, it kind of does.

While not exactly rare or uncommon anymore, these are moments Momoshiro treasures. Sometimes they can be rough, filled with desire, and they physically struggle with each other with power, with control. Other times, such like these, it's much more lowkey. Momoshiro finds he likes this on a different level than he likes getting rough with Kaidoh. This is very careful, slow, like each movement and touch are done with purpose, with intent to please. It sure does please Momoshiro, the way Kaidoh keeps pressing their lips harder together, like he doesn't want them to separate. Not that Momoshiro wants to in the first place, he's in between Kaidoh's legs with his arms wrapped around his neck. Of course he's not leaving.

This feels way too good to leave.

It's almost a little overwhelming though. Momoshiro feels so fired up, but their actions are slow, which simply enhances everything that he's feeling as he can concentrate on it. Concentrate on each touch. Kaidoh's fingers are slipping through his black hair, much like before when he was lying on his lap, but this time it's more consistent and daring, and it feels better too. Sometimes Kaidoh's fingers brush down on his neck, which elicit goosebumps from him, his small hairs standing upright.

Even Kaidoh's hand on Momoshiro's cheek is making him feel fuzzy and warm. But there's also something else he likes about it, like Kaidoh is holding him so he can't leave, a fact that makes Momoshiro feel like they can do this forever. Kaidoh wants to do this, he likes to do this, there's no other explanation for how he touches Momoshiro. And it goes the same for him. Momoshiro really likes to do this too, to feel their lips form around each other, to have his hands touching Kaidoh wherever he can. Like there are no more boundaries between them when they're like this.

Momoshiro briefly parts his lips from Kaidoh, long enough to wet his own lips and smack them back together again—a little more forceful than he intended to, but he's eager to continue. He fingers the ends of Kaidoh's bandana, toying around with them, until he grabs hold of it and tries to untie the knot. This time he won't yank it off, it feels wrong somehow, when everything is slow and careful, so Momoshiro takes his time while trying not to get distracted by Kaidoh's own actions.

Soon enough, Momoshiro manages to untie the knot, and the bandana comes loose. He slips it off of Kaidoh's head, and his own dark brown hair springs free, pricking Momoshiro's forehead. That's better, this way, his hand can finally get lost in that hair, knotting it between his fingers. He thoughtfully places the bandana on his pillow next to them.

Then his attention is back on Kaidoh again, the way he's screaming for his attention with his mouth. Momoshiro is once more smiling, before his tongue darts out and licks Kaidoh's lips again.

Kaidoh's lips part like he's desperate for air, but he quickly changes his mind and decides that it isn't air he needs, but Momoshiro's tongue inside his mouth instead, and takes the licking as an invitation to suck at it with his lips and pull it inside. It feels warm, slippery, and familiar as it slides into Kaidoh's mouth and even at this slow pace, it's demanding all of Kaidoh's focus. It's like the rhythm of their mouths moving together is the only thing that matters. And for the time being, it really is. Kaidoh doesn't know what it is about Momoshiro that makes him forget about everything else, forget about time itself, but he isn't about to question how he's feeling.

He does enough of that the rest of the time. Right now, he just wants to concentrate on what's happening, what he can touch, what his senses can feel. Forget whatever doubts or worries might be there in the back of his mind.

There's something really nice about having Momoshiro so close like this. Kaidoh can't get used to how good it feels. It's reassuring, and at once both energizing and calming. It's especially relaxing now since it doesn't feel like there's any pressure on them, they aren't pushing urgently towards some goal or fighting over anything. In fact, there's no competition at all, just this silent agreement to be here together, to be in this together. And somehow that's better than any thrill that comes from constantly outdoing each other.

Kaidoh's fingers draw circles over Momoshiro's head and down the back of his neck where they rest, his arm draping loosely over Momoshiro's shoulder, wrist in the crook of Momoshiro's neck where he can feel the flutter of Momoshiro's pulse beating against his own. It makes Kaidoh feel like his own heartbeat is echoing. His breathing seems to resonate more loudly than usual too. It's as if all his senses are heightened, his whole body alert and ready to drink Momoshiro in and he can't really do much but hold on and let it happen.

He doesn't really have to do much, either, not when Momoshiro is meeting him halfway each time, like a gentle push and pull between them that isn't driven by a need to compete, but instead a simple desire for closeness. The only problem, Kaidoh thinks, as his fingers press encouragingly against the back of Momoshiro's neck, is that he just can't seem to get close enough.

Momoshiro agrees; he wants to melt into Kaidoh's body and feel him against him. Everywhere.

They're already sitting close though. Momoshiro in between Kaidoh's legs, with Kaidoh's arm around Momoshiro's neck and vice versa. Their hot mouths are open, with Momoshiro's tongue slipping in circles around Kaidoh's wet and delightful tongue. He wants to press them closer, though there just isn't much space to get any closer than they are already. He moves his body closer, until his chest is touching Kaidoh's, and his face is tilted to allow them some space to move. Arms are wrapped around Kaidoh's neck, but he brings one down, to trail down Kaidoh's shirt. When he get stop the bottom, he fingers the hem until he hooks it with his fingers, lifting it up, and he slides his hand underneath it.

Kaidoh's skin feels real and hot to the touch. It makes Momoshiro fidget on the spot, eager to continue his exploration of this addicting skin. His fingertips press down gently in his abdomen, then they slowly move up. Momoshiro doesn't know why touching Kaidoh's skin feels so good to him. Nor does he know why he likes it when Kaidoh sucks on his tongue—something that sends him in shivers and short breaths.

It all still feels so amazing; Momoshiro can hardly believe it happens, repeatedly. How he's allowed to touch another human being, to invade that personal space, to take what he likes, to touch what he likes.

Momoshiro flattens his hand against Kaidoh's torso. He licks up Kaidoh's tongue, and coaxes him into his own mouth, where he can feel the sensations rolling around, keeping him on the tips of his toes.

That he's able to do this to _Kaidoh_, of all people … well.

Momoshiro pushes his tongue against Kaidoh's, and he feels the goosebumps on his neck scatter to his arms.

He'd only want to do this to Kaidoh anyway. No one else, just Kaidoh, just the two of them, sitting here kissing with no pretenses, with no consequences.

The playing going on in his mouth isn't as rough as last time. There's no need to rush this time, they're simply going at their own pace and enjoying it. Momoshiro likes the way Kaidoh's tongue feels against his own, he still can't get over the sensation, which makes his toes curl, and his fingers pull at Kaidoh's hair. His heart is leaping wildly in his chest, despite the slowness of their moves. He moves his hand up to push it against Kaidoh's chest, and he feels Kaidoh's heartbeat. It's not going in the same rhythm as Momoshiro's is, but it's going just as fast. He likes feeling it, knowing Kaidoh is experiencing the same things.

The need to get closer is overtaking Momoshiro's mind. He pulls away from Kaidoh, his tongue slipping out, wet and slimy still. His eyes flutter open so he can see Kaidoh's blurry image in front of him, he's got his own eyes closed, but they soon open up as well, probably wondering why Momoshiro stopped kissing him. God, he looks so into it right now, flamed cheeks, heavy eyes, open mouth breathing for more air, it's definitely something Momoshiro would like to continue to see. But this time, he closes his eyes again, and he moves even closer to bury his head into Kaidoh's neck. He slips his hand out of Kaidoh's shirt as well, to press their bodies as close as he can, both his arms wrapping themselves around Kaidoh's neck.

Now they're as close as they can get, and it's such a comfortable and relaxing feeling that Momoshiro feels all his muscles relax as well. But not only that, he can feel other impulses surge through him, other urges that he wants to act on.

Momoshiro shifts his head, then plants his lips on the side of Kaidoh's delicate neck. He sucks at it a little, very gentle in his actions, while one hand is running through Kaidoh's hair, and the other is stroking his back. He shudders even though he's the one doing the touching.

Momoshiro wants to kiss Kaidoh everywhere.

That's certainly not something Kaidoh would say no to. He doesn't feel like saying no to Momoshiro at all, he doesn't think he can say words at all right now, his brain functions feeling temporarily wiped clean. The only thing he can process is the way Momoshiro's mouth feels, wet and soft, against his skin, and the way his arms feel, strong and secure around him.

Kaidoh wraps his own arms tighter around Momoshiro's body, both hands at his back now, feeling his shoulderblades shifting subtly under his touch, like it's Kaidoh's fingertips that are making them move. He can feel every movement Momoshiro makes, when they're so close like this, and he knows that Momoshiro can feel all of him, too, but rather than making him feel exposed or embarrassed, Kaidoh just feels a flutter in his chest. The feeling ripples through him, warm and energized.

He doesn't think he'll ever get used to the way Momoshiro makes him feel, like he's transferring the heat of a summer sun through his fingertips, his mouth, every bit of him that Kaidoh touches. But instead of leaving Kaidoh with an annoying sunburn, Momoshiro's sunshine just fills Kaidoh up with a pleasant warmth, like he doesn't have a care in the world. He's forgotten how to be annoyed about anything. Especially not Momoshiro. Right now, Kaidoh's unable to find anything stupid or wrong about Momoshiro. Everything he's doing feels right, everything about Momoshiro feels right.

It makes Kaidoh feel strange, like he must not be thinking clearly, and it's true, he isn't, but he's definitely sure of the things he's feeling. They're pretty damn clear.

He slides his hand up Momoshiro's back, pulling at the collar of his shirt so he can press his mouth against the exposed skin of Momoshiro's collarbone before nuzzling his face into Momoshiro's neck, like he's a burrowing animal and it's the only instinct he knows. He breathes, feeling airy and lightheaded, but not minding the seeming lack of oxygen.

He doesn't get why they aren't doing this all the time, why it always feels like such an insurmountable task to reach this point. Because once they're here, once they let themselves go, it feels like the easiest thing in the world. Kaidoh isn't used to the feeling, like something could be so infinitely simple, no impossible challenge, no high stakes, no chance of failure. He doesn't want to let it go.

Momoshiro can feel a steady warmth spreading through him from where Kaidoh is nuzzled against. It's as if he reserved this spot just for Kaidoh, for him to bury and hide his face in, with Momoshiro allowing it. Hell, he'll allow just about anything right now.

There's that feeling again, Momoshiro notices. It's a stable current that gently flows through him, it's making him feel at ease, erase all the worries and thoughts in his head, it feels good. It feels really good. Momoshiro places another kiss on Kaidoh's warm neck, causing Kaidoh to push his face into his own neck even more. He feels goosebumps appear everywhere Kaidoh is touching, where his face is pressed up against, where his breath is hitting his collarbone. Momoshiro likes it, he likes this soothing and gentle feeling when they're like this, when Kaidoh's here with him. His heart is thumping hopefully, excited at the feeling.

Momoshiro spreads his fingers out in Kaidoh's hair, cupping his skull securely, and softly presses against it, so Kaidoh can stay nuzzled in his neck. In the place where Momoshiro thinks he belongs.

Yeah, that's exactly how it feels like, where Kaidoh belongs, how Momoshiro wishes it was like all the time. He buries his face into Kaidoh's neck as well, his nose pressed against his collarbone, and one arm wrapped tightly around Kaidoh's back. He can feel Kaidoh's embrace tighten as well, as if he's saying it's okay to hold him. It's making his heart race faster.

That … _this_ feeling, Momoshiro doesn't know what to name it, but he does know it's the most addicting feeling on earth, and he can't get enough of it. He doesn't ever want to let go of that feeling, and subsequently doesn't want to let Kaidoh go either. No, Kaidoh can continue to sit here with him, holding each other like it's easy and right. Holding Kaidoh like he's his.

_Mine._ Momoshiro breathes in deeply, the nice sweet smell of Kaidoh making his senses kick into overdrive, and pulls at his heart.

Their bodies stay molded together, the only movement coming from their breathing. Momoshiro feels so good and relaxed, that he thinks this would be a good way to fall asleep. Even better than on Kaidoh's lap. Because like this, they're both doing it, both wrapped in this moment like nothing else matters. And nothing really does. It's just the two of them, holding onto this pleasant feeling, and taking in deep breaths as they soak in each other's body warmth.

Kaidoh's probably the warmest and most pleasant thing Momoshiro has felt in his life, and that's not something he wants to lose.

Mine, he thinks again as he nuzzles in the crook of Kaidoh's neck. Yes, that sounds like a good word. He kisses Kaidoh's neck again, before opting to simply rest his lips against it, eyes closed, and concentrated on his heart beating a steady rhythm, one that's now in tune with Kaidoh's. He can feel the blood rush through Kaidoh's veins, right where his lips are pressed against. It's reassuring to know Kaidoh's heart is going just as crazy as his. That's the weirdest thing though, that he's simply sitting here with Kaidoh, holding on to each other, not doing much else, yet it feels like he's being energized as if he's being powered by batteries, or perhaps a powerline full of electricity. It's something so simple, an embrace, yet his heart is pounding in his chest as if he's been running Kaidoh's crazy training schedule. At least this is one kind of running he likes, he really, really likes. He takes in a deep breath and sighs.

"Mine," Momoshiro whispers in what sounds like a voiceless breath against Kaidoh's neck. It's so quiet, Kaidoh might not have heard it. Momoshiro is too wrapped up in this feeling to realize what he's said.

And Kaidoh thinks he must have imagined hearing it.

The hut is silent, save for their soft breaths and steadily pounding heartbeats, but Kaidoh still doesn't believe his own ears. Maybe he's just hearing what he wants to hear—it _is_ what he wants to hear—caught up in the dizzying fantasy of Momoshiro's arms wrapped tightly around him.

But Kaidoh's heart tugs insistently against his chest, reassuring him that this is not in his imagination. Momoshiro is really here and, regardless of whether or not he said anything at all, he's really holding onto Kaidoh, keeping him close, and that is saying more than any word could. Kaidoh smiles a little at the thought, his mouth still safely hidden against Momoshiro's neck, and he breathes out with an easy sigh, trying to push himself closer against Momoshiro's skin with each exhale.

_Say it again_, Kaidoh thinks. Even if it was only in his head, he wants to hear Momoshiro's voice again. It hadn't sounded as annoying as it sometimes does. Well, if Kaidoh's being honest, Momoshiro's voice alone isn't annoying, just the stupid things he says. Momoshiro isn't being stupid at all right now, though. Or maybe they're both being stupid, hands wrapped all around each other and clinging like koala bears. Kaidoh isn't the type to cling to anything, but here he is, and his body is responding like it's been zapped to life with electricity, like it's the best thing in the world.

It kind of _is_ the best thing in the world.

Kaidoh's fingers tug gently at the back of Momoshiro's shirt, clenching the material between his fingers, palms pressed against Momoshiro's back. Its wide expanse is beginning to feel like familiar territory to Kaidoh, from his neck and down his spine, and across his shoulderblades, Kaidoh has touched it all, and more than that, he's allowed to keep touching, wherever he likes. It amazes him, he can't get enough of it, and lets his fingers slide down Momoshiro's shirt, the material shivering under them, and then back up again so his arms lock around his shoulders, pulling Momoshiro into a tight embrace—that's what it must be, but calling it that sounds weird to Kaidoh. Not weird enough to make him want to let go, though.

Instead, he only wants to stay close. His lips part at Momoshiro's neck and find the pulse point there, gently sucking the skin and feeling Momoshiro's heartbeat seem to leap against his mouth. Kaidoh didn't know such a sensation was possible. His mouth lingers there, breathing in and out, his lips tingling like there's a crackle of static jumping off Momoshiro's skin. But instead of giving Kaidoh an electric jolt, the feeling just buzzes through him like a pleasant rush.

It's something he thinks he could get used to. Judging by how comfortable his body feels pressed up against Momoshiro right now, maybe he already has.

Momoshiro's rational conscious has really drifted off by now, he can hardly recognize himself. So relaxed and content with sitting here with Kaidoh, arms all over each other like they're glued together. It feels like everything before they got like this felt like a guitar string strung too tight, and now it's unraveled, everything falling into place, which feels so very reassuring and good, that Momoshiro's mind really isn't concerned anymore about what is right, and what is wrong. Everything feels right, the way they're like this, it's feels as natural as one of their fights or arguments. Maybe even better. Yeah, most definitely.

And Kaidoh's lips on his skin feel so electrifying. He has no idea what kind of effect it has on Momoshiro. It's making him feel tingly and sort of restless, because he wants _more._ His neck is so exposed and defenseless against Kaidoh's lips, which are gently pressed against it, and sucking lightly. It sucks out all the rationale left in Momoshiro; he doesn't care anymore, he just wants to sit here and do this all day long.

Maybe forever.

Momoshiro drops his left arm, then hooks it underneath Kaidoh's, so he has better access to his back. He finds the rim of the black tank top, before slipping his hand underneath it, fingers trailing over the hot and muscular back. They touch and press down on his back, massaging in different patterns, tracing his spine all the way to his shoulderblades. He really likes Kaidoh's back, the way it feels against his fingertips. He's seen it a lot in his younger years, when he saw Kaidoh practicing his boomerang snake move at the riverbanks. The way his muscles flexed, and the way he turned his body, showcasing all the details on his fine back.

Probably back then Momoshiro had wondered what it felt like to touch it.

Back then, Momoshiro had spied on Kaidoh's training one too many times. Hidden behind a large pole, or maybe some bushes, or crouched behind the railing of the bridge, with his bike ditched somewhere nearby. It was to study his rival's training; he couldn't let Kaidoh get better than him at tennis. That was his excuse. Now what's his excuse? He doesn't have any. Maybe he never had an excuse in the first place … with Kaidoh he just acts irrational lately. Doing things that even surprise him, like rubbing his back, pulling his hair, and kissing the side of his neck.

And Kaidoh seems to be irrational too, letting Momoshiro do this, and returning the favour, also sucking the skin on his neck. It draws out a sigh out of Momoshiro, concentrated on the pleasure he derives from it.

It's amazing the way they can touch each other now, while still feeling comfortable and right, almost effortless. And the way Kaidoh presses his palms against his back, keeping him close, as if he's encouraging him to touch wherever. Any personal boundaries they might have had before, are all gone now—evaporated into thin air. Maybe Momoshiro had always wanted to overcome those, he's naturally touchy feely after all. But mostly, he just wanted to act that way with Kaidoh, and now he can. Now they are.

Momoshiro flexes his fingers, then sets his nails onto Kaidoh's spine, and he drags them down—not _too_ hard. He can feel Kaidoh respond against his own body, it's impossible to hide any reactions when they're this close, and Momoshiro likes it. He can't hide anything either, and at the moment, he doesn't even feel the need to.

Neither can Momoshiro hide his apparent arousal, which is now starting to show in his shorts. He is feeling rather turned on by all this snuggling, and rubbing, and Kaidoh's lips on his neck are pushing all the right buttons. That, and he gets easily excited at the prospect of doing something that feels good with Kaidoh again. At least Kaidoh can't really tell there's a bulge in his shorts, when his face is still hiding itself in the crook of his neck, which he kisses again. Momoshiro can feel his body twitch in response, and he presses himself closer to Kaidoh's chest. That damn shirt is always in the way.

Everything physical separating their scorching hot skin is in the way. Momoshiro lowers his hand from Kaidoh's back, and hooks his entire arm at his waist, so he can have the most skin-on-skin contact, and to keep him close.

Kaidoh lets his own fingers drift down as well, both hands sliding down Momoshiro's sides until they reach the hem of his shirt. He doesn't even hesitate as he slips them under the material and against Momoshiro's very warm and bare skin.

This time when he slides his hands up again, back towards Momoshiro's shoulder blades, the shirt scrunches up with them, and Kaidoh feels Momoshiro shiver a little against him as more and more of his skin is exposed to the open air.

Somehow the shiver seems to reverberate into Kaidoh's fingertips and through his own body as well, because he shudders against Momoshiro, his breath shaking out against the crook of his neck. His fingers press tighter into his skin, as though suddenly, even though they're both sitting, he needs something to hold on to for balance.

He tilts his head so he can kiss the side of Momoshiro's face, right along his jaw, and despite the resulting tumble of energy inside him, the sensation grounds Kaidoh and keeps him steady. He likes that he can rely on Momoshiro's solid warmth for that, even when his own insides seem to be going nuts.

He doesn't know when that happened, when the switch flipped, when this became something steady, rather than something with an unpredictable outcome. Kaidoh still doesn't know how it will end, where this will go, what to even call it, but he feels comfortable with where they are now. And for Kaidoh, being comfortable with anything this affectionate is a pretty big thing.

Slowly, Kaidoh pulls back from Momoshiro's face, enough that Momoshiro takes notice and pulls back from Kaidoh's neck as well. Kaidoh looks at him, and for a moment just enjoys the hard, intense look in Momoshiro's eyes, a look Kaidoh wants to believe is only ever for him. Then he moves again, and this time when Kaidoh leans in, he doesn't aim for Momoshiro's neck, but his lips instead, with a renewed eagerness to return to them.

In the past, he'd spent years complaining about Momoshiro's big mouth, but when it comes to kissing, Kaidoh can't find a thing wrong with it. He likes the way Momoshiro's mouth feels, how immediately he always reacts, how confident his lips feel pressed against Kaidoh's own. Kaidoh can't help but feel just as wrapped up in it as Momoshiro seems to be, just as swept away. For someone who likes being in control so much, Kaidoh is getting pretty bad at holding onto it when it comes to Momoshiro.

It's strange the way Momoshiro has gotten used to this, to respond immediately as if they've been doing this for years. Kaidoh's lips are warm and demanding, exerting a kind of gentleness that doesn't really match his gruff exterior, nor does it match the usual way he acts around Momoshiro.

Because what's 'usual' for them, is bickering with each other, and saying stupid things. Then maybe throw a punch or two.

It had never been like _this._ It had never _felt_ like this. So good and exciting, as if this is something they should have been doing years ago. Momoshiro briefly wonders if this would have naturally happened between them had they not lost contact that time. But he tries to pull his thoughts back to the present, where Kaidoh is real, and not some memory, and he's running his hands up and down his back—which feels really damn good—and kissing him that makes him feel dizzy.

Momoshiro hopes Kaidoh feels just as good and lightheaded as he does, as this always makes him feel. He moves one hand away from the back of Kaidoh's head, slipping it around his neck, then up his jawline, and then he's sprawling his fingers across Kaidoh's red cheek. He grazes the skin softly, holding Kaidoh in place so he can't turn away, but it doesn't feel like he would want to in the first place, not when he's pushing his lips against Momoshiro's.

When they briefly part to take in a breath, Momoshiro crashes their lips together again as if _that's_ his oxygen. Kissing Kaidoh is like his life essence right now. They move their hot mouths against each other, and to an outsider it might look funny, but that's something Momoshiro doesn't really give a shit about right now. All that matters is that they're both doing this, and that Kaidoh will continue to use his mouth for kissing instead of hurling insults at him. Or hissing.

Though the hissing sounds kind of sexy at times like these. Not that he'd say this out loud. Not that he'd say _anything_ out loud.

Expect ... maybe … Momoshiro wonders what Kaidoh would do if he said something.

Momentarily, Momoshiro's forgotten his train of thought when Kaidoh pulls his bottom lip within his own mouth, and sucks on it. It feels like Kaidoh is pulling out his breath, as it escapes in the form of a small moan. The first few encounters, this had embarrassed him, and it still sort of does, but Momoshiro cares about it less now, since Kaidoh can make the same sort of sound as well. He can _make_ him moan like that too. And having that sort of power, to get Kaidoh squirming against him, feels even better than eating hamburgers.

Momoshiro pulls back, so that his lips get released from Kaidoh's hold, and like Kaidoh did before, he looks him in the eyes for a while, feeling goosebumps dance on his skin when Kaidoh looks back. His fingers curl over Kaidoh's cheek, until this slip into his hair, and go behind his ear, like he's petting a cat almost. Kaidoh licks his lips, and Momoshiro tries very hard not to smack their mouths together again, because boy, did that make his erection twitch. Instead, he leans to the left, the side which his hand isn't busy massaging Kaidoh behind his ear, and he kisses his cheek. Then he drags his lips towards his ear, smiles a little to himself, and licks the end of Kaidoh's earlobe. Feeling Kaidoh's hands on his back press in harder, Momoshiro is encouraged to keep going. He shifts his face a bit closer, so he can take the entire soft piece of flesh in his mouth, and he sucks on it. All he really wants is for Kaidoh to feel good, too.

Kaidoh sucks in a short, clipped burst of air and when he breathes out again, it's accompanied by a low whine he feels immediately embarrassed to be hearing. It's like Momoshiro is able to anticipate what Kaidoh wants, even before Kaidoh realizes he wants it. Or maybe it's simply that, with Momoshiro, there's not a whole hell of a lot that Kaidoh _doesn't_ want.

He doesn't even notice how his hips arch slightly off the bed in response to Momoshiro's touch, like he can no longer conceal what Momoshiro is doing to him. So much of the way he reacts is completely out of his control, his body just moving on its own accord, like he's a puppet and Momoshiro is pulling all his strings at once. His fingers grip Momoshiro's back more tightly, and Kaidoh can't help but feel some of the old rivalry flare up inside of him, like he wants to return the favor, get even with Momoshiro for making him act so irrationally.

His face drops against Momoshiro's neck again and he settles his mouth right at the place he'd been sucking before, the soft skin there still blooming red. The skin feels so hot against Kaidoh's lips, like Momoshiro's body is on fire, and Kaidoh's tongue darts out to lick at it, like it's curious to know what that heat might taste like. The instinct is foreign and unfamiliar to him, but it's one that pulses through him like it's always been there, this strange urge to put his mouth all over Momoshiro. It's not one he can really deny, not when Momoshiro is sitting in front of him, allowing anything and everything.

Kaidoh's mind is a haze of humming, buzzing sensations, and even at this still slow pace, they feel overwhelming. His hands slip down Momoshiro's spine, tracing the warm skin until they sprawl out over Momoshiro's hips, curling until his fingers are hooked securely around Momoshiro's waist. The touch makes Momoshiro's breath hitch. There seems to be too little oxygen in the room for either of them, but Kaidoh sucks in what he can, like Momoshiro's skin is giving him all the air he needs.

Momoshiro freezes on instinct, trapped by the emotions washing over him. He takes in a sharp breath, his lips still locked on Kaidoh's earlobe, and tries to control himself a little bit. His body feels on fire, like Kaidoh is doing everything he can to mess with him, touching him in ways that send him over the edge. But it proves to be futile, as Kaidoh sucks even harder on that delicate spot on his neck, he feels his control being sucked right out of it. He shivers, and lets out the breath he'd been holding in, sounding like a satisfied moan, and it goes right into Kaidoh's ear.

Well, shit. That's embarrassing.

Now he can't even hide his stupid noises anymore by pretending it was just his stomach being hungry, or something. Momoshiro's lips let go of Kaidoh's earlobe, and he straightens his neck, flipping his head back, so that his entire neck is exposed for Kaidoh to do what he wants with it. It almost feels like he's surrendering to him, and yeah, maybe it sort of it, but everything feels too good for him to care. He starts moving both his hands again, touching what they can on Kaidoh's head and back, rubbing and massaging, and sometimes even scratching him. That snake is still sucking on his neck, as if he wants to make sure he'll leave a hickey, and Momoshiro is sure he's accomplished that a million times over; it's driving him insane.

The instinct to move his body in rhythmic thrusts against Kaidoh is something Momoshiro can't seem to stop. And it makes Momoshiro feel kind of smug, when he notices Kaidoh is arching up against him too. Everything is like a dance that they're taking part of, they never stop moving, and Momoshiro never stops hearing the music ring in his ears. But the position he's in makes it hard for him to really mold their bodies together.

Fed up with that position, Momoshiro shoves Kaidoh away at his chest, making him sit up against the wall, and he looks at him, bewildered at the interruption. The sore spot on Momoshiro's neck throbs with excitement and pain; it's probably a bruise by now, yet he doesn't mind it at all. Before moving away completely, Momoshiro kisses Kaidoh's lips, as if to tell him that he's not going to stop, and to trust him to not want to stop. When he really does pull back, he finally makes room in between Kaidoh's legs, to he can flip over his left leg, and now he's in the same position as they were last time; Momoshiros legs wrapped around Kaidoh's waist.

He grabs the sides of Kaidoh's face, smacking their lips together again in a much more urgent fashion. This is now all Momoshiro wants, to keep doing this with Kaidoh. He grinds his hips into Kaidoh's, his warm erection poking Kaidoh's pubic bone. He can't ignore _that_ this time.

But first …

"Shirt," Momoshiro murmurs against Kaidoh's lips. His hands are sloppily tugging at the rim of Kaidoh's tank top. Off with it.

Kaidoh hisses against Momoshiro's mouth in agreement and nudges Momoshiro back a bit, before he drops his own arms, crosses them in front of himself to yank his shirt off. He moves as quickly as possible, impatient to get back to what they were doing and feeling a little stupid as he fidgets and pulls the tank top over his head. He tosses it away from them and it lands somewhere on the floor; he's temporarily forgotten his need for cleanliness and order. There are other more pressing things occupying his mind at the moment.

Like getting Momoshiro's shirt off, too.

He reaches for the front of it and jerks at the material, clenching it between his fingers in a way that feels very familiar, like he's about to shove him and then they'll start fighting. But that isn't what Kaidoh wants this time, and this feels like the furthest thing from a fight. He makes a low, demanding grunt, not nearly as articulate as Momoshiro was able to be, and his fingers find the hem at the bottom of the shirt and start pulling the material up, not waiting for confirmation from Momoshiro that this is okay. He can see it in Momoshiro's eyes, the exciting hunger burning within them, that it is. That all of this is.

Kaidoh's fingers don't move as fast as they did on his own tank top, like they're savoring the journey up Momoshiro's chest. He can't help the way his body shudders as his knuckles come in contact with bare skin, and even as a blush creeps over his cheeks, he can't seem to stop staring. When the material is bunched up almost to Momoshiro's neck, Kaidoh sucks in a breath and pulls the shirt all the way off over Momoshiro's head. Momoshiro catches it in his fingers and drops it behind him.

And for a second, Kaidoh doesn't know what to do next, like there are too many options, each more tempting than the last. Then he leans forward, his hands curling around Momoshiro's back again and his mouth dips to meet Momoshiro's chest, kissing the burning skin. It doesn't linger there for long, trailing its way up to Momoshiro's neck, his jaw, and finally reaching his mouth again as his fingers press into Momoshiro's back to pull him closer again.

His lips are kind of starting to throb from this kissing workout, but Kaidoh can't bring himself to care in the slightest.

Despite the fact that only a little while ago, Momoshiro was actually kind of chilly, right now he's burning with a fever. Or more accurately, Kaidoh's lips are burning him. He wanted to get Kaidoh's shirt off so he could kiss him everywhere, but it seems Kaidoh got to that point before he could, and now their hot mouths are pressed together, desperate to keep this going. Everything suddenly feels desperate and urgent, as if they _have_ to keep moving, there's no stopping this.

Momoshiro obviously doesn't want this to stop. Not with the way Kaidoh is trying to tear his lips off, and pressing all the right kinds of spots on his back.

Momoshiro returns the favour, hands running up and down Kaidoh's bare back. It feels amazing to touch the skin without anything in the way; it's hot to the touch. He wishes Kaidoh would just walk around topless all day long so he can run his fingers down his back—or even his chest, which is sliding against his own, sweaty and hot—anytime he wants. He manages to pry one arm in between them, so that his hand can explore the front of Kaidoh's body. Over his chest, down his abs, to his waist, and stops at the waistband of his shorts.

Those are in the way too, he thinks. But out of all the things that Momoshiro is allowed to do right now, he doesn't think tearing off Kaidoh's shorts is one of them. He'd probably punch him. Maybe.

Though he _can_ try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

But suddenly Momoshiro's mind is distracted from his new goal when Kaidoh plunges his tongue inside of his mouth. Any kind of plan of getting Kaidoh naked flies right out the window, and he eagerly pushes his own tongue against Kaidoh's, pressing his groin into him as well. No matter how many times they do this, it still makes Momoshiro feel fuzzy and excited at the texture of their tongues. It feels powerful, almost, the way they keep pushing at each other, trying to gain the upper hand at making the other shiver and moan in response. But since they're both doing that, it's not quite clear who has the upper hand here.

Not that Momoshiro really cares, as long as they keep going like this, he's fine with anything. Besides, Kaidoh having the upper hand isn't that bad—not if it means he'll kiss his chest again, and sucks on his neck as if he owns it. Momoshiro is more than alright with that.

In fact, Kaidoh can go ahead and do that anytime he likes; Momoshiro isn't going to stop him.

Then as Kaidoh's tongue slips out of Momoshiro's mouth, he remembers about his plan to get him naked. To get rid of those shorts, because they truly are in the way. In the way of getting to … you know, Kaidoh's thing. Which Momoshiro wants to touch and rub, and have Kaidoh do the same to him, and with no shorts in the way, they can easily do this. How to do this though … Momoshiro tries to think, but when Kaidoh's lips return on his neck, he sort of shuts off his mind and enjoys the sensation.

And Kaidoh really sucks _hard._ Momoshiro squeezes his eyes shut. "Fuck," he grunts out. It might have been a vulgar exclamation, but Momoshiro is enjoying this to the point of being overloaded with nothing but pleasure. It's making him see stars.

The hand that was busy on Kaidoh's chest, rubbing and spreading his fingers out flat against his abs, are now going down again, returning to his waistband. Momoshiro is panting for breath this time, like Kaidoh is sucking out all the oxygen out of him. He swallows, feeling a bit weird for wanting this, and almost has seconds thoughts—which are squashed as Kaidoh grinds his hips into his. Okay, that's a good sign. Momoshiro feels a bit shy and nervous, since they haven't done this before, but he gathers his courage to pull through with it. He fumbles his way through it, trying to pry one finger underneath the hem of Kaidoh's shorts, and hooks the band away from his waist.

_Off with this too._ He tugs at it again, and hopes Kaidoh gets the hint. And if not, well, he won't say no to being ravished like this either. He better not stop.

Kaidoh tears his mouth away from Momoshiro's neck and stares accusingly at him. He feels out of breath and his lips are swollen from being suctioned to Momoshiro's skin like a vacuum.

_Uhh_, his brain sputters. It's hard to concentrate when Momoshiro's got his hand there, and maybe that's Momoshiro's intention, to force Kaidoh to focus on this instead. His body doesn't seem to mind. In fact, if the erection straining at his shorts, just agonizing inches from Momoshiro's fingers, is anything to go by, his body would very much like to focus on this. But the look in Momoshiro's eyes is a little different from previous times, and he's not reaching down Kaidoh's shorts so much as trying to pull them off of him entirely.

Which is a little bit scary.

Sure, the whole Seigaku team used to shower together back in tennis club, and Kaidoh is no stranger to showing some skin when he gets changed—it's not like he's insecure about his body—but there was no real meaning behind any of that, and this feels very different, in too many ways to count. It seems to make the whole thing more serious, since it's no longer sloppy fumbling of fingers down the front of each other's boxers, and it will be much harder to make the excuse that that's all this is.

Well, Kaidoh's only going to do it if Momoshiro does too. If they're going to be doing something scary and a little embarrassing, then they sure as hell better be doing it together.

He turns his head, eyes downcast, and hisses, his face red from panting and from the nervousness that comes from the thought of being naked. With Momoshiro. It's both exciting and terrifying.

"Move," he hisses, and shoves at Momoshiro's chest so he'll get off his legs, since he can't really remove his shorts so long as Momoshiro is still on top of him. Momoshiro seems taken aback for a moment, like he thinks Kaidoh wants to stop, but Kaidoh's other hand slides around Momoshiro's torso to pull at the hem of Momoshiro's shorts as well, as if that explains his intentions. His eyes harden, as resolute as they are reassuring, and Momoshiro moves to the side, still close enough to keep Kaidoh from backing down or chickening out. Kaidoh never thought he'd need to rely on Momoshiro's presence for moral support. Well, to be honest, he never thought he'd find himself in this kind of situation to begin with. Either way, having Momoshiro here makes Kaidoh feel a little braver, like he's capable of things he never thought about doing before.

Once Momoshiro is off, Kaidoh slides his shorts down his hips, pulling the boxers down with them, and tries to do it as quickly and gracefully as possible, which is hard when he's got an erection—that makes everything kind of graceless—and Momoshiro is staring at him. Kaidoh can feel it without even looking back. He's having a hard time looking at Momoshiro right now because this is kind of embarrassing, and he's, quite literally, suddenly rather exposed.

He finally pulls his shorts off and kicks his shoes off with them, because it would look kind of ridiculous if he were completely naked and still had his sneakers on, like he was about to go out and run a marathon in the buff. The image isn't really helping him to feel less nervous about this whole thing, like it could easily turn into some mortifying nightmare. He's actually had a nightmare like that before, about showing up to practice naked. It was in the first few weeks of his time as captain and he was a ball of nerves day in and day out, though he tried not to let it show. The last thing he wants is to let that same nervous energy consume him now, not right when they were getting to the good part.

The only way to avoid that is to get Momoshiro naked too, as soon as possible. Kaidoh pulls Momoshiro back towards him, like he's going to cover himself up with Momoshiro's body, which is absurd for a number of reasons, and then his fingers are back at the waistband of Momoshiro's shorts, tugging them down. Momoshiro's own hands close over them, and he takes over, pulling them down and off like he's unwilling to let Kaidoh do all the work, and Kaidoh kind of understands why Momoshiro was staring earlier. Because seeing Momoshiro do that sends tingles all through Kaidoh's body, and his erection twitches. And shit, now there's nothing in the way to hide that, is there?

Kaidoh swallows hard, and the second Momoshiro's shorts are on the ground he smashes his lips against Momoshiro's mouth and tries to pull every inch of Momoshiro's body against him again, trying to bring them back into that zone where anything is possible, before the awkwardness sets in.

They are now at the point of no return. Or, more accurately, they've crossed that line several times already.

What had started out as a hormonally charged event, sloppily trying to do what felt good at the time, has now turned into something so much more. Neither Momoshiro nor Kaidoh can deny that this is something alright, that they are agreeing to do this together. Sure, Momoshiro is as turned on as he's never been before—their hot naked bodies meshed together is both exhilarating, yet completely terrifying—but this is not just done on the fly.

Momoshiro might have been able to trick his mind into letting it think Kaidoh was just someone to mess around with, to get off and feel good, and this could have been anyone else. And it worked; for at least a month he was able to continue this with Kaidoh, thinking that was all there is to it. Just two guys wishing to get off.

_But._

He was the one to call Kaidoh to come home, wasn't he? And while at the time, getting naked and shoving each other's mouths against each other wasn't exactly what he had in mind, getting Kaidoh near him was. He just wanted him to be there, and it escalated into … into, well—this. This very moment where their bodies are moving against each other, molding into the other as if they're trying to hide themselves, but they're still doing it, still continuing. Momoshiro could have finished this off by groping Kaidoh through his shorts, and then Kaidoh would do the same to him. There was no need to take off their shorts and underwear, not unless Momoshiro wanted to see Kaidoh naked.

And he does.

It's probably better than watching a hundred porn movies combined. And while his eyes are closed right now, focused on the emotions arousing in him from having their naked bodies touch each other with nothing in the way, he did see it. And he _feels_ it too. The way they're flexing their muscles in this slow rhythm to grind into each other, erections sliding up against each other, and touching their abdomen, it's almost like a dream. Momoshiro feels dizzy, yet at the same time, he's grounded to reality. If Kaidoh stops holding onto him like this, he might think he's really dreaming, or floating through some clouds.

Years ago, Momoshiro had seen Kaidoh naked before. When they were in the same tennis club, and took showers together from time to time. But this was with the rest of the Seigaku team, and it was never under the same pretext; it never meant anything, nor was Momoshiro interested. He might have made the odd joke about Kaidoh's penis size, which got Kaidoh all fired up and they'd be in another fight again. But they were never alone, and never had Momoshiro seen what Kaidoh's penis would look like when it's erect, and letting him see his too. What would you call something like this? Stark naked and yet no shower in sight, kissing and touching in places they've never touched before, and they're _letting_ each other do this. No. They _want_ to do this.

Momoshiro wants Kaidoh, and every inch of his body screams in agreement.

The best part is? Momoshiro thinks Kaidoh wants him too. And while neither have said something like this aloud; actions speak louder than words. So much louder.

Suddenly there's nails scratching down Momoshiro's back, which makes him hiss out a sharp breath, arching up his back at the stinging touch. He growls against Kaidoh's mouth, and lets his own nails trail down the side of Kaidoh's arm, enough to make it hurt. As much as Momoshiro likes this position; sitting up right with Kaidoh against the wall, he wants to have more access to Kaidoh's body, his lips throbbing and aching to kiss everywhere he's allowed to. Like he wants to map out Kaidoh's naked body with his lips—same goes for his hands. He grips Kaidoh's arm, and pushes him to the side so he gets the hint.

Kaidoh merely bites down on his lip in return. Momoshiro is temporarily too much in the moment to continue his motion, and simply lets his emotions catch up to the sensations that are bursting from his mouth, throbbing painful bursts that still feel good. Momoshiro uses all his willpower to pull back, his eyes only half open and his lips cherry red from being bitten. It matches the flush on his face. He takes in deep breaths, staring at Kaidoh, who stares back at him, and it's sending chills down his hot body.

Never would Momoshiro have thought that the sight of a slightly disoriented Kaidoh, with lips and cheeks so red it's almost cute, would make him feel butterflies.

Momoshiro quickly returns for a brief kiss on Kaidoh's soft lips, as if he's saying that he won't leave, before pulling back again. He clears his throat.

"Lie down," says Momoshiro as he looks down at his bed. Embarrassment isn't a factor anymore (well, it is, a little bit), that was thrown out the window along with his boxers.

For a second, Momoshiro thinks Kaidoh won't do it, until he gently pushes at Momoshiro's chest to get him to back off, and he shuffles underneath his body, lying down on his back on the bed. Before Momoshiro can even look at him, to take in the sight of Kaidoh naked and hard, and flushed with red spots all over his body, Kaidoh's got his arms around his neck, and he yanks him down to his level. Their mouths crash against each other as if they're in need for air, or perhaps they're addicted to each other. Momoshiro sure feels like he is.

With Kaidoh now beneath him, Momoshiro makes himself a bit more comfortable, legs between Kaidoh's, and elbows propped up next to his head to prevent him from suffocating Kaidoh with the weight of his body. But of course, the entire reason why Momoshiro wanted Kaidoh to lie down was …

Kaidoh lurches up his hips into Momoshiro's, and Momoshiro can see colour explode in front of his eyes as he groans from the sudden collision of their hard penises. _That's_ exactly why Momoshiro wanted them to be lying down; to have their groins touching and rubbing, and now Momoshiro can touch Kaidoh in a much more comfortable position.

And he wants to touch everywhere.

Using his left hand to rake his fingers through Kaidoh's hair, and trailing it behind his ear before cupping his cheek, his other hand is busy gliding down Kaidoh's neck. He keeps it there as he feels Kaidoh's pulse leaping against his hand. It's going wild, and Momoshiro smiles against Kaidoh's lips. Then he removes his hand, sliding it further down, over his chest, slowly moving over his ribs, until he's at his hipbone. For a little while, he keeps it there, his palm resting on top of it; he's busy concentrating on pushing his tongue inside of Kaidoh's mouth, who eagerly sucks him in with a big welcome. They aren't shy about letting any strange noises out from this hot make-out, especially since Momoshiro is digging his hips into Kaidoh, making circular motions so that both their penises get stimulation, and that's enough to get him panting for breath and letting out small moans. But since Kaidoh is too, it's okay, he shouldn't hold back.

Finally, he starts moving his hand south again, shifting his body a bit to the left so that he can expose Kaidoh's erection, ready for grabs. His fingers trail the inside of his thigh first, and he's focused on any kind of reaction he's getting from Kaidoh, who simply thrusts his tongue against his harder, and more urgent. The hands on his back are keeping him in a strong grip, so he won't be able to leave without some kind of struggle. Not that Momoshiro wants to, he's perfectly fine staying like this.

His fingers move closer to Kaidoh's pelvic area, until he can feel the soft hairs of Kaidoh's pubic hair. Momoshiro himself, had sort of, trimmed his off, though it's embarrassing to admit, because he was sort of hoping something like this would happen again, and he didn't want it to get in the way. But for Kaidoh's it's ok, and Momoshiro's hand cups Kaidoh's warm balls. Immediately Kaidoh pushes his hips into him again, as if he's telling Momoshiro to hurry the hell up. Well, he won't say no to that. He moves his hand up, palm upside down, to slide over the long shaft, until he reaches the head, and rubs his thumb on top of it, and curls his other fingers around the base.

Momoshiro had no idea how hot it could be to touch someone else like this and gain pleasure from it. He's definitely enjoying this squirming Kaidoh beneath him, responding to his touch in ways he couldn't even imagine.

Kaidoh's nails dig into Momoshiro's back and his breath seems caught in his throat. Then it comes back in a rush and Kaidoh pants hard at the side of Momoshiro's mouth. His voice slips out too, a low grumble like he's angry or irritated, but that isn't the case at all. In fact, all his brain seems to be thinking—the only coherent thought he's capable of having—is, _That feels amazing, don't stop_.

He returns to Momoshiro's lips with renewed intensity, like he's going to suck them off of Momoshiro's face, and he doesn't even wait for Momoshiro to open his mouth before he shoves his tongue inside, like maybe he can breathe the air out of Momoshiro's lungs instead. Since he can't seem to find enough of it on his own. Having Momoshiro's hand stroking its way up and down his penis really isn't helping the oxygen situation though.

Well, breathing is overrated.

Kaidoh's hips jerk up so that his penis slides against Momoshiro's fingers and Momoshiro's hand moves a little faster in response, like he knows just what Kaidoh is angling for. It's hard for Kaidoh to focus on everything at once and for a moment he can't manage to do anything but lie there and be overwhelmed with crazy sensations. His mouth moves from Momoshiro's and simply gapes open for air, and his fingers still at Momoshiro's back, just gripping like without him to hold onto, Kaidoh will fall away.

He knows logically that there's nowhere to fall, that he's already lying down, but he feels like he's fighting against himself for control, the desire to draw this out overpowering the impulse to just give in to the feelings pulsing through him. It's a losing battle though, every movement of Momoshiro's stupid fingers—why are they suddenly made of magic?—bringing him closer and closer … Well, if he's going down, he's taking Momoshiro with him.

One hand leaves Momoshiro's back and slides down his torso, nudging between their bodies until he reaches Momoshiro's penis and takes the hard length in his hand, wasting no time wrapping his fingers around it, like it doesn't faze him in the slightest, like it's familiar territory for him. It's an absurd thought, but also kind of the truth. He feels slightly steadied now that he's doing this too, now that they're back on a level playing field. He feels like some of his control has returned to him, and he leans until his mouth reaches the side of Momoshiro's neck and huffs out air. At the same time, he draws his fingers up Momoshiro's penis up to the head which he feels is wet and warm with pre-cum. Then, as they curl and slide back down again, falling into rhythm with Momoshiro's own strokes, Kaidoh presses his mouth against Momoshiro's skin and sucks at it, hard.

And with it, he almost sucks out all the strength from Momoshiro. "Ahh … shit," he breathes out, almost collapsing on top of Kaidoh.

Momoshiro's arm is shaking from holding himself up, and now his neck is being attacked by Kaidoh, who is relentless and won't let go. That, coupled with the stroking that's making him breathe faster, it's like a big whirlpool of emotions right now. Momoshiro can hardly string together a thought that doesn't consist of a bunch of swear words he wants to curse out loud. He leans his head against Kaidoh's shoulder, eyes shut tight, and mouth open as he tries to suck in as much air as possible. His hand is busy rubbing Kaidoh's warm skin up and down, sometimes he even feels it throb against his fingers, which is really rather hypnotizing.

But Kaidoh is matching him, pulling at him as if this is a competition again. Momoshiro doesn't care, he just wants to do it, wants to stay like this and jerk each other off, and maybe glue Kaidoh's lips onto his neck permanently. Yeah, he'd like that.

Momoshiro pretty much likes everything about Kaidoh right now.

The sound of skin being stroked rings through Momoshiro's ears, filled with each of them taking in breaths. Kaidoh finally lets go of Momoshiro's neck, and relief washes over him; any longer and he wouldn't have been able to stand it, and just let everything go. But he can't do that yet, there's this desire to stretch it out in Momoshiro's mind, to hold on for as long as possible. He doesn't want it to end just yet, even though it would be so easy to, all it would take is for Kaidoh to keep doing what he's doing, and for Momoshiro to surrender to it, let everything go, and then he's sure he's be staining Kaidoh's stomach.

Which is a rather strange image that isn't as appalling as Momoshiro would like to believe. Actually, it is really sort of hot. He presses his lips against Kaidoh's collarbone and sucks the hot skin right there. All thoughts he has about Kaidoh are kind of hot right now.

Why aren't they doing this every day? Fuck, why hadn't they _started_ doing this way back in middle school?

Momoshiro can feel Kaidoh's fingers tighten around him, and he immediately tightens his too; he has to match him, after all. They stroke in sync, but their breathing is off, it's unpredictable and almost dangerous. There isn't enough air in this room to make Momoshiro think straight. All he wants right now is Kaidoh, Kaidoh here with him, moving in spastic and unpredictable motions, trying to make each other feel good.

And it's hard to tell if Momoshiro is doing this because he wants Kaidoh to feel good, or because _he_ wants to feel good. Well. There's nothing wrong with a bit of both.

Finally, Momoshiro dips his head lower, doing what he's wanted to do ever since Kaidoh lied down. He pushes his tongue out of his mouth and leaves a wet trail on Kaidoh's skin, over his chest. Momoshiro stops moving, and kisses it a few times; the skin feels sweaty and hot, and it's making him feel out of breath again. He can feel Kaidoh writhe against his body, responding to his touches, and trying to jerk him off even faster. For a moment, Momoshiro matches Kaidoh's pace, and does nothing but focus on the feeling of his penis being stroked by somebody else's hand. And that somebody is Kaidoh. Like a dirty fantasy come true, and it really is.

Then, after a moment of hesitation, Momoshiro softly licks Kaidoh's nipple in an experimental way; it's kind of spongy-like. Kaidoh hisses and scratches his back; Momoshiro moans in response, then decides to wrap his lips around the small pink bud. His tongue swirls around it, and he sucks at it lightly, before releasing it, and then simply gasping for breath right next to it, temporarily distracted by his penis sending hot throbs throughout his entire body. Ahh, it's getting really hard to focus on doing anything else.

He moves his head a bit more to the center of Kaidoh's chest, before planting his lips on there too, feeling Kaidoh's erratic heartbeat thrum against his lips. He spreads his lips, until he bares his teeth, which he then softly presses into Kaidoh's skin. As he puts more force into the small bite, his fingers enclose around Kaidoh's penis, until his entire hand is stroking it up and down, touching the head and coming back down to the base.

Momoshiro has no idea why he's into this, why he feels like biting Kaidoh's skin, and feel it between his teeth. But it's giving him a kick, and helps him keep steady and grounded; he'd be flailing around moaning god knows what if he didn't.

Kaidoh's neck arches back, his eyes squeezed shut and his breathing sharp, and it's all he can do to remember to keep moving his hand. Each thing Momoshiro does only makes it more difficult for Kaidoh to keep a grip on what is happening, on reality. He's so caught up in the moment that he feels like it's not even a real moment anymore. It's too good to be real.

But it is, and that's sending a crazy spiraling rush through him. It's not just the sensation of Momoshiro's fingers moving over Kaidoh's penis, or his lips and tongue and teeth at Kaidoh's chest. No, there's something deeper thrumming within Kaidoh through all of this, a warm and exciting feeling just underneath his skin, like he's got fireworks shooting off inside of him from the simple knowledge that Momoshiro is here doing this with him, that he wants to just as much.

Everything else Momoshiro is doing is much less simple though. It's overwhelming, and it's getting kind of dangerous to keep going like this. His hand feels too good, his mouth feels too good, everything is getting to be a little too much and Kaidoh almost wants to just pause until he's able to refill his lungs with oxygen. And maybe think a little more clearly. But he doesn't take breaks, not when he's running and he's certainly not going to now. If they stopped, Kaidoh isn't sure they'd be able to ever start again, and Kaidoh isn't going to chance it.

His hand at Momoshiro's back slips around his shoulder to his neck and then to his jaw where Kaidoh's fingers drag Momoshiro's face back up to him again so he can kiss him on the lips, although with the shared movement of their hands sending them both into a frenzy, it ends up being less of a kiss this time and more just them breathing raggedly against each other's mouths, swiping over them when they're able. Like actual kissing suddenly requires too much concentration.

Momoshiro rests his forehead against Kaidoh's and Kaidoh can feel Momoshiro's hair damp and sweaty against his skin. His eyes flick open and a moment later Momoshiro's do too, like he can feel Kaidoh watching him. The look in Momoshiro's eyes mirrors the heat coursing through Kaidoh's veins, and it makes Kaidoh feel kind of hazy and intoxicated. It also makes his penis seem to throb even harder than before, but that might just be because everything seems to be escalating and accelerating the longer they keep at it. And Kaidoh's pretty sure he's nearing the breaking point.

His hand curls behind Momoshiro's head, against his neck, and pulls Momoshiro against him, smacking his mouth against Momoshiro's and this time managing to keep it there, at least for now, firm and solid.

They try to stick together long enough to kiss, to enjoy it, but unless Momoshiro wants to pass out, he needs to stop and breathe through his mouth. His nose isn't helping, and as much as he loves kissing Kaidoh, he loves being in this moment _more_, and would never chance passing out. They break away from each other, panting harshly in each other's faces, eyes screwed shut, and hands desperately jerking around. Momoshiro feels a violent shudder rumble through him like a storm, and he's so lightheaded, feels so good, he almost collapses on Kaidoh yet again.

His left arm is tired from holding himself up, so he won't suffocate Kaidoh—but it's getting harder and harder to keep himself up, to leave enough space between them so they can perform their magic. But breaking contact right now, removing his hand from Kaidoh's hard penis, seems like a death sentence; he doesn't want to. Momoshiro wants to keep going.

And this time, it doesn't really take much for Momoshiro to almost fall over the edge himself. Maybe it's because it's been a couple of weeks since they last did this. Maybe it's because he hasn't masturbated yet today, or maybe it's simply because Kaidoh makes him really fucking horny. And he's got to admit, nothing makes him feel more good than seeing Kaidoh like this too.

Momoshiro keeps pumping the skin over Kaidoh's glans, and then he tries to press their lips together again, before pulling away after another second. It's becoming almost impossible to kiss. He opens up his eyes, which feel like a heavy chore, and he looks down at Kaidoh beneath him.

Momoshiro briefly bites his own lip, feeling his heart thump faster, and a blush spread across his face.

Yeah, seeing Kaidoh like this—red lips parted for air, sweaty and hot skin, groaning and moving, and his own eyes staring right back at Momoshiro—is probably the best thing about what they're doing right now. Or maybe it's not, as Momoshiro likes kissing too, and he _really_ likes Kaidoh's hand tightening around him and rubbing him in violent and jerky strokes. There's lots of things to like, lots of things that makes him feel good—and they are all caused by Kaidoh. So yeah, maybe the best thing about this _is_ Kaidoh. And Momoshiro is fine with that. More than fine with it.

And just like that, this new feeling washes over Momoshiro. As if there's a weight lifted off of his shoulders, and suddenly he's gained new strength, his arm no longer feeling tired (nor the other one), and for some reason, there's this unexplainable happiness welling up inside of him.

Combine that with Kaidoh's insistent stroking, this _is_ enough.

Momoshiro groans, and pushes his hips against Kaidoh's hand to make his penis slide through his fingers. He's got half the mind to hold himself back, knowing what a mess he'll create right on top of Kaidoh if he just lets go.

"I … hmm." Momoshiro tries to prevent himself from losing his last shred of control, and to focus on moving his mouth, to warn Kaidoh that he's ... well … yeah. "Gonna," he chokes out, not feeling very articulate at the moment. He moans this time, in a much smaller voice, indicating he's holding himself back so Kaidoh can, like, decide to move. Or something. Preferably now.

The urgency in Momoshiro's voice makes Kaidoh stall for a moment and he just stares up at him and hell, Momoshiro didn't even really need to say anything—his face says it all.

It should be disgusting. Kaidoh should be grossed out, especially at the idea of just letting Momoshiro make a sticky mess all over the place. But Kaidoh isn't really thinking clearly himself—he's caught up in everything too. How he's still managing to hang on, he has no idea. And Momoshiro is there above him, pushed to the brink and face all twisted up in pleasure that he seems to be trying—and failing—desperately to reel in, and he is like that _because_ of Kaidoh. Kaidoh did this to him. Kaidoh's still doing this to him, and that fact makes Kaidoh's heart pound in a way it only does for Momoshiro. There's nothing gross about that.

So Kaidoh does move, but it isn't away from Momoshiro. Instead he digs his fingers into the back of Momoshiro's neck and growls at him, like he's telling him to let go and get it over with then, that he can take it, that he isn't going anywhere. He stares back at Momoshiro, challenge in his eyes, and starts to stroke his penis again, the rhythm fast and encouraging.

Momoshiro's mind is not going to argue over this, and his body is vehemently protesting against moving at all, so he stays put.

Not that he wanted to move in the first place. But you know, just in case Kaidoh didn't want to end up being all …

Even though that's kind of hot right now, in his mind.

Momoshiro tries to stare right back at Kaidoh, but his eyelids squeeze shut on reflex—probably because a drop of sweat rolled right into it—and now he just focuses on the friction of Kaidoh's hand. Fingers that aren't his own graze over the skin, up and down, in a motion he's never made himself, and drawing out feelings he's never felt before, urges he's never known about. Kaidoh is making him discover new things about himself by the second. Or maybe he's just the one causing it all. Whatever it is, Momoshiro is completely hooked on it, riding on it like a wave, and it feels like a wave is building up inside of him.

And just like that, quite lamely actually, Kaidoh tugs at him in such a way, that Momoshiro couldn't hold back even if he tried. He shudders and groans, digging his hips into Kaidoh's; it's a sweaty and sticky mess down there. His orgasm that pushes through him, leaves him dazed and without any strength to keep him up, or keep his own hand going. So for a short few seconds, Momoshiro leans down on top of Kaidoh, and feels his penis emptying out everything it's been holding back. He can feel the warm liquid trapped between them, stuck between their skin, and at the moment, Momoshiro is too far off into pleasureland to give a shit. Though he is sort of disappointed, briefly, that he didn't last that long. He should really masturbate every time before he goes to see Kaidoh, just so he can outlast the snake. In case they do this again.

And they really should. They should do this all the time.

Momoshiro breathes in, shivering as he does, and he pulls away a bit; little white strings form between their bellies, which break off as he pulls away far enough. Kaidoh finally stops stroking him—which had become slow and gentle at that point—and looks up at him. There's this entire glow around Kaidoh that makes Momoshiro smile, feeling almost smug, then he leans down and quickly captures Kaidoh's lips to kiss him. His hand which was still wrapped around Kaidoh's throbbing hard penis, starts up again, going in a faster rhythm. Now that Momoshiro's mind is getting a bit more clear, and his strength is returning, he can focus more on what he's doing to Kaidoh, and he does a lot.

From pulling at Kaidoh's penis, to pushing his lips to his mouth, and forming his body into Kaidoh's, Momoshiro doesn't stay still this time. All he's thinking about is Kaidoh, and how he should finish him off too, not as a repayment for his orgasm a moment ago, but because he wants to. It is a sudden and strange thought in his mind, but it's something he feels very much in his body that he _wants_ Kaidoh. In every way possible. He leaves Kaidoh's lips, and opts to nip at the side of his neck, a spot that has become one of Momoshiro's favourites to kiss, and bite. He teases the skin with his teeth, feeling Kaidoh arch up against him in response, and releases it, before finding another spot to bite. And another—he's mapping out Kaidoh's neck with his teeth.

Meanwhile, Momoshiro's fingers have memorized the way the skin on Kaidoh's penis feels, the way it moves up and down, and the twitches that occur every once in a while. He strokes faster, urgently, while leaving more kisses and slight bitemarks on Kaidoh's neck.

Kaidoh's breathing speeds up too, and his heart feels like it's thumping a mile a minute, like it's leaping in his throat and threatening to jump right out of his mouth each time it opens up to take in air. His fingers fan out over Momoshiro's shoulder blade and his nails dig into his skin, desperate and clumsy, like Momoshiro is the only thing he trusts in this moment and he has no choice but to hold on. He no longer really trusts himself, not with the way he feels so overwhelmed and totally unlike himself, like his last shred of rational thought is currently hanging by a thread, fraying away bit by bit, about to snap entirely.

He whines against the side of Momoshiro's neck, and knows how it must sound, needy and impatient, like he's totally at Momoshiro's will. At any other time, Kaidoh would be beyond ashamed to be making noises like this, to allow himself to sound so out of control, to _be_ so out of control, but Kaidoh has other concerns right now. And the feeling of Momoshiro's fingers around his penis is so phenomenal that it would be impossible for Kaidoh to remain silent and not react. Not with the way Momoshiro keeps touching him. It's all he can do to keep his hips from jerking off the bed with each stroke Momoshiro's hand makes, to keep his voice from ripping out of his throat in a moan each time Momoshiro's thumb grazes across the slit at the tip.

Everything Momoshiro is doing is sending Kaidoh reeling. He can feel a fizzling feeling building up inside of him, like his whole body is pressurized. He isn't sure why he's even bothering to try and hold it in.

He leans the side of his head against Momoshiro's, like it's a pillar for support and pants hard, eyes squeezed tightly shut as he feels Momoshiro's mouth leave another bite on his neck. His whole body reacts with a tremble and that only seems to encourage Momoshiro to do it again. Everything Kaidoh does seems to urge Momoshiro on, as though Momoshiro actually likes feeling Kaidoh's reactions, like he enjoys what he's doing to him. It makes something flutter in Kaidoh's chest and he lets out a hiss against Momoshiro's ear, which in turn makes Momoshiro stroke faster, and bite his neck again, harder this time, the teeth grazing dangerously over his sensitive skin. Kaidoh wonders what else he can make Momoshiro do to him, although he doubts he's _making_ Momoshiro do anything at all. Momoshiro seems to want to do this all on his own.

Well, Kaidoh's not about to stop him.

But if Momoshiro keeps going like this, Kaidoh's not going to be able to hold on for much longer. Momoshiro seems to realize that too—maybe he can feel the way Kaidoh's pulse is sprinting through his body at the pace of an olympic athlete, maybe he can hear the way Kaidoh's breath keeps hitching, maybe he can tell by the way he keeps managing to draw Kaidoh's voice out of him—sounding strained and foreign—with everything his hands and mouth do, like he has Kaidoh completely under his control … and he kind of does. Everything Kaidoh is feeling right now is because of Momoshiro.

So Kaidoh just lets himself go with it, lets himself get overwhelmed by all the sensations Momoshiro is causing. And those feelings, all of them, are a lot. Are too much. Are enough to push him over the edge. His face scrunches up as he sucks in a sharp, short breath, and his fingernails scratch into Momoshiro's back a little harder this time, but that's all the warning Momoshiro gets before Kaidoh's whole body shudders and his penis pulses in Momoshiro's hand, pumping out his orgasm.

Then every part of him seems to go slack, his fingers unclenching, his breath hissing out of him, his face softening and his whole body relaxing. It's like all that pressure that was building inside of him before has now rushed out of him, and he just feels tingles and sparks everywhere in its absence, like his body has undergone a power surge and it's left him completely fried. In a good way.

Yeah. A really good way.

It's also a kind of damp and sticky—not to mention, very naked—way, but at the moment, Kaidoh doesn't even care about that. He sighs and breathes and pants as Momoshiro's strokes slow, and then finally stop. And for a moment, everything in the hut seems to stop with them. A few moments pass, and Kaidoh's pulse isn't going quite as wild anymore, and it's no longer quite as much of a struggle to find enough air in the room, and Kaidoh's even starting to think clearly again, but he still doesn't care enough to feel embarrassed. In fact, there's only one thing he cares about at the moment, only one thing that even seems to register in his mind, and that's the fact that Momoshiro is still here with him and Kaidoh thinks he'd kind of like it if he stayed that way.

He feels so comfortable and relaxed that he finds himself getting uncharacteristically affectionate, in a way that is probably only really excusable right now, in this hazy afterglow of good feelings. He wouldn't normally be like this—letting his hand slide from Momoshiro's back to his face where his thumb can lightly stroke at his cheek, or pressing his mouth gently against the side of Momoshiro's neck, lips humming against the soft skin there—no, it would normally take all his courage just to think about doing anything like this. But right now, it's okay. Right now, it seems to come easily. Everything today has seemed easy. Like Kaidoh's been worrying all this time for nothing. Maybe he has. Maybe it really can always be this simple.

Momoshiro has his eyes closed, mouth pressed against the side of Kaidoh's neck, and breathing slowly, calmly, simply focusing on Kaidoh's own breathing, and lips as well.

The strange thing is, Momoshiro vaguely notes, is that usually, after Momoshiro is finished jerking himself off, he's immediately soft and turned off. The horny mood he'd been in disappears entirely. But with Kaidoh … it didn't. He orgasmed way too fast, but that didn't deter him in keeping up with the mood, and to be incredibly turned on still by all the noises and movements Kaidoh was making. Despite his penis being soft, Momoshiro was still mentally turned on, so to speak.

And now that Kaidoh was the one to spurt sperm between them, Momoshiro felt himself relax with him, as if now it was officially over. As if Momoshiro's mood was tied to Kaidoh's, and yeah, maybe it is. He's not alone in this, after all.

Momoshiro kisses Kaidoh's neck once more, he doesn't think he'd ever get enough of that, and smiles slightly, lips curling up against the pulse point. When Kaidoh kisses him back, right on a sensitive spot, he feels himself shiver; now _that's_ something he won't ever say no to.

One thing that does jump out to him, as their minds are getting clearer like this hazy fog has been lifted, is that they're very sticky. It's a bit uncomfortable, and Momoshiro's left arm is also tired of keeping himself propped up. Right now, all he wants to do is lie down, and bask in the afterglow of their … whatever this is. So Momoshiro finally pulls away from Kaidoh, his left hand digging into the fabric right next to Kaidoh's head. His other hand slips away from Kaidoh's penis, which had now become soft as well, but nonetheless sticky and covered in sperm. He sits up straight, a little bit, slowly as if not to freak Kaidoh out that he's leaving. He's not, he's just cleaning things up.

The bandana that had been spread across Momoshiro's pillow is now clutched in his hand, and he surveys the 'damage' they had both done to themselves.

Now that he's leaning back, Momoshiro has a much better view of Kaidoh, and can see that random spots on his skin are bright red, especially his face, from the neck up actually. It's as if someone slapped him hard, but Momoshiro knows that's not the case. He gulps and wonders what he looks like too; also as flushed as Kaidoh? Then again, it is really sort of hot … and a bit gross, what with the random spots of white covered on his chest, and on Momoshiro as well.

He quickly wipes the cloth over Kaidoh's chest to collect all of that stickiness. It doesn't really occur to him what he's using to wipe it all up—Kaidoh would kill him if he was more focused right now—so Momoshiro finishes it all up within several long seconds. It's kind of become his job right now; cleaning them up after they finish. Which is fine, because as long as he can still continue to sit with Kaidoh, not feeling a bit gross and uncomfortable, then he'll do it. Not that it's something he hates doing, he likes having an excuse to run his hand over Kaidoh's skin.

Momoshiro flings the bandana away—Kaidoh still hasn't seen it, and neither is Momoshiro particularly concerned about it. He leans back down, both hands now at Kaidoh's head, and he stares at him for a little bit, Kaidoh's eyes glancing back up at him too. They both freeze in this small moment, simply looking, and breathing slowly. It still doesn't feel weird, not to Momoshiro, he's still riding the after effects of that awesome orgasm, and anything he does with Kaidoh right now gives him fluttery feelings.

And perhaps, Kaidoh feels that as well. He's certainly not breaking eye contact or moving away.

Momoshiro closes the last few inches between them, and kisses him on the lips. Kaidoh immediately presses his lips back, as if he wants it just as much as Momoshiro, which makes Momoshiro feel even better. He pulls back and blinks up at Kaidoh. It's like he's looking through the world with rose coloured glasses. Then he runs one hand up to Kaidoh's shoulder, gripping it tightly, before he throws himself off of Kaidoh to the side, and pulls him with him, so that they're both now lying on their sides, right next to each other, and legs still entangled. He moves his hand away from Kaidoh's shoulder, down his arm, and resting it on his waist.

It's not as strange anymore, not unlike the last few times; Momoshiro is having less and less annoying thoughts of doubts and fear in his mind. Right now, he's simply feeling relaxed and happy, and very satisfied lying here with Kaidoh, naked, pressed up against each other. Momoshiro looks at Kaidoh, whose face is right next to him, and he's looking at him too. Their gaze feels so intense, and so intimate, Momoshiro never thought feeling like this was possible.

Nor did he ever thought it was possible to lay naked with Kaidoh on his bed, smiling at him.

But there he is, doing it anyway.

It's kind of an absurd image, yet Momoshiro feels it's the opposite of that. He chuckles slightly, feeling rather amused all of the sudden. He props his head up on Kaidoh's arm, shifting closer to his face, a smile still playing on his lips—he can't help feeling happy—then gives Kaidoh a small tiny kiss, before wrapping his other arm around his entire waist and snuggling closer. He buries his face into Kaidoh's chest with a satisfied sigh. The sound of Kaidoh's slow heartbeat pounding in his ears is soothing. If they could just lay here like this for several hours, that'd be great.

Kaidoh feels his whole body relax against Momoshiro. It feels natural, though Kaidoh can't really fathom why, since they've never done this before. They've never gone this far. But instead of feeling terrified, Kaidoh feels light and capable of anything. He may be scared of many things—although he'll never willingly admit it to anyone out loud—but Momoshiro isn't one of them. _This_ isn't one of them. Kaidoh brings his hand up and covers his palm over Momoshiro's forearm before running his fingers along the length of his arm until they reach his shoulder. His fingers travel upward until they tangle in Momoshiro's dark, sweaty hair, holding Momoshiro's head close against his chest, like he's trying to mold their bodies together until they're inseparable.

Maybe he isn't thinking clearly, but it doesn't feel that way. Right now, with the distraction of physical needs and urges dealt with, Kaidoh can see and feel with what seems like perfect clarity. He knows what he wants, and it's right here against him. He isn't scared to want it. He isn't scared to let his hands wander, or let his head fall forward so his mouth can press a soft kiss over the top of Momoshiro's head. This isn't how Kaidoh's ever acted before, and that's something that caught Kaidoh off-guard in the past, when this started, this strange and unfamiliar instinct to be close to Momoshiro, to touch him and kiss him and hold him like they belong close together. But maybe it's how Kaidoh _should_ act. There's no reason he can't. There's nothing holding him back.

For a while, he was holding himself back, but not anymore. He's not going to get in his own way if it means missing out on any of this.

He thinks, a bit regretfully, that if he'd only been a little braver, a little more open, he and Momoshiro could have been like this a long time ago. They wouldn't have had to wait so long.

But they're together now, and that counts for more than anything else could. And this time, Kaidoh's not going to be a coward. He's not going to let Momoshiro slip away from him. And he hopes that maybe, just maybe, Momoshiro feels just as strongly. It's not a question he can just ask. Their connection during times like these still feels firmly nonverbal. To give it a name might mean to break it entirely, and Kaidoh doesn't want to take that chance. He's never been very good at expressing his feelings when it comes to Momoshiro anyway. They're just this weird and confusing amorphous mass in his mind, taking up more of his conscious thought than nearly anything else—yes, even running. But he's always been too scared and freaked out by how strong the feelings seem to be to try and define them, or work them out.

Denial worked for a while. Deflecting and distracting and keeping himself occupied with sports and school. But that only lasted so long, only went so far, and being in close proximity with Momoshiro is like drilling holes through Kaidoh's carefully constructed armor, tearing down the walls he's painstakingly built up. Like Kaidoh is holed up in a castle under siege and Momoshiro is just barreling in, totally oblivious, and yet also totally persistent, refusing to be turned away. And Kaidoh isn't turning away from him now either. No, he's looking right at Momoshiro, and he feels a bit like he's staring directly into the sun, even though the inside of the hut isn't bright at all. But Momoshiro is. Momoshiro is brighter than anything, demanding Kaidoh's attention even when he has his head down against Kaidoh's chest and isn't even looking at him.

Even when Kaidoh tries to ignore Momoshiro, he can't help but pay attention to him, to want to be near him. Kaidoh wonders how obvious it is. How much Momoshiro really knows about all that Kaidoh is feeling. All that this means for him. That it's not just a … a … whatever. To Kaidoh, it's something. He doesn't know what to call it, but he knows that it's important.

He lets his hand drop from Momoshiro's head and starts stroking his fingers against the back of Momoshiro's neck. He hears Momoshiro murmur, a low, contented noise against his chest, and Kaidoh unconsciously shifts, moving closer, sliding his legs in between Momoshiro's and dropping his forehead so that it falls against Momoshiro's hair. He nuzzles his face against the top of Momoshiro's head, unable to shake the good feelings slipping through him. The heat that was pulsing beneath his skin just moments ago may have been turned down and they're no longer breathing raggedly or swiping their mouths urgently against each other, but Kaidoh still feels a lingering warmth. It's not going away.

Kaidoh hopes it never does.

He sighs into Momoshiro's hair, and feels Momoshiro sigh in reply, like their breaths are having a conversation in place of the one Kaidoh can't seem to have. Momoshiro has to know though, right? Kaidoh thinks he probably knows him better than anyone, and Kaidoh can feel in his cheeks every time he's with Momoshiro that it must be written all over his face. His stupid, inescapable feelings. That should embarrass Kaidoh, and it does a little, but there's nothing he can do about it, and he's too far gone to try.

Their shared and slow heart beats resonate with each other, making Momoshiro feel calm and completely relaxed lying with Kaidoh. And that feeling doesn't seem to go away, instead it's like it's wedging itself underneath his skin and staying put—even growing bigger. Kaidoh's hand is filling him up with this light and warm feeling, pressing it into the back of his head.

Perhaps this is something Momoshiro could have done a long time ago, instead of discovering it years and years later. He won't deny his unhealthy attachment to this running freak, and that started way back in middle school. Back then everything seemed so black and white, Kaidoh was his rival, as well as the same age as him. He was the only one that was on the same level as him, and that's pretty much how Momoshiro saw him as. Regardless, not counting Echizen who moved away after a year, out of everyone in school, Momoshiro was actually closest to Kaidoh.

Which is really strange, because they were still rivals. Calling each other 'friends' would be ridiculous and simply not true; Momoshiro would deny any accusation made regarding them being friends. Because they weren't.

At least that's what Momoshiro thought. He was only fourteen years old back then, and had a very naive mindset—and loved teasing Kaidoh.

But if they were only rivals, after they separated from each other to go to different high schools, that should have been the end of their weird rivalry together. It should have been the end of their contact, but Momoshiro happily continued to bug the hell out of Kaidoh by sending him incessant text messages, or calling him when he was out running (it's not his fault he was always in the middle of running when he called, Kaidoh will forever be a running freak). Momoshiro just liked seeing Kaidoh's reactions to his teasing.

That was his excuse anyway.

Momoshiro has got no excuse being snuggled up to the same man five years later.

Does he really need any? His brain seems to be demanding for him to figure out why he's doing this, why he likes this, and why he wants it to happen again, but Momoshiro feels uneasy giving it any real thought. That would mean having to think about Kaidoh for real, and what this is, what they're doing, and that's scary, as if it could change if he started analyzing it. He was never good at analyzing anyway, he's always been one to play on instinct, and his instinct is telling him to stay put, and enjoy what he's got.

And he's got Kaidoh pressed up against him. Naked, that too. Which is starting to become a little bit embarrassing the longer they stay like this. What if someone walks in?

Oh dear god—what if _Hazue_ walks in?

The thought of anyone catching the both of them naked on a bed makes Momoshiro turn cold. He presses his face harder against Kaidoh's chest, as if he can hide himself in it, pretend that no one can see him like this. It simply makes Kaidoh hold him tighter too, which feels nice, and the thought of his brother walking in on them is temporarily forgotten.

They really need a door.

Instead, Momoshiro moves one of his legs and reaches for his blanket which is piled up at the end of the bed, being kicked away from all their scuffling together. He stretches out his toes to catch the fabric, and pulls it up enough so he can reach it with his hand. In a flash, he's got the blanket thrown over them, stopping at their waists. At least if someone walked in now, they can just pretend Momoshiro was having a case of pneumonia, and he needed instant warmth. Kaidoh's warmth. Not naked.

Momoshiro snorts at himself. This is stupid. He should just enjoy this while he can.

Yes … enjoy this closeness with Kaidoh. Kaidoh seems to be enjoying it too, and that's the only reason why they're still like this, silent and still, neither moving away, because they both like it. At least, that's what Momoshiro thinks, he can't read minds, and he certainly cannot read Kaidoh's. He's always thought they were rivals anyway, it was Kaidoh who had this secret crush on him.

Suddenly, this tiny seed is planted in Momoshiro's mind, as if it's reminding him of something that he deliberately choose to forget.

Right … he did sort of try to figure out if Kaidoh liked him, still. Which was a while ago. And then this happened and he'd pushed the thought to the back of his mind. But now he's thinking about it again, and it's making his heart start to race, and he can feel himself shiver against Kaidoh.

No, he shouldn't think about this. Analyzing this simply means ruining what they have. And Momoshiro likes what they have right now, he doesn't want to do anything to screw that up. He certainly doesn't want to mess up his chances of it happening again. So he tries his hardest to stop thinking about it, and instead kiss Kaidoh's chest. It makes something tingle in his lips, and even in his stomach.

Momoshiro leaves another kiss, a bit higher, and another, until he's moving towards Kaidoh's face, like it's some kind of trophy to get and he's racing towards the finish line. He can feel Kaidoh move his head to make way for Momoshiro, and now they're at the same level again, foreheads bumped together, feeling sticky and damp. Momoshiro doesn't even need to open up his eyes to know where Kaidoh's lips are, it's as if he knows it by instinct, so he leans closer, licks his lips, and kisses him. Immediately his entire body becomes warm, and that blanket around them really seems unnecessary and redundant.

He could never get pneumonia as long as he's with Kaidoh.

It feels better when they're kissing, when they keep moving. Kaidoh doesn't have time to get wrapped up in his own thoughts when he has to focus on how Momoshiro's mouth feels moving against his own.

Because the longer they lie here together, the more thoughts he has, and they're starting to get tangled up with a familiar edge of nervousness.

He can't just continue to lie here, in Momoshiro's bed, with Momoshiro wrapped around him and both of them naked and kissing, because it's starting to sink in just how strange this is for them, just how serious and intimate, like they're taking some step together by doing this—towards what, Kaidoh isn't exactly sure. Everything he does with Momoshiro is completely new, he has no precedent, no predicted course or result. He doesn't know where this is going, just knows that he is growing increasingly certain of how strongly he feels about it all. Of how he feels about Momoshiro. But just feeling isn't enough to make all of the pieces fall into place, and Kaidoh is scared by how sudden this is, by how different things are between them. He likes customs and routines and this is anything but. And it feels both right and wrong—amazing, but also confusing. Kaidoh doesn't know how to make sense of this and what it might mean. Does Momoshiro ... Could Momoshiro ... _like_ him too?

Kaidoh feels himself shiver and something clenches up in his chest. It happens every time his mind opens itself to the possibility. But then somehow that buoyant, hopeful shiver in his chest mingles with a weird feeling of dread and suddenly Kaidoh wants an excuse, an exit, an escape. It's simply his instinct: when confronted with anything confusing, it's his automatic reaction—he wants to run.

But if he moves, if he leaves, what if that's just the end of it? What if it doesn't happen again?

His fingers curl stubbornly around the back of Momoshiro's neck, as if they're protesting, telling Kaidoh that they're not going anywhere, that he shouldn't be thinking of leaving something that feels this good. Maybe Kaidoh's problem is that he's thinking about this too much. Maybe his problem is that he's thinking about this at all.

He presses his lips more firmly against Momoshiro's like he's trying to re-forge that electric connection between them that zaps away all unwanted thoughts and worries. Just go with it, don't think about what it means. At least, that's what Kaidoh tries to do. It's harder to pretend there's nothing happening between them when all that nothing keeps piling up until it feels a lot more like _something_ instead.

On Momoshiro's side, he's already tried to convince himself to not think about it. Think about why they're doing this, why they're _still_ doing this, and why they're both naked and kissing in Momoshiro's bed. They're scary questions, and Momoshiro is scared of the answer, so he really tries hard not to think. Instead he focuses on the feel and warmth of Kaidoh's lips, which are a real presence, and he's pressing them against Momoshiro's in a firm and resolute way.

What Momoshiro once called stupid fish lips—because they're so big and plump, and girly too—is now something Momoshiro knows without a doubt he really likes. Or maybe even craves. As long as those big lips are sucking on his own, there's almost no room for thought, and that's how Momoshiro likes it. No thinking, but instead going with the flow.

To get his insistent mind to stop bugging him, Momoshiro tries to visualize Kaidoh's lips in his mind instead. All the unique stripes and dents in his lips; he wants to memorize it all. The feel of it, the warmth that exudes from it, feeling moist and in a strange way, also safe. Actually, he doesn't even need to try, even when he's trying to sleep at night, Momoshiro can recall the sensations he felt, and the way Kaidoh's lips move and press against his own, and all the unique features—he can recall them with perfectly clarity; they're burned into his mind. Yeah, he doesn't need to try, Kaidoh's already dug himself a nice spot in Momoshiro's mind.

And Momoshiro memorized Kaidoh's skin too, even though whenever he gets the opportunity to touch it, it still feels like he's exploring this unknown territory, yet at the same time it feels familiar.

It's strange the way it ended up like this. Momoshiro knows, for a fact, that he and Kaidoh are the most physical together out of everyone he knows. And he doesn't mean this …this kissing and touching, and all other kinds of things, but he means in an aggressive kind of way. They used to fight so much, and well, they still do—though that's becoming like a routine for them, and less like actual fighting. But everything they did was either to hurt or annoy, it was never to … _feel good._

Momoshiro never knew that touching Kaidoh gently, instead of punching his face, could result in all of these good and pleasurable feelings. He used to think punching Kaidoh in the gut felt pleasurable to him, but it's nothing like this, not at all. They're worlds apart; one was done out of spite, and this … Momoshiro isn't sure why he's doing this.

All he knows that it feels good, and he wants this to continue, and he thinks Kaidoh wants it too. That's all that really matters. He doesn't need to think about this, not when they're both on the same page, at least mentally, and they're still doing this.

Momoshiro does eventually part away from Kaidoh's lips. He feels exhausted—not from the kiss, but from this entire build-up. From getting Kaidoh to come back to their hut, to lying on his lap, to kissing … to jerking off … and now this. It's like he went on a road trip and brought Kaidoh along, discovering all these new things together. Momoshiro's almost forgot the reason why Kaidoh is even here with him. Then he remembers; the worm infested mango.

Then he laughs, and it's sudden and loud, ricocheting off the walls and filling up the silence between them. Momoshiro grins at Kaidoh's face, which is still right in front of him. He takes in a deep breath to steady himself, and he can feel Kaidoh tense up under his touch.

"I think we can be sure my stomach killed off those worms by now," says Momoshiro. After all, that _was_ quite a workout.

Kaidoh grimaces and glances away, because it's weird for Momoshiro to be able to smile and talk and laugh so casually while they're both still lying here without any clothes on. Kaidoh wishes he could be just as natural, but instead he's all tense and when he replies his voice croaks out of him like it's rusty and it takes a few syllables for it to warm up and return to normal.

"Yeah," he says. "It better have, because otherwise that would be disgusting." There's an edge in his voice like he's suddenly wary, but he shouldn't be, and doesn't want to be either. He looks back up at Momoshiro and finds reassurance there, like this is okay, like he doesn't have to be scared into silence just because things are a little more physical now than they might otherwise be.

He punches his knuckles lightly into Momoshiro's shoulder before he adds, "But maybe … cut the fruit open next time before you bite right into it. Since it's wild, after all."

Momoshiro glances down warily at Kaidoh's hand. It feels tense, and it makes Momoshiro slightly more aware of their positions and situation as well. Determined, he runs his hand up Kaidoh's back, and fans his fingers out between his shoulderblades, pressing into the skin as if he's saying he's really there, and he's not going away. If they can talk without feeling weird when Momoshiro was on Kaidoh's lap, then they can do it right now as well.

He shifts closer to Kaidoh, leaning into his body even more than he already was. Don't think, don't tense up—Momoshiro doesn't really want to face the reality, and when both are acting like nothing's wrong, then he doesn't have to and can pretend everything is fine.

"I've got an idea … how about I just let you taste test it for me first?" Momoshiro smirks up at Kaidoh, his eyes challenging him like he would if they weren't lying naked together, but instead grabbing on each other's shirts and starting a fight. He's not quite sure what he's starting here.

"_I_ don't want to eat worms either, dumbass!" Kaidoh shoots back, the retort coming naturally and automatic. He shoves at Momoshiro's chest, in a way that isn't really rough or harsh, since his palm doesn't seem to want to push Momoshiro away at all, but he narrows his eyes all the same, since that's something that comes naturally to him too.

It puts him at ease to be able to argue normally, and even though his expression probably looks annoyed, he actually feels himself relaxing, like at least he'll have this constant to rely on, when everything else seems to be changing and shifting. Not in a bad way—no, definitely not bad—just in a new way, a way that Kaidoh isn't completely used to yet.

Momoshiro chuckles. Kaidoh can always get so aggressive at whatever he suggests. "You won't! Or at least, I hope you won't. You can just, you know, do your thing, cut it up, and then give me half. Sounds good, right?"

"Fine," Kaidoh grumbles, like agreeing is some kind of hardship. "As long as I don't have to feed it to you too."

"What's wrong with that?" Momoshiro innocently cocks his head to the side with a small smile. If Kaidoh can feed him cake, he can feed him anything—all the time! It sounds nice.

Kaidoh glares at him. "I'm not your servant!" Obviously.

"Not even if I say _please?_"

Kaidoh's mouth twitches a little. "Idiot," he mutters.

Momoshiro tries not to feel smug. He leans in closer to Kaidoh, so close to his face that it'd be so easy to kiss right now … "What's that you said? Didn't catch that," says Momoshiro in this obnoxious sing song voice. He flutters his fingers on Kaidoh's back, teasing him even more.

Kaidoh scowls back at him. His cheeks feel like they're flaring up. "I called you an idiot, idiot," he says, annoyed that he suddenly sounds a lot less grouchy and a lot more flustered.

"That's not very nice," Momoshiro drawls out. He flicks his eyes down at Kaidoh's lips again, feeling the urge to kiss them once more, but able to hold himself back. "Thought we agreed to Momo-chan, huh."

"_You_ agreed to that," Kaidoh says, rather weakly. It's hard to sound firm and convincing when he can feel Momoshiro's breath on his face.

"Liar." Momoshiro is pretty sure Kaidoh agreed to it as a birthday present. "You said you'd do it as a birthday present. That's an agreement, you know."

Kaidoh hisses. "And I did," he points out. "On your birthday." As though that settles that.

"Hmm …" Momoshiro's shifts his arm a bit, the one trapped between them, then trails his fingers up on Kaidoh's chest, towards his neck. "You never said it was a one-time thing." He stops his fingers as they reach Kaidoh's throat, and finally looks back at Kaidoh's eyes, staring at him with intensity that seem to say he's got him wrapped around his finger.

"But—" Kaidoh starts, then huffs, feeling the protest die on his lips. His excuses are all sort of useless anyway, especially when Momoshiro is looking at him like that. "No, I guess I didn't," he reluctantly concedes.

"Which means …?" Momoshiro asks, drawing out his words as he looks at Kaidoh expectantly, smiling slightly.

"Which means shut up," Kaidoh says grumpily, his face feeling warm and his insides all squirmy.

Momoshiro closes his lips and hums a bit, looking right at Kaidoh as the hand on Kaidoh's back slides up. He reaches the back of Kaidoh's neck, and slips his fingers around it, sliding into his hair and presses his fingertips into his scalp. He doesn't say anything, he just curls the corner of his lips and lowers his eyebrows at Kaidoh in a challenge.

It feels easy to do this, staring into Kaidoh's eyes and teasing him, pulling his strings so he can bend to Momoshiro's every whim. It's always been easy to push the right buttons with Kaidoh, to get him riled up, or to manipulate him into doing things for Momoshiro. Though it might just be that Kaidoh doesn't actually hate doing these things for him, as he's come to find out more and more. It seems he'll be able to get his way, one way or another—and he's happy it diverts attention away from their naked bodies, and to their stupid argument instead.

Momoshiro shapes his mouth to form soundless words. _Say it._

Kaidoh tries to glare, but he's running out of reasons to argue, and feels like he's desperately, and futilely digging his heels into a swiftly eroding cliff face and the fall is simply inevitable. That's how things always are with Momoshiro—inevitable. Kaidoh can only resist him for so long, because the truth is, he's discovering that giving in doesn't feel nearly as terrible or annoying as he once believed it to be. In fact, most of Momoshiro's ideas turn out to be good ones, things Kaidoh likes even though he doesn't want to admit it, because he still has trouble admitting that Momoshiro is right.

He lets his fingers uncurl against Momoshiro's chest, pressing right where he can feel Momoshiro's heart beating. It sounds eager and hopeful and Kaidoh wants to find new ways to make it leap under his touch. Because that's the reason, after all, that Kaidoh does any of these stupid things that Momoshiro tries to make him do—he _wants_ to do them. For all his grumbling and complaining, at the end of the day, he just likes seeing Momoshiro happy. And if he's happy because of Kaidoh, then that's even better.

So, Kaidoh lets go of his stubbornness and takes a shaky breath. "Momo-chan," he says, sounding soft and awkward and uncertain, his voice still not used to the nickname, but he may as well have shouted it for the way it seems to resonate in the quiet hut, and he can feel his whole face flush with embarrassment.

The feeling doesn't have much time to sink in though, because, as though Kaidoh's words are a key turning in a lock, he can feel Momoshiro's heart thump under his fingertips.

Momoshiro finds out that it's not just lying together here, under his blanket, or even kissing, that gives him that warm fluttery feeling. Something as simple as Kaidoh saying his cutesy nickname can trigger it, it doesn't seem to need much to make Momoshiro feel good, it just has to come from Kaidoh. Yeah, he'll pretty much like anything Kaidoh does, especially if it's something he asked for. His smile grows bigger until he's grinning happily, his cheeks feeling a bit stung with red.

It's almost like magic the way Momoshiro zones in on Kaidoh's lips—like inseparable magnets that are racing to rejoin each other, to fit together again. He closes his mouth, but the urge to keep smiling is still there, and he slowly presses his lips against Kaidoh's warm ones. He sucks very lightly, and when Kaidoh does the same, he can feel his heartbeat thump all the way down to his toes. It almost feels like his heart is dancing happily in his chest, it's something that is happening more often when he's with Kaidoh. He hums contently against Kaidoh, letting his hand wander around in Kaidoh's hair, massaging certain spots.

See, if they can talk when his head was in Kaidoh's lap, they can do it now too, without feeling awkward. Momoshiro feels the opposite of awkward, he feels like everything is going right, and how things should be. Not fighting with Kaidoh has never felt so good before.

Momoshiro plucks his lips away from Kaidoh, finally smiling again, but with his eyes closed this time.

"You better remember that," Momoshiro murmurs softly. Then he takes a small moment to let his words settle in, before he whispers, "Kaoru-chan." His smile transforms into a mischievous one.

Kaidoh squirms and makes a small, weak growl of protest at the name, like a reflex he can't seem to break himself of, and then he hisses and says dismissively, "Yeah, whatever …" but it's hard to sound like he doesn't give a shit when Momoshiro's stupid grin is kind of turning Kaidoh to mush. A smile shouldn't be allowed to have that kind of power.

Momoshiro simply chuckles lightly at Kaidoh's dismissive tone. He drops his hand from Kaidoh's head, letting it rest behind his back … where it touches something soft and damp. He fumbles around with his fingers trying to figure out what it is, when he realizes it's the rag he used to clean themselves up with.

Except it wasn't a rag, it was Kaidoh's bandana.

Momoshiro's happy face melts into a grimace and he tenses up, pulling his fingers away from it. Kaidoh's not going to like that … not at all. He looks down at Kaidoh's chest, poking his index finger into it softly, and pouting his lips like a child who knows he's about to be punished.

"Uhh, Kaidoh," he starts, bracing himself for the impact, "I need to tell you something …" Well, this is awkward.

Kaidoh feels his own body go a bit tense too, and his pulse quickens like he's nervous for whatever Momoshiro might have to say. His mind is already busy fluttering through possibilities, and Kaidoh wishes it would shut the hell up because it's really not helping. He blinks down at the finger prodding his chest and then back up at Momoshiro's face, which looks worried and uncertain, unlike any expression he's worn this whole time.

"… What is it?" Kaidoh asks hesitantly, trying to keep his voice steady.

"Uhm … uhh …" Momoshiro finds it hard to say it, because he knows it'll ruin what they've got going on now, but if Kaidoh finds out later, they might _never_ do this again. And Momoshiro is not taking any chances here.

He draws circular shapes into Kaidoh's chest with his finger, still feeling uncertain. "... Promise you won't get mad?"

Kaidoh's mouth crinkles a little in confusion, his forehead creasing. Why would he get mad? What is it Momoshiro has to tell him anyway?

"That depends …" he says. He can't really make promises when it comes to his temper. Judging by Momoshiro's expression, it doesn't seem to be the answer he is looking for though, so Kaidoh reluctantly adds, "I'll try."

"Well … you see …" Momoshiro suddenly feels way too naked. He wants to hide entirely under the blanket. He inconspicuously tries to raise the blanket over his arm, so he can move it up to his shoulder, or perhaps use it as a shield in case Kaidoh tries to punch him.

"I sort of …" Momoshiro clamps his mouth shut; his body refuses to say the rest. He'd rather keep it a secret and continue sitting here with Kaidoh and not have his face punched in. Or maybe move a pillow in front of his crotch.

"S-sort of what…?" Kaidoh sputters, feeling increasingly impatient and anxious, like Momoshiro's about to tell him there's a whole pile of dead fish waiting for him in his bed, or something equally horrific.

"Sortofusedyourbandana."

Kaidoh's eyes narrow. "You did what with my bandana?"

Momoshiro feels himself blush in embarrassment, and he looks down at the blanket, wishing he could hide under it. "Well, I had to use _something_ …"

"You had to use …" Kaidoh starts, and then his eyes widen, the color draining from his face, and he stops talking as he realizes what Momoshiro means.

Oh, _gross_.

"What the hell … Seriously?" His whole face twists up in disgust and he flinches back on the bed, which turns out to be a bad idea since the bandana is behind him, and still kind of sticky too, and now Kaidoh's gone and nudged his elbow right into it. He twists around to grab it, to survey the damage, and then turns back to Momoshiro, holding the damning evidence up in the air by its corner.

Yeah, Momoshiro used it all right. Stupid asshole. Kaidoh feels horrified and kind of sick to his stomach and for a couple seconds he's speechless and can't do anything but stare at the disgusting mess Momoshiro has made of his poor bandana.

But then he finds words again and they seem to boil out of him, sounding strained. "What the fuck, Momoshiro?!" he demands, the tremor of his fingers making the cloth shake.

Momoshiro brings both hands to his face to shield himself and makes himself small. "... Sorry?" he squeaks out. And don't just … put the evidence right in his face! "Don't hit me," he says in an even tinier voice.

Kaidoh hisses in exasperation, blinking back and forth between the stained bandana and Momoshiro's pathetic face, and then finally flings the bandana away from them both, off the bed and onto the floor.

"You're washing that," he grumbles. His fingers are still twitching, like they want to curl into a fist and punch Momoshiro squarely in his nose. But they don't, and he just huffs instead and mutters in a still-strained and uneven voice, "Fucking moron …"

After some squirming, and seeing Kaidoh's rage face, Momoshiro has finally ducked underneath the covers completely, leaving only his black hair popped out at the end. He curls his fingers around the blanket to keep it close to himself, as if it'll protect himself from Kaidoh. He sees the shadow of Kaidoh's body fall on the blanket, and it looks even more ominous, as if it's some kind of horror movie. Well, Kaidoh _does_ have a scary face.

"Okay, okay—I'll wash it." With bleach. "Just … don't be mad. I wasn't exactly … thinking." Momoshiro swallows the lump in his throat, it's awkward talking about this. And it's awkward being underneath the blanket, and he's able to see every naked detail of Kaidoh's …

"Besides, I think I missed a spot," says Momoshiro as he squints his eyes.

"Asshole!" Kaidoh growls, hugging the blanket tight against himself like a shield. "Stop being …" His mind supplies a familiar insult. "… disgusting!" It sounds stupid and hypocritical since it's not like Kaidoh protested earlier to being naked with Momoshiro, but now he's not really in a clear frame of mind. He's too busy feeling scandalized and annoyed. And flustered.

But at least he knows how to react to things like this … or his body does anyway. Without needing to think about it, his fists punch into the blanket, kind of wildly, like they're just trying to hit _something_ and aim isn't that important.

Momoshiro yelps as he feels Kaidoh's fist make contact with his head, then his cheek, and everywhere really. He groans out and tries to deflect and block some of Kaidoh's attacks. He's playing dirty! And ignoring Momoshiro's plea to not hit him, what a jerk.

"I was—I was joking! You idiot! Stop hitting me!" Then he shoves at Kaidoh's chest so he almost pushes him off the bed and drag the entire blanket with him. His head finally resurfaces, feeling red from embarrassment, anger, and getting hit in the face. He looks like a mess.

"Asshole. You suck at not getting angry." Momoshiro huffs.

"Well, you—" Kaidoh sputters, thrashing his arms around in the air, his nostrils still flaring and the vein in his forehead throbbing angrily. "You really piss me off sometimes!"

Momoshiro lowers his eyebrows at him. It wasn't like he did it on purpose! Besides, there really wasn't anything else he could use. "Well fuck you. Next time you can clean yourself up."

"_Fine_!" Kaidoh retorts, glaring right back at Momoshiro. "I didn't even—"

Wait a minute … Next time?

So it's … definitely going to happen again? Or Momoshiro wants it to, at least? That's enough to stop Kaidoh's angry train of thought from barreling along the tracks and he just kind of stares at Momoshiro.

"… Fine," he repeats, a little more evenly.

And this makes Momoshiro feels less angry as well. "... Good." Glad to have an understanding here. "And I'll wash it … so don't freak out."

Momoshiro takes a moment to look at Kaidoh, who's been staring at him as if he said something funny. What? Oh god, there isn't any … sperm ... on his …right? Immediately he turns bright red and buries his face into the blanket, cleaning off whatever might have been stuck on there. He sits up straight this time, not letting the blanket slip away from his waist—he might have been totally okay with it before, but having Kaidoh see his naked flaccid penis right now, really doesn't appeal to him. He lowers the blanket from his face, nose still pressed up in it, and looks at Kaidoh again.

They're two naked guys sitting in the same bed, and just got each other off.

So this means …Yeah. This is now officially something they're doing, and will hopefully do again.

No more doubts and insecurities about whether or not it's going to happen again; it _is_ going to happen. And Momoshiro will make sure of it, even if he might not want to know why he wants it to happen again.

"Hand me … hand me my boxers … it's behind you," says Momoshiro. He looks away as he says it.

Kaidoh sits up a little too, and turns to grab Momoshiro's boxers and pass them to him wordlessly, trying to ignore how fucking awkward it is to just be casually handing them over. Like it's something they do all the time. Well, maybe it will be. That's a weird thought.

Then, he looks around the bed, at the blanket tangled over them both, and tries to figure out where his own boxers ended up. Where did he throw them again?

"Um … Do you know where …" he starts, not really sure how to ask if Momoshiro has seen them.

Momoshiro shoves the boxers underneath the blanket and keeps his hand there as it tries to reach for something that's trapped underneath his knee. It's Kaidoh's white pair of boxers, it had somehow gotten stuck beneath his body. He scrunches it up into a ball, and throws it into Kaidoh's lap, also completely wordless. He scratches his cheek. He takes in a breath. He shifts his weight around. He wrinkles his nose. Then he finally looks at Kaidoh again—who's been avoiding his gaze as well.

And Momoshiro's stupid loud mouth couldn't have found a worse timing to start working again. It was doing _so_ well in shutting up, but right now, Momoshiro blurts out, "So are we …" before he's able to control his stupid mouth again and shut up. He clenches his fingers into the blanket, refusing to look at Kaidoh or say anything else at all.

That wasn't supposed to be said. Nothing was supposed to be said. Absolutely nothing. Momoshiro can feel his stomach pinch and squeeze tight. This is not good.

Maybe he can pretend nothing was said at all. It was just a really loud fart.

But if the blank look on Kaidoh's face is any indication, he _did_ hear it. And fuck, now Momoshiro feels a huge wave of embarrassment creep over his back. He can't stop echoing the words in his mind. _We. We. We._ Like they're some kind of _thing_ together.

Kaidoh hisses and looks away from Momoshiro, since his expression is making Kaidoh feel weirder than he already did. Instead he looks down at his lap and unfolds his bunched up boxer shorts and then makes his most graceful attempt to slide them back on, while still trying to keep as much of his skin covered as possible by the blanket, like he suddenly has modesty issues or something. The relaxed and easy atmosphere they'd managed to capture earlier seems to be swiftly evaporating, and Kaidoh is again starting to feel like running would be a good idea.

He keeps his gaze averted as he echoes Momoshiro's words. "Are we what?" he asks, uncertain about whether or not he really wants an answer. His voice is reluctant and small, because he'd rather not be talking at all, at least not until he's out of Momoshiro's bed and fully dressed again.

Momoshiro doesn't know, he hasn't got a clue on what he was going to say. He should have kept his mouth shut and not said anything at all; keep this strictly a non-verbal agreement, or something. His stupid boxers are still bunched up in his hand under the blanket, not attempting to move and put them back on like Kaidoh did. Moving feels awkward right now, and Kaidoh's so close still that their knees almost bump against each other.

This seriously should have stayed something they never talked about … talking about it makes it seem more real. More like a thing, and it's something real between them. And that's not something Momoshiro wants to admit, like he's doing this with Kaidoh for real, and on purpose, as if he _likes_ it. And he does, which makes everything worse.

Momoshiro gestures with his other hand, making weird hand movements to illustrate to Kaidoh he'd rather they be non-verbal. Preferably, he'd rather his fist be talking instead, but that seems kind of inappropriate right now. He runs his fingers through his short black hair and sighs. It's hard to find words now that Kaidoh's expecting him to say anything, which is weird, because it's hard for Momoshiro to be speechless. And that sort of pisses him off too; it's all Kaidoh's fault. For getting mad at his stupid bandana.

"... Gonna do this," says Momoshiro in a small voice. There, he said it. That one uncertain question on his mind was finally given some words, and he said it. Are they going to keep doing this?

He sure wants it to continue, and on the other hand, he'd really not like to talk about it. The more it gets put into words, the more awkward and real it becomes. He'd rather it stay something fun and spontaneous, which is what it's been so far.

A strange tingle shivers through Kaidoh and his hand fidgets awkwardly with the blanket in front of him, like he needs to do something to occupy it. Part of him feels totally mortified that Momoshiro just came right out and said it, as though, if he hadn't, they could have both continued on blissfully ignoring that they're doing anything at all. And then another part of Kaidoh, one that twists in his chest at Momoshiro's words, feels relieved that Momoshiro is thinking about this too. That Kaidoh isn't the only one.

"Whatever," he mumbles, like he can't just agree. But even without asserting anything, his face feels warm and embarrassment seems to flow through him in place of a pulse. This isn't something he thought he'd have to confront, and he doesn't really know how to do it. _Are_ they going to keep doing this? It's been a thought that's lurked in the back of Kaidoh's mind every time this happens, and on the one hand, the uncertainty drove him nuts, but on the other, clarifying this _thing_ that's going on between them seems even scarier.

Kaidoh's eyes flick up to Momoshiro's face and then immediately back down again, and he huffs, feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed, and kind of annoyed by how uncomfortable and embarrassing everything suddenly seems to be. He's used to Momoshiro making things easy. He isn't used to Momoshiro acting just as awkward as Kaidoh feels. This is stupid. Kaidoh doesn't want to talk about it. He doesn't know how to, and thinking about it just makes him want to punch things. Or run a lot.

But what he does know is that yeah, he doesn't want this to stop.

So he shifts a little on the bed, moving a little closer but still not looking at Momoshiro. "Yeah, I guess," he says, his voice shaky, and the words feeling sticky on his tongue, like he's not sure what he's getting himself into. Well, he already got himself into it. Now he's simply admitting as much.

Now Momoshiro's chest warms up, as well as his face, at Kaidoh's dismissive and uncertain words. That's typical Kaidoh speak though, and Momoshiro knows how to look past that, and what Kaidoh is saying for real, is that yes, he wants to do this. He wants to continue this with Momoshiro, and that makes him feel all sorts of warm and bashful. But at least he can take in comfort in the fact that it's mutual … and well, he figured as much. Kaidoh wouldn't be doing all these things with him if he didn't want to, it's not like Momoshiro is forcing him to. So despite the weird awkwardness that arose from saying things out loud, it does settle Momoshiro's queasy stomach. It settles everything.

"Okay, then." Momoshiro flicks his eyes over at Kaidoh, before averting them again somewhere else. He'd rather they be back in that relaxing moment, where nothing mattered, and they weren't really thinking, and they certainly weren't feeling embarrassed. But.

They're going to continue. They're going to do this. Which means he'll get to be in those moments in the future, where nothing matters but touching Kaidoh, and have him touch him back in the most amazing places. Momoshiro doesn't want to give that up.

He's kind of torn what he should do with Kaidoh right now. He's hyper aware of everything that's going on, and how close Kaidoh is in proximity to him, and how naked he still is. He can't believe how talking makes everything much harder, because when they both shut up, everything seems to flow naturally, like everything just clicks into place. This is the opposite of natural, this is awkward and the tension in the air is thick; these are two guys who just agreed to having sex with each other. That's the gist of it anyway. Can this even be called sex? Momoshiro doesn't know, and it's confusing to put it into words, and scary to think about.

And besides, Momoshiro has always been the kind to act on instinct. Not to rely on words, or numbers, or careful consideration—but to act on what his gut is telling him feels right. Right now, it's telling him to stop thinking, and just go for it.

"Kaidoh," he calls out. It sounds really loud in this quiet hut, and makes him feel slightly more embarrassed with what's going to happen next.

Kaidoh looks back at him, a tangle of weird feelings all knotted up in his throat. He doesn't know what put them there. It's still just Momoshiro—things shouldn't suddenly feel different.

"Yeah?" he asks, trying to will the edge of hesitation out of his voice.

What Momoshiro would like to say is; get out of my bed. However, what he should say is … absolutely nothing. If they're going to do this, it better not be as awkward as this every time they do it. It'd be weird, and Momoshiro isn't used to feeling that way around Kaidoh—he's rather feel warm and relaxed. And to get that same relaxed atmosphere back, something needs to be done. And it's not talking, or shoving Kaidoh out of his bed.

Despite having done this several times before, as if it was the most natural thing on earth, Momoshiro feels rigid and unsure as he moves forward, closer to Kaidoh. Before, it was random, spontaneous, and completely out of the ordinary. Because it all happened so fast, and they both surrendered to their raging hormones, it didn't feel hard to do, in fact it was easy. But right now, kissing Kaidoh means something different. It's deliberate, and it's real.

Which is why Momoshiro slowly closes the distance between them, catching Kaidoh's gaze and holding it, not wanting him to look away, as that would make him scared as well. His heart is racing against his chest, in a different way than from before. He raises his hand, up to Kaidoh's cheek, and lets his fingers sprawl out across it, so he can keep Kaidoh's face steady and secure—so he won't turn away—before softly pressing his lips against Kaidoh's.

Think of it …as a handshake. One that seals the agreement between them. A very soft handshake with their lips.

And with that the tension seems to dissipate just as quickly as it had come, because it's impossible for Kaidoh to keep thinking when Momoshiro has his lips against his mouth like that. Maybe Kaidoh can just glue them there so neither of them has to ever say anything again about what is happening between them, about what it is they're doing. Talking about this subject once has already been scary enough for Kaidoh. It's not really something he wants to repeat.

But perhaps it wasn't an entirely terrible thing ... After all, now Kaidoh knows—rather than just thinks, or hopes—that Momoshiro is okay with keeping this up, that he wants to continue this, that he likes it too, and that's enough to calm the nervous pounding of Kaidoh's heart and he lets his shoulders relax a little, and presses his own mouth back against Momoshiro's, not hard, but just enough to let Momoshiro know that he's in this with him, that he can't be scared away.

His fingers slip away from the blanket and up to cover Momoshiro's hand, which feels warm, and reassuringly steady and solid. _Okay_, he'd said. And it really does feel like maybe it might be, like it will be okay for them to keep doing this, like it's something they can both get used to, and maybe eventually Kaidoh will even stop feeling embarrassed or nervous about it. Maybe even comfortable enough to one day talk about it without his whole body clamming up in protest.

Or maybe not. Well, right now that seems about as likely as Kaidoh deciding that, despite all evidence to the contrary, he really likes ghosts after all ... but stranger things have happened. The fact that he's sitting here kissing Momoshiro is proof of that.

The entire scene, this entire thing, is so unlikely, it had never even occurred to Momoshiro in the first place. Kaidoh was Kaidoh, and he was a grumpy snake Momoshiro liked to tease and compete with. And he still does—he'll never get tired of rubbing it into Kaidoh's face whenever he lost, and Momoshiro had won, with whatever silly competition they had. Maybe this is just an extension of that, a natural course of action perhaps, simply another competition between the both of them.

Albeit one that is secretive, and there's nothing really competitive about it, especially when Momoshiro feels this _need_ to do all of these things to Kaidoh, and there's really no ulterior goal for that. Momoshiro would tease Kaidoh to get a rise out of him and laugh at him, but this, this kissing together, Momoshiro isn't doing this to make fun of Kaidoh.

He's doing it …

… Just because.

That's really all Momoshiro will allow himself to think about the matter; they've agreed to do this now. That's all that matters, no more thinking about it. So Momoshiro wills his mind to shut up and enjoy the soft lips pressed against his own, and Kaidoh's hand gently on top of his. He slips his fingers between Kaidoh's, then softly tugs it down to guide it down Kaidoh's neck, where he keeps them both there so he can feel the wild heartbeat pulse against his hand. This simple act, of kissing each other, and feeling Kaidoh's heartbeat go fast, with their hands joined together … it's making Momoshiro's entire body relax with pleasure, and then it shift gears, deciding it's okay to do whatever now.

After all, Kaidoh agreed, and Momoshiro has a superpower.

So he smiles against Kaidoh's lips and pushes him down on the bed again, hovering over him like he knows Kaidoh can't resist him.

At least he doesn't have to take his clothes off this time, he's still naked from before. But Kaidoh needs a little help getting rid of his, and then they're back in pleasureland, bodies moving together, and arms making quick strokes, with lips gnawing on each other. It's a lot more routine this time, and slower too, because they both know they won't leave, they won't stop, and that's all that matters to Momoshiro. He feels like nothing can go wrong anymore, like he and Kaidoh are on the same wavelength.

Well, they were, until Momoshiro decided to use his bandana again. Then he earned a black eye, and they were back to being regular old Momoshiro and Kaidoh again, bickering like always. At least some things never change.

But Momoshiro is happy that some things _do_ change; for the better.


	37. Happy Halloween

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **Halloween chapter.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** K+

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- It is Halloween, and Momo has convinced Kaidoh to have a test of courage on this day, secretly making Hazue play the ghost

**Date:** October 31, 2012

* * *

It is an hour till midnight.

That's how long Momoshiro is planning to walk around the jungle today; an hour. Why? Because it's Halloween! And while Momoshiro doesn't exactly celebrate Halloween (that would be Echizen's thing, since he's the American and all), he'll never allow the opportunity to scare the hell out of Kaidoh slip through his fingers. At least with Halloween he's got an excuse, since it's supposed to be a scary day. He managed to get Hazue to join him, and play as a ghost, while he and Kaidoh will walk through the jungle using a predetermined route (drawn on paper like a pirate map, courtesy of Momoshiro himself, he quite likes it).

Momoshiro is expected to see a lot of funny reactions coming out of Kaidoh tonight, so he's got his cellphone stored away in his pocket, nice and safe, and ready to use when he needs it. Armed with a flashlight, Momoshiro is ready to go. He slips on his jacket (it does get cold at night, especially since it's the end of October), then stops and stares at Kaidoh, who is trying not to make eye contact with him, and standing in the corner.

"Yo, Kaidoh—don't need a jacket? You're gonna get cold, you know."

"I'll be fine, idiot," Kaidoh replies tersely. He's not going to get cold. Or scared for that matter. At least, that's what he's been telling himself for the past five minutes while he was trying to psych himself up to do this stupid thing.

He shouldn't even need to. It's just trees and vines and bushes in there, right? It's just the jungle, and Kaidoh's run past it more times than he can count. Not _through_ it exactly, and certainly not when it's pitch black outside on Halloween night, but … Kaidoh's determined not to let that get to him and give Momoshiro the satisfaction of seeing him freaked out. At least, that's what he's telling himself, but saying and doing are two different things.

He huffs and shoots a glare in Momoshiro's direction. "Let's just get this over with," he says.

"Okay, okay. If you're ready for it," says Momoshiro with a snort. He walks over to their new shiny door—again, courtesy of Momoshiro—ready to open it, before he turns to Kaidoh. He sticks out his hand expectantly, palm up, smiling at him like a loyal dog wagging its tail.

Kaidoh stuffs his hands into his pockets and drags his feet across the floor towards Momoshiro, like his body's still reluctant to do this and he's having to force it along. Well, actually every part of him _is_ reluctant to do this, since it's dumb, but this is a matter of pride and principle and Kaidoh's not going to back down from a challenge. Especially not when it's coming from Momoshiro.

When he stops, he pulls his hand back out of his pocket again so he can punch Momoshiro in the shoulder, just to get that out of the way while he still has a clear head. He grumbles, "Yeah, I'm ready." He is … right?

"You're not supposed to punch me, ass," says Momoshiro. He narrows his eyes at Kaidoh. "You're supposed to hold my hand, you know, when you get scared and stuff. And so you don't run away."

"I'm not going to run away!" Kaidoh protests, feeling an edge of annoyance creep under his skin. He's not a chicken. He can handle a walk through the jungle in the dark. Probably.

After all, what's the worst that could happen? Kaidoh shakes his head. No … he shouldn't open his imagination up to worst case scenario possibilities, because his mind can get a little carried away when he's nervous. Instead, he should just focus on what's actually going to happen, which he tries to convince himself won't be anything scary. Just him and Momoshiro following some dumb map. It's not like there are actually ghosts on this island. At least, Kaidoh doesn't think there are. Not that he's scared of ghosts in the first place. He just doesn't like them.

He should stop thinking about that though, because just wondering if there are ghosts in the jungle makes Kaidoh shiver a little, which he hopes Momoshiro didn't notice. It would be annoying if Momoshiro thought Kaidoh was scared already, especially since he most definitely isn't.

"So, how far into the jungle are we going anyway?" he asks dismissively.

"Faaaar," Momoshiro drawls out his words. He slings an arm around Kaidoh's shoulder, opens the door, and pushes him out. "It's a full hour, we'll be walking for a while!"

They both walk down the steps and into the chilly night, and Momoshiro seriously wonders if Kaidoh won't get cold wearing those stupid shorts and sleeveless shirt. Honestly, he's nuts. It reminds him of that day during Christmas, where he was running out like this in the snow—absolutely crazy!

But that was five years ago, Kaidoh should have gotten some common sense by now. Well, at least Momoshiro can stick close to warm him up, if needed. Not that he wants to. He pushes Kaidoh away from him and clicks on his flashlight.

"Alright, so let's get started." He shines it down on his nicely made map (which consists of a dotted line circling all around the jungle, with an X at the end). "Oh, before we get in there, I forgot to tell you—did you know a bunch of people were saying the cruise ship was haunted on the day that we ran ashore here? They say it was the ghosts who made us get stuck on this island, creepy huh?" He moves the flashlight right underneath his chin to make his face look all ominous.

Kaidoh gulps. "Yeah right, asshole," he says, but sounds wary as his voice comes out. If there were ghosts on the ship then they might have climbed off it and onto this island. Which means … they could be anywhere. Kaidoh throws a nervous glance over his shoulder, but all he sees are trees. Momoshiro's probably just making shit up again as usual, trying to get under his skin.

"If you're trying to creep me out, it's not going to work," Kaidoh adds, but he hunches his shoulders a little and clenches his fingers into fists, like his body is ready to shield himself against an attack of angry spirits.

Momoshiro laughs and pats Kaidoh hard on his back, then starts to walk ahead of him at a faster pace, eager to get to the jungle.

"Right. You're totally not going to freak out." But Momoshiro knows Kaidoh totally is. He managed to convince Hazue to play the role of the ghost (bedsheets should be good enough to convince Kaidoh), and to scare Kaidoh on their route a few times. Momoshiro has marked the areas in which Hazue is supposed to stand guard on his map, so he knows exactly when and where he can scare the hell out of Kaidoh. He snickers to himself; this is going to be _so_ much fun.

Momoshiro throws his head back at Kaidoh. "Come on, if you don't hurry up, I'll leave you alone!" he says as he approached the narrow line of trees, separating the beach from the jungle.

Kaidoh's sneakers scuff into the sand as he picks up the pace so he can catch up with Momoshiro, because there's no way he's going in there alone. At least if Momoshiro's there, Kaidoh can use him as a barrier between himself and whatever evil supernatural creature might be lurking between the trees. Not that things like that exist in the first place … Fuck Momoshiro for planting the seed in his head that the cruise ship was haunted.

"Stop walking so fast," Kaidoh growls once he's at Momoshiro's side again. Under any other circumstances, he'd be saying the opposite, but right now Kaidoh isn't feeling particularly eager to run headlong into the dark and creepy jungle.

"Says the running freak," Momoshiro snorts. He pushes himself through the trees, shining light in front of him, but he does slow down a bit.

Kaidoh swings his elbow so it knocks into Momoshiro's arm. "Yeah, well, we're not going running right now," he points out in a low mutter. Because if they were, he'd be feeling a lot more at ease. Instead he's treading lightly over the ground, like his footsteps might alert someone—or something—of their presence. Not that their voices aren't doing a fine job of that anyway. He stays close to Momoshiro, because he's the one with the light, and because he doesn't seem to be hesitating at all, which is enough to keep Kaidoh walking as well. If Momoshiro can do this, then Kaidoh can too, no problem.

"As long as you don't _run away,_ " Momoshiro says with a roll of his eyes. "Speaking of, my arm's still completely available for some groping." He almost drops his flashlight. "I mean grabbing." Thank god it's dark.

"Moron," Kaidoh replies. "I won't need to." He's not going to freak out and cling to Momoshiro's arm—that would be super embarrassing. He digs his fingers back into his pockets so they won't be tempted to do something stupid like that. Sometimes his body just does things on its own, especially when freaky things happen. But that won't be the case this time, because there isn't anything freaky or weird out here in the jungle. Maybe if Kaidoh keeps telling himself that, he'll start to believe it.

"Whatever. Anyways, the hour starts now!" Momoshiro cheers. He looks down at the map, but doesn't really need to, since he was the one to plan the route they're walking anyway.

The jungle is quite noisy at night, lots of crickets chirping, and other unidentified insects making sounds. The rustling of the leaves of the trees, the branches swaying in the calm breeze; the jungle doesn't sleep. Neither does Momoshiro, not right now at least, as he's making headway into the dark and densely populated jungle. Kaidoh is right next to him, huddled close and twitching and jerking away from every rustle of the leaves, obviously scared something it going to jump out and grab him.

Momoshiro hums to himself; it sure didn't take long for Kaidoh to get scared. Now, to make his way towards the first point Hazue was going to scare them … He directs his flashlight on the map again. Along the trail are little circles which are markers for Hazue to appear at, and the first one should be coming up soon. Momoshiro can't wait what the little brat has in store for his brother. When the tip of Momoshiro's shoe hits a small rock in the dirt, he stumbles forwards a bit and quickly shuts up. He composes himself again with a huff. Kaidoh's supposed to be stumbling around here, not him.

"So yeah, do you think it's real? The story I mean, that there were ghosts on the ship. I mean, I didn't see any, but people were definitely acting weird a few hours before I ended up on this island. They say we're stranded in the Bermuda Triangle, did you know? Lots of mysterious stuff happens there … like airplanes disappearing … cruise ships too I guess. And either Atobe didn't have any staff on board, or the staff just mysteriously disappeared, because they were certainly not with us when we got here! I wonder what happened to them. Maybe they drowned, that'd be awful. But hey, it explains the ghosts. Maybe they're back to haunt us, and don't want us to leave the island because they never had the chance to escape in the first place. That would explain why we've been stuck here for so long, don't you think?"

The logic does make a weird kind of sense, but it's not the sort of explanation Kaidoh wants to hear. At least not when it's dark, and he doesn't know where they're going, just that they're slowly edging further and further into the jungle and away from the safety of his hut.

"That can't be true …" he says, his voice nervous and small. It can't be true because it's way too creepy, so Kaidoh's mentally willing it to not be true. He does remember reading something about the Bermuda Triangle before, just once, and he didn't really read all it had to say because the idea of a place with unexplained phenomenon and mysterious disappearances made him uncomfortable. Not scared, because that would be stupid. He just doesn't like things like that.

He never thought that, years later, he'd find that, like it or not, he'd be experiencing the weird ways of the Bermuda Triangle firsthand. Not that anything particularly strange or creepy has happened to him yet, apart from no one coming to rescue them, and hopefully that's as bad as it will get. The idea of there being ghosts on the island too is simply too much for Kaidoh to handle—since it's an island and there'd be nowhere to run to escape them. Can a person even outrun ghosts in the first place?

A tree branch snaps loudly somewhere in the jungle, jerking Kaidoh out of his thoughts and back into the present and he makes an embarrassing, squeamish yelp, his eyes darting wildly around looking for the source of the sound. But it's dark, save for Momoshiro's flashlight, and impossible to see anything but eerie shadows anyway. He does hear Momoshiro let out what sounds like a chuckle. Asshole.

Kaidoh hisses and nudges closer to Momoshiro as they walk, making sure to bump his shoulder against his in retaliation. "Can't you talk about something else besides ghosts?" he asks, annoyance in his voice. Like it's Momoshiro's fault that Kaidoh's all jumpy. It probably is. He's probably the one who made that branch snap.

"I can talk about lots of things! What do you want me to talk about? Halloween? Witches? Monsters? Walking skeletons? Zombies? Take your pick!" Momoshiro swings his flashlight around, feeling happy that his plan of scaring Kaidoh is working so far.

The branch snapping was probably Hazue. Or maybe it was Kaidoh himself. Either way, Momoshiro is delighted at everything working out so far. Kaidoh's even walking closer to him, as much as possible anyway; another plan succeeded. Now to get Kaidoh to grab his hand when he's scared … hehehe.

"Or would you prefer I talk about cats?" asks Momoshiro. He smirks at Kaidoh as he flashes the light in his eyes.

Yes, actually Kaidoh would prefer that.

"Idiot," he grumbles, squinting as Momoshiro turns the flashlight around again and his eyes readjust to the darkness. Why did they have to do this in the middle of the night, again?

"Well, whatever," he says, because he doesn't want to sound overly eager to change topics to something less creepy, and then he quickly adds, "As long as you aren't going to talk about something dumb like zombie cats." Because he's sure that, if Momoshiro really wanted to, he could make even something as nice and harmless as cats into something scary. And then Kaidoh would have to punch him again.

"Zombie cats would be awesome! I mean, cats are already really good at hunting prey, imagine if they preyed on humans—that would make a good movie actually." Momoshiro wonders if he can find some sort of movie company to sell his idea to, he's sure it would sell a lot.

In a few more seconds, they approach a clearing in the jungle, with less trees spaced around. It's almost as if someone lived here before and decided to cut down trees to make space. Maybe there really was … Anyways, Hazue is supposed to be here and walk around like a ghost (a.k.a with a bedsheet pulled over his head). Momoshiro shines his light around at the trees, looking around for him. He nudges Kaidoh in his side.

"Hey, do you hear anything weird?" Momoshiro asks. Meaning; can he hear Hazue's footsteps? because he sure can't. Just stupid crickets.

Kaidoh feels like he's hearing _a lot_ of weird things, but it's probably just his mind playing tricks on him. Like the wind through the trees kind of sounds like a voice whispering, and the sounds of insects all around him makes him feel like they're being followed. He's been doing his best to ignore it, and focus instead on the sound of their breathing, and Momoshiro's annoying voice, and their footsteps over the ground, but now that they've stopped in this clearing and Momoshiro's stopped talking, Kaidoh's whole body feels alert and aware of everything around him.

He looks nervously at Momoshiro. Does _he_ hear something? Or is he just messing with him? His eyes scan the trees that circle the open space they're standing in and something seems to slide across his frame of vision, an eerie shadow moving along with inhuman grace. Kaidoh gulps audibly, blinks, and looks out again into the trees, but the shadow is gone. Kaidoh must have imagined it … right?

"T-there's nothing out there," he says slowly, in a feeble attempt to reassure himself. So can they … keep moving now? Kaidoh doesn't really want to wait around here for the weird shadow thing to come back, but there's no way he's telling Momoshiro that he's worried about something as stupid as that.

"Hmm." Momoshiro squints his eyes, studying the the dark places between the trees with his flashlight. Where is Hazue? He's supposed to pop out now and run around. "You sure?" he says in a loud voice, loud enough for Hazue to hear it if he were there.

Maybe he got the place wrong, or perhaps Hazue is waiting at the next point instead.

He takes one more look around the circle of trees, before deciding that Hazue is indeed not there. "Hmm, I guess not then … well, onto the next checkpoint! Err, I mean, you know, back on track, hehe." Momoshiro bites his lips and wonders if Kaidoh knows by now that he's set him up to be scared or not.

After all, it's not a test of courage when no one is displaying any courage in the first place! And hey, who knows, maybe Kaidoh has enough courage to not run away the first time he'll see Ghost-Hazue. Or maybe he'll cry. If that happens, Momoshiro might just die laughing.

Momoshiro starts walking again, checking the map one more time to see if they're not straying off the path. Well, that might actually happen; it's not like Momoshiro drew the most detailed map of the jungle or anything ... just a few sticks to represent trees, and the dotted line going in swooshes and circles. Ah well, if they get lost, Hazue will help them. Maybe. If Hazue doesn't get lost. Oh crap—what if Hazue _did_ get lost? And that's why he wasn't at the first checkpoint?

"Hey, uhm, Kaidoh. What would you do if something were to happen to Hazue-chan?" he asks a bit warily.

Kaidoh narrows his eyes at Momoshiro. "… Why? Did something happen to Hazue?" he asks, not sure what that has to do with anything. As far as Kaidoh knows, Momoshiro didn't drag his brother out in the jungle for some dumb test of courage, too, after all. No, he's pretty sure this treatment is reserved for him only.

Well, at least he only has to do it just this once. Kaidoh keeps walking alongside Momoshiro, still sticking close like glue, and not just because the hairs on the back of his neck are standing up straight and his palms are sweaty—which still doesn't mean he's scared! He also simply doesn't want to separate from him and end up lost. Because that would be annoying, as well as creepy. How can Momoshiro even tell where they're going in the dark like this. All the trees they pass just look the same to Kaidoh. They might as well be going in circles.

Momoshiro has one secret that he keeps from everyone else.

He's terrible at reading maps.

Not that he'll tell Kaidoh, and nor will he admit that he's off track—he's perfectly following the dotted line after all! Ugh, he should have tied ribbons to the trees or something. Anyways, they should still be close to the route, he thinks, they'll be fine. In the darkness of the night, perfectly fine.

"No, nothing happened. I hope. I think. I don't know. Do you know where he is?" Does Momoshiro know where _they_ are? He shines his light on the map again; it's not very helpful. They should be coming across a cliff soon though. That's the next checkpoint. As long as they stumble upon that landmark, Momoshiro knows they're not lost.

Kaidoh shrugs. "As far as I know, he should be in his own hut, getting ready for bed," he says, since that's what most normal people would be doing at this hour and he didn't say he'd be doing something different. He guesses Hazue could be out training or something, but that's more wishful thinking than anything else, and Kaidoh has been doing his best to back off of his brother where running is concerned. If he wants to do it, then he'll do it. And if he doesn't … well, much as it puzzles Kaidoh why anyone wouldn't want to go running as much as possible, he'll be understanding.

"I hope you know where we're going," Kaidoh grumbles, changing the subject back to the task at hand. He glances over Momoshiro's shoulder at a paper that's kind of swinging in and out of his vision with the movement of the flashlight. He can't get a good look at it since Momoshiro's walking along and the flashlight isn't steady over the paper, but instead directed into the jungle ahead. Is that Momoshiro's map? Kaidoh can't understand it at all. It just looks like a bunch of dots to him. He hopes Momoshiro knows what they're doing and isn't just walking Kaidoh closer and closer into some ghost trap.

Actually, considering it's Momoshiro, that's probably exactly what he's hoping will happen.

Well, at least they're moving again, although Kaidoh keeps getting the eerie feeling that something is moving along with them. He glances over his shoulder and maybe it's his vision tricking him, but he swears he sees that weird gliding shadow thing in the trees behind them, like it's been following them along their path all along. He tugs on the sleeve of Momoshiro's jacket.

"How much longer?" he asks nervously. He can't really make out a facial expression on the shadow—or a face at all, for that matter—but if it's real, which Kaidoh would be dumb to believe it is, since he doesn't believe in ghosts in the first place. He isn't a stupid chicken like that … But _if_ it's real, Kaidoh doesn't trust it to be in a good mood. Ghosts usually aren't.

"Dude, we've barely been out here for ten minutes," says Momoshiro. His eyes travel down his arm to where Kaidoh's fingers are still clutched to his jacket. Heh. He knew Kaidoh was going to grab it sooner or later. He looks back up at Kaidoh and smiles at him.

"Or are you scared or something?" he teases. Well, if Kaidoh knew that Hazue didn't show up at the first checkpoint, he might have had a point of being a little wary.

"Shut up," Kaidoh growls, dropping his hand immediately. "Of course, I'm not." He's grateful the darkness is helping to hide his now stupidly red face. He's not supposed to be acting all wimpy and freaked out. He has to pull himself together and stop being an idiot.

He lets out a dismissive huff, to show how casual and totally not scared he is. "It's just that this is kind of stupid," he says flatly.

Momoshiro huffs; this is not stupid at all. Doing any kind of activity with the great, super awesome Momo-chan is a delight in itself. Kaidoh should be happy he's spending time with him—and it's not like they're real ghosts! And just as he thinks that, something rustles up high in the tree close to him. He shines his flashlight at it to see what it is, just in case something was going to fall on top of his head if he walked under it. The beam of light falls on the green leaves, moving with the wind. Hmm, he's sure he heard something, oh well, back to his map.

"Are you saying it's stupid to walk here with me, huh?" Momoshiro says out loud. He jabs his elbow into Kaidoh's side. "Ass. If you didn't want to come you could have just stayed home." It's not like Momoshiro _forced_ him to come or anything. He simply manipulated him, it's different!

Yeah right, like Kaidoh would have refused a challenge like this! He'd never live it down if he did … Not that he'll live it down either if he turns into a shivering scaredy cat out here because of a few shadows or weird noises. He's still doing his best to stay strong and keep that from happening.

"Whatever," he says. "Let's just keep going." He takes a step forward, walking a little ahead of Momoshiro this time, which turns out to be a mistake, because he's not the one carrying a flashlight, and knocks right into a tree branch and sends something horrifying and dark swooping down at his face.

It all seems to happen very quickly, and Kaidoh is caught completely off-guard. He splutters and squawks, his arms flailing around. "What the hell?!" he yells, his voice sounding choked and panicked. It's too dark to see, but whatever it is beats audibly at the air and makes a frantic, high-pitched squeaking noise. Then Momoshiro's flashlight swings around and Kaidoh catches a glimpse of wings. Huh? Is it a ghost? Oh god … Kaidoh really hopes it's not a ghost. He's too young to die.

But is that what ghosts are even supposed to sound like?

Kaidoh spins around and his eyes are caught in the beam of Momoshiro's flashlight so he's temporarily blinded and probably looks like a deer in the headlights, his face a wash of shock and horror. He throws his hand in front of his face to shield his gaze and then his expression changes into a grimace as he sees something small and dark flutter between them, looking suddenly a lot less ghost-like and a lot more like a common bat.

"Heh … just a bat," says Momoshiro, a bit out of breath. That scared him too, well, not _scared_ him, but made him jump a little. It's a reflex! You can't control reflexes. At least he didn't think it was a ghost or anything like Kaidoh probably did.

Seeing Kaidoh's scared face, he snorts a little, then changes the direction of his flashlight. "Moron, just stick close to me this time, don't walk in front."

This time, Kaidoh seems to listen, sticking close to Momoshiro, as if they're glued together by this invisible force. Momoshiro doesn't mind—there's been a lot of things lately he hasn't mind about Kaidoh. The closer they are, the better, he thinks. Maybe he can like, pretend to save Kaidoh from ghost-Hazue, and then Kaidoh will be so grateful to him—to the point of tears—that he'll cook for him every day. Or something. Oh yes, Mamushi cooking for him sounds good. _And_ Momoshiro gets to act like a hero, it's a win-win situation! For him anyway. And hey, Kaidoh did say he needed to do something to earn that medal …

When they approach the second checkpoint, the large cliff (or large block of dirt intersecting their path, really) hidden between all the trees, Momoshiro throws his arm around Kaidoh's shoulders.

"Don't worry Kaoru-chan, I'll protect you if anything happens," boasts Momoshiro. Now this is Hazue's cue to come out and scare Kaidoh.

Kaidoh shrugs out of Momoshiro's arm and glares at him. "I'm not going to need—" he starts to say, but stops when he hears a low, ghostly moan coming from somewhere up on that cliff. Kaidoh freezes and throws a wild, nervous glance at Momoshiro, because this time, Kaidoh is pretty sure that wasn't all in his head.

As if to confirm Kaidoh's worst fears, the voice wafts through the air again like it's being carried closer by some unknown force. _Whooooo_, it seems to say, like it's demanding to know who these two intruders are. Kaidoh really doesn't want to stick around and give it time to find out, but he feels rooted to the ground, totally petrified.

Then a branch snaps, and another, until the whole cliff sounds like it's alive with eerie cracking sounds. It doesn't take more than one for Kaidoh to practically jump out of his skin and grab for Momoshiro's hand in the dark, gripping it like his life depends on it—at the moment, he feels like it kind of does. He doesn't know what he thinks Momoshiro to do … magically transform into a ghostbuster and destroy whatever the hell is up there?

Well, whatever effort he'd make, it would be better than what Kaidoh can manage at the moment. So much for not freaking out.

While Kaidoh might be scared out of his mind, Momoshiro on the other hand is brimming with the satisfaction of getting Kaidoh to hold onto him. Or well, hold his hand—either works. Except it's slowly starting to turn into torture, because _wow_, Kaidoh's got a really strong grip on his hand! It's starting to cut off his blood circulation!

Momoshiro shakes his hand a bit to get Kaidoh's attention. "Come on, I said I'd protect you, right? Whatever is making those sounds up there won't be able to hurt you." But Kaidoh is kind of hurting Momoshiro right now. At least he knows Hazue is doing a fine good job at scaring Kaidoh, it's pretty fun. They should do this more often.

"Alright, let's go onward then!" Momoshiro exclaims loudly so Hazue can hear as well. He tugs Kaidoh along, who clings to him like a magnet, being unable to separate from him all of the sudden. Momoshiro twists and turns his hand around until Kaidoh's grip slowly loosens on it, and he can get comfortable again. He wraps his own fingers around the palm of Kaidoh's hand and now they're here; two guys in the dark, holding hands with each other.

Not that Momoshiro will complain; he's having a blast.

He better get a medal for this.

The next checkpoint is somewhere along the river. Momoshiro thinks that the sound of the river flowing along the jungle, in the middle of the night, can sound quite eery. Not to mention make everything misty looking. And soon enough, they do start seeing mist cling around the trees, covering everything like a milky white blanket. The crickets stop making sounds up till this part, and he can only hear a faint buzzing—those might be dragonflies near the river. The fog is pretty thick though, and Momoshiro's flashlight isn't really doing much aside from giving them visibility for about 3 meters in front of them.

The river should be somewhere along here … Momoshiro hopes. He gives Kaidoh a reassuring squeeze when he feels him tense up.

"What are you so scared of huh, you've been here before," says Momoshiro with a chuckle. "It's the same as during the day!"

"I told you I'm not scared!" Kaidoh growls, and then defensively adds, "And anyway, it's not the same!" As though the time of day is to blame for making his pulse beat nervously. The dark is making everything seem unfamiliar and creepy. Kaidoh hardly recognizes where they are, and the mist certainly isn't helping. It just makes everything seem alive and oozing toward him. At least the ghost doesn't seem to have followed them this far. Or if it did, it's being awfully quiet about it.

That thought isn't really helping to calm Kaidoh's nerves. He doesn't like when things sneak up on him, and he tightens his hold on Momoshiro's hand, since that, at least, is something familiar.

His eyes flick back and forth, scanning the area around them, although he wishes he could be peering through his fingers as he does, because he's terrified that he'll suddenly spot something horrible out of the corner of his eye. In fact, he keeps scaring himself into shutting his eyes entirely, and just letting Momoshiro pull him along. But right now, there isn't anything out there. Or rather, it's hard to see much of anything at all. The jungle feels still around them, save for the gathering fog.

Kaidoh is very aware of how loud his own breathing suddenly sounds, and the way his shoes trudge into the ground and crackle over fallen leaves. He might as well have a blinking neon beacon over his head, alerting all supernatural forces in the vicinity of his presence.

"Where are we anyway?" he asks, feeling a little stupid, since Momoshiro is acting like Kaidoh should know. It's not his fault he's spent half the walk squeezing his eyes shut. But he can vaguely hear running water somewhere nearby. "Is that the river?"

"Yeah, should be anyway." Momoshiro is secretly glad they're still on track. It's kind of hard to focus when he can't see a damn thing, and Kaidoh is being so clingy—not that he minds, but it doesn't help him concentrate on the task at hand when Kaidoh is, well, holding his hand.

They keep walking towards the sound or running water, eerily dampened by the fog around them. This could be a horror movie with all this damn fog around, and Momoshiro is starting to think someone bought a smoke machine and turned it on. Not that there are any of those machines here on the island …but it's still a lot! He narrows his eyes, feeling the tips of his eyelashes covered in small drops of water now.

"Well, come on, the river's on our route, which means we're halfway there, aren't you glad?" Momoshiro snickers a bit; it's so easy to scare Kaidoh. Kaidoh grumbles a bit, but doesn't seem to be concerned about talking all that much. Instead they keep walking together in silence, both of them able to hear their own breath intakes loud and clear. It's kind of chilly in this fog, even with Momoshiro's jacket on.

"Hey, aren't you cold?" Momoshiro looks down at Kaidoh's arm. "You've got goosebumps."

Kaidoh wants to point out that the goosebumps are not _entirely_ due to the cold, but that would mean admitting he's scared. And he's still trying his best to avoid doing that, despite all his physical reactions to the contrary.

"I'm fine," he says gruffly, although that's kind of a relative term at this point. Well, he's fine if fine means he hasn't run screaming out of the jungle yet. As long as Momoshiro doesn't let go, Kaidoh should be okay. It would be kind of hard to run unless Momoshiro gets scared and decides to run with him, which doesn't seem likely. Momoshiro seems fine with this, more or less unfazed by all the creepy surroundings. It's annoying.

Soon the trees thin out and the river comes fully into view, glistening in the night like a silver trail cutting through the earth. The movement makes Kaidoh freeze for a second, his fingers squeezing around Momoshiro's, until he realizes it's just the water, and then he hisses, frustrated with himself for being frightened by basically everything at this point.

He tries to relax again because, at face value, the scene is actually kind of peaceful. The ground is misty and the river is sparkling through the center of it. It's kind of hard for Kaidoh to find it relaxing though, since he's still thinking about those haunting sounds and shadows from before. He nudges against Momoshiro's side, like he's trying to make Momoshiro take the lead, in case there's an angry water ghost waiting for them.

"It's just the river," says Momoshiro. But he walks towards it anyway, gently pulling Kaidoh along. He really is helpless when it comes to the dark and the unknown. Hell, it didn't even need to be Halloween today, Kaidoh would be scared regardless.

Not that Momoshiro minds taking the role as the hero. He's so awesome, nothing fazes him, and Kaidoh needs to rely on someone as big and strong as him. Momoshiro chuckles underneath his breath, completely full of himself. This night should go on forever in his opinion. He still needs a picture of Kaidoh looking scared though.

Anyways, Hazue is supposed to show up here, if everything went well. He hopes Hazue can see through this fog, it's not like he's really using his own flashlight—Momoshiro hasn't noticed any other lights besides his own. Maybe he decided not to use it, so that he can hide better in the shadows of the dark. What a stealthy dude. Kaidoh should be taking notes from his younger brother, especially when it comes to being brave and not scared. What a useless snake. Momoshiro shakes his head and pulls on Kaidoh's hand again.

"See, nothing sca—"

_Splash. Splash. Splash._

Suddenly they can hear something, or someone, wading quickly through the water, making splashing noises everywhere. Momoshiro sees the ripples of the water, but can't see anyone up ahead at all. This mist is just too damn thick!

"What the fuck is that?!" Kaidoh sputters, and plasters himself to Momoshiro's side like he's trying to shield himself from an incoming attack. The splashing continues, drawing closer and closer, getting louder and louder, and Kaidoh is pretty sure his heart is going to pound its way right out of his chest—

And then, just as abruptly as it started, the splashing stops.

For a moment, Kaidoh's too scared to move and can't do anything but stick to Momoshiro like a wimpy glob. A shiver creeps up the back of his neck and he lets out a low, terrified sound, almost like a whimper, and squeezes his eyes shut because this is usually the part in scary stories where the ghost suddenly appears right in front of your face. But when another second passes and nothing happens, he slowly opens his eyes again and … there's nothing there. It's completely silent again save for the sound of running water.

_Maybe it was some kind of animal_, the logical part of Kaidoh's brain suggests. But the rest of Kaidoh doesn't believe for a second that it was an animal. Or that it was even alive at all. He shudders and looks over at Momoshiro for some kind of reassurance. Well, he doesn't have to look that far since he's now squished against him.

That's kind of embarrassing. Kaidoh pries himself away from Momoshiro's side and looks awkwardly at his feet. "That was …" he starts to say, and tries to find a word to end the sentence with that isn't "terrifying". "Weird," he finishes.

Weird. Indeed, there's a pretty weird look on Momoshiro's face right now. It's a cross between a smug smile, a smirk and a 'you're so stupid' look. At least Momoshiro is enjoying this; Hazue is doing a pretty good job of scaring Kaidoh! He'll have to do some sort of favour for him in return later, like maybe get him out of training with Kaidoh for a day, or two. Too bad he didn't stick around long enough for Momoshiro to heroically dash towards the ghost and bash its head in to protect Kaidoh.

"Right …" Momoshiro clasps his fingers firmly around Kaidoh's hand and pulls him in close. "Now stick close to me, unless you want the water monster to come get you."

"Shut up," Kaidoh grumbles, glaring at Momoshiro. "I didn't think anything was actually going to happen." That's a blatant lie, and they both know it, but Kaidoh feels the need to say it anyway. He glances warily in the direction of the river, which is still quiet. But something _was_ there. There's no way both of them were hearing things. The burning question on Kaidoh's mind is, where the hell is it _now_? Hopefully not right behind him. Cautiously, he cranes his neck a bit so he can look back over his shoulder. Nothing there but more darkness. It makes Kaidoh shiver. Stupid jungle.

"Will it make you feel better if you get a medal awarded at the end for going through all of this?" asks Momoshiro. Everyone wants a medal, right? It should spur Kaidoh on to be more brave, he thinks. If Kaidoh thinks everyone likes running, then Momoshiro can think everyone likes shiny objects.

"Besides, it's not like we're going to die here, or something, that'd be stupid." Momoshiro snorts. "And next time something happens again, I'll just whack it over the head with my flashlight—take that water monster! Haha!" Momoshiro swings his flashlight from left to right like a sword, almost hitting Kaidoh in the process.

"Asshole, you're going to whack _me_ over the head if you're not careful," Kaidoh growls, elbowing Momoshiro roughly in the side. "And I kind of doubt a flashlight can kill a monster …" he adds skeptically. Then he realizes what he's even arguing about, and how dumb it is, and amends his statement with, "… not that monsters even exist in the first place. That's stupid."

He huffs grouchily. Of course monsters aren't real. And ghosts aren't either. And everything that's happened so far tonight must have a perfectly logical explanation. Kaidoh _knows_ this, but even so, he's having trouble convincing himself that it's true. Just the air is giving him a creepy bone-chilling feeling that has nothing to do with the weather.

He tugs Momoshiro's hand towards him and curls his fingers more tightly against Momoshiro's own. "But yeah, whatever," he says with a dismissive shrug, "if something comes again, you're welcome to try and fight it." _So I won't have to._

"Glad to see you're depending on me, Mamushi," teases Momoshiro. "Just leave any imaginary monsters to me, I'll be your hero." He bites his lip and shakes his head; that sounds stupid. "I mean, I'll be _a_ hero. Right."

Kaidoh rolls his eyes. "Moron," he says, but feels his pulse calm down a little at Momoshiro's words. At least one of them is confident right now. Maybe a little over-confident, but Kaidoh's used to that from Momoshiro.

"So where are we supposed to go next?" he asks, hoping it's some place less drenched in fog.

Momoshiro looks down on his cool map. The next checkpoint seems to be a big black pit. Oh wait, that's just a marker stain. Uhh. What was behind that stain again? Something about a formation of rocks, he knows that. He thinks. Or maybe it was the big scary tree he found a while ago? Ah crap he forgot the order!

"Forwards, I guess?" says Momoshiro, a bit unsure. He then points to his left, shining the flashlight into that direction. "That way." He pulls on Kaidoh again so he can move with him. "We're already halfway there, not much left to see." Aside from a big scary tree. If they ever get to that part, that is. Momoshiro doesn't know which one comes first; it seems he managed to smudge out the ink every time he folded the paper and stuffed it back into his pocket. Well, he'll just have to wing it! What's the worst thing that could happen?

"Good," Kaidoh says. To be honest, he thinks he's seen quite enough already, thank you very much. But he's come this far, so he might as well stick it out until the end. Maybe he can still recover some of his dignity and prove that he's not a coward after all. He's ignoring the fact that he's still got a bit of a death grip on Momoshiro's hand, because that doesn't count as being scared. Although if he's just holding Momoshiro's hand for the hell of it, then that might seem even weirder.

Whatever, he's not really in a clear state of mind right now, he can't be held accountable for his actions.

They weave their way away from the river and back into the thick of the jungle, and Kaidoh is both relieved and nervous again, because at least they're out of the creepy mist, but they're headed towards unknown territory instead, and Kaidoh doesn't really trust what he doesn't know. Especially when it's this dark out. Even Momoshiro doesn't seem entirely sure where they're going. He keeps changing course and correcting himself, so Kaidoh really has no clue what direction they're headed in at this point. He wonders if Momoshiro is messing with him, if this is some confusion tactic to try and make Kaidoh more freaked out. Well, if it is, it's sort of working, much to Kaidoh's annoyance.

He really hopes Momoshiro isn't just lost, because Kaidoh's been too busy nervously scanning the trees for signs of ghosts to remember the way they came. He has no idea how to get back to the beach from here.

To be completely honest, neither does Momoshiro.

He lost track of where they were after the river pretty much—that stain on his already inadequate map didn't help matters. Kaidoh's death grip on his hand is also quite distracting. But hey, he's been here loads of times, right? He should know the way, he doesn't need a stinky old pirate map. That he drew.

It was an awesome map though. Momoshiro folds it in half and stuffs it back into his pocket. He knows _exactly_ where he's going.

It's a good thing they're holding hands, because Momoshiro steps on something slippery and almost slips up and falls down, but Kaidoh's got him. At least, that what _should_ have happened, but instead he drags Kaidoh down with him with a loud yelp. This could have just been a silly mishap and they could laugh about it later, but Momoshiro choose the wrong spot to slip on something; on a hill.

It's dark and damp, and Momoshiro ends up eating a bunch of leaves as he rolls down the dirt hill, unable to stop himself from barrelling along like some big dumb rock. Kaidoh is right behind him, dangerously close. His flashlight is knocked out of his hand, and what feels like his last dying breath, because he gets punched in the stomach by Kaidoh's flying foot of doom. Momoshiro is gasping for breath when he finally comes to a grinding halt, running into some kind of tree.

He can't see, not much anyway, the flashlight it still somewhere on the hill, shining right into Momoshiro's eyes. He sits up straight and wants to look around for Kaidoh and ask if he's alright, but can hardly find the strength to utter his words as an evil shadow is cast along his feet. It's got long evil tentacles creeping over the fallen leaves of the jungle—no wait, those are just tree branches. Momoshiro looks up at the tree he hit on his way down.

It's the really scary evil tree. It's actually a dead willow tree (well, it looks dead to him), no leaves, and covered in jungle vines. It casts a truly awful shadow what with the angle of the flashlight right now. That's one way to get back on track, Momoshiro thinks. He snorts a bit, shrugging his shoulders.

"Hey Kaidoh, found the tree," he says without looking at the fallen snake. He's busy trying to see if Hazue is hiding somewhere around here.

Kaidoh feels like his head is spinning, and he's definitely going to end up with a couple bruises from that tumble, and there are leaves and grass wedged under his bandana and in his hair, but all of that seems unimportant when he finally looks up and sees where they've ended up. The tree looks like something straight out of a nightmare, and Kaidoh scrabbles backwards up the hill a bit, his breath hitching up in his throat.

What the hell, so Momoshiro was _trying_ to find this thing? Why would anyone choose to come here? Kaidoh can't even try to hide the fear in his eyes. He has an excuse this time though: The tree is undeniably scary. Its shadows seem to reach out towards Kaidoh, and when the wind blows, even just slightly, the whole thing seems to lurch, like it's trying to pry itself out of the ground by its roots.

"G-great," he stutters, his voice sounding a bit hoarse. He doesn't really want to stick around this place. Kaidoh opens his mouth again to say as much, when suddenly Momoshiro's flashlight, which is still halfway up the hill, starts flickering wildly, not like the batteries are dying, but like someone—or something—is systematically switching it on and off. Kaidoh whirls around but he can't see much in the darkness, just a beam of light cast towards the tree that keeps blinking. On. Off. On again.

Kaidoh's whole body shivers and he inches down the hill again, away from the demonically possessed flashlight and towards Momoshiro.

And then, the light clicks of entirely, and stays off, and Kaidoh holds his breath for what seems like forever—but what is actually no more than twenty seconds or so—halfway convinced he's about to be sucked into the underworld. His hand fumbles forward in the dark and he feels his fingers swipe across Momoshiro's nose, which is not really what he was going for, but he's glad to know Momoshiro's still there at least, that no ghosts got him yet.

When the light comes back on again, all the air leaves Kaidoh's lungs in a giant sigh of relief. That was … weird. There must be some kind of explanation, one that doesn't involve ghosts, but Kaidoh is too shaken up to think about what that might be.

"Kaidoh … You can let go of my face now," grumbles Momoshiro. He'd been stabbed in the eye earlier, and now Kaidoh's fingers are still clutching his face.

"Oh." Kaidoh's fingers quickly recoil and he looks down at the ground like he's trying to come up with a good excuse for why they were clinging to Momoshiro's face, but everything he can think of just sounds embarrassing. "Uh …" Yeah, that's articulate.

"Go for the hand, not the eyes, dude." Momoshiro shakes his head a little bit. Though he had to be honest with himself; that was pretty scary when the flashlight started turning on and off. If he hadn't known Hazue was going to be in on this, he might have jumped in Kaidoh's arms himself.

"Wonder what's wrong with the flashlight though, think the battery is dying?" Momoshiro asks, already knowing it was Hazue who did it. That kid sure plays a good ghost.

Kaidoh scowls. "It better not be," he says firmly, like that'll make it true. "I'm not walking back in the dark." That part _is_ true, or will be, if the flashlight really does go dead, because Kaidoh would probably be too petrified to walk anywhere in pitch black darkness.

"Well, I can just leave you behind and go back alone, you know," Momoshiro suggests.

"I'll kill you if you do that," Kaidoh replies with a glare. That is, if the ghosts don't get him first.

"Really … you sure you're able to do that if you're shaking too much to be able to move?" Momoshiro is having fun with this. He walks past Kaidoh to go and retrieve the flashlight.

Kaidoh hisses. "I can move, dumbass!" he protests, his expression turning sour. He takes a step closer to the giant, creepy tree as if to demonstrate just how not scared he is. It kind of backfires on him though when his foot catches over a root and he stumbles, sputtering and cursing, his eyes wide and all the color draining from his face like he'd been grabbed by some phantom hand in the ground instead.

"Stupid tree," he mutters.

Momoshiro snickers. "Big bad Kaoru-chan owned by a tree. Nice. I can see how you'd kill me." He bends down and swoops up the flashlight again, and flicks the light in Kaidoh's face for a bit, before he shines it on the ground.

Then he holds his other hand out to Kaidoh, beckoning him. "Well come on, you don't _really_ want to stay behind, right?"

Kaidoh grouchily trudges up the hill to reach Momoshiro, throwing an annoyed glare back at the tree when he does, as if to say, _Hmph, you're not that scary_.

Once they're side by side again, Kaidoh huffs, trying to distract from the fact that his fingers are already reaching out to curl around Momoshiro's hand again. This time there isn't even some creepy shadow out there making him jump. No, he doesn't really have a good excuse, he just feels more comfortable like this. He'd probably argue that, objectively, it's better for them to not separate, since it's dark out. Yeah. That sounds like a good reason.

"That's it," says Momoshiro in an encouraging voice. As if he were talking to a dog who had its tail between its legs. "Now stick close, and uhh, try to not fall down with me, ok? Your foot really hit me hard in my stomach … I might just throw up later." Momoshiro would rather not throw up his lovely french fries dinner.

"Yeah well, then try not to fall in the first place," Kaidoh grumbles matter-of-factly, as though it's Momoshiro's fault for not being able to see where he's stepping in the dark, even though just seconds ago Kaidoh had himself been tripping over a tree root. Then he looks down at the ground and adds in a smaller voice, "But uh, sorry for that. I guess."

Momoshiro's grouchy look transforms into a smile; Kaidoh _apologized_. Wow. Without even asking for it.

This really is Halloween … strange things are happening. They're even holding hands as if it's not weird or strange at all. No, it feels comforting, actually—Momoshiro likes being the protector. The hero. Kaidoh's hero. Hehe. That's got a nice ring to it. Kaidoh can go and hold his hand like a little wimp, while being very agreeable, and Momoshiro will make sure nothing happens to him (not that there's any real danger here).

"... It's okay." He smiles a little bit too happily at Kaidoh as he squeezes his hand. "Ready to see the last checkpoint? Uhh. I mean landmark, or whatever. Yeah. Then we'd be almost home. It's been like forty minutes right now, I've actually gotten sort of hungry. Do you think we can make some french fries again? They were seriously delicious. And maybe we can carve out some of those mangos into those pumpkin things they do in America, just because. I don't know what they're called, but it has a monster face carved on it. Well, I guess you wouldn't like that, how about a kitty face on it then? And then we add a candle inside, and tada; kitty light! It will protect you from the monsters!" Momoshiro laughs at his own wacky train of thought.

"I don't need anything to protect me from monsters!" Kaidoh gripes. "Don't be stupid, I know they're not real."

Knowing and believing are two slightly different things, though. And while Kaidoh has never actually seen any kind of scientific proof of ghosts or monsters—not that he'd put much effort into seeking out that sort of thing, that would be creepy—he's also never seen anything to the contrary, and _something_ must be giving him all these goosebumps and chills. He can't just be imagining it, because that would make him a pathetic coward who gets scared of jungle noises and the dark, and wouldn't that be stupid.

Whatever. He doesn't really want to talk about what he is or isn't scared of, so instead he swings their arms, knocking the back of his hand against Momoshiro's stomach. "And how can you be hungry this late?" he asks, although what he really means is, _How can you think about food when a ghost might leap out at us at any second?_

Momoshiro gives him this deadpan look. "When am I ever _not_ hungry?" Isn't it always a given Momoshiro is hungry, constantly?

"Dumbass," Kaidoh replies, but he doesn't sound like he means it. "Fine, we can find something for you to eat when we get back so I won't have to go to sleep listening to your stomach growling."

Momoshiro pushes his head against Kaidoh's shoulder. "Hmm, and will you feed it to me?" he teases.

"You can feed yourself, idiot," Kaidoh grumbles, shrugging his shoulders to knock Momoshiro off him. He's already walking all around the dark and creepy jungle because Momoshiro asked him to, isn't that enough?

"Alright, I'm fine with you just making a late night dinner for me then." Momoshiro snickers; he knows which buttons to push to get Kaidoh to feed him—which is always a fun idea, in his opinion. "But let's head back first, which is uhhh." Momoshiro looks around, then point his flashlight at the tree. "That direction, towards the ocean!"

Truth be told, Momoshiro has one more checkpoint, but he has no idea where that is anymore. He's just going by the sounds of the ocean waves right now, and if he listens closely, he can hear it, so he knows which way to go at least. He hopes Hazue will head home as well. He'll continue putting up a front so that Kaidoh won't freak out about getting lost. Though that would be kind of funny to see. Instead, he just guides Kaidoh around the big scary willow tree, and he sees Kaidoh twitch and jerk away whenever a tree branch swings ominously in the wind. Now _that's_ what he came for.

To see Kaidoh jumping away at every little thing. _Not_ to hold his hand. Though that's kind of nice as well. If only Kaidoh would sweat less and ease on his death grip, that is. There's a little too much perspiration trapped between their clammy hands, and it's not Momoshiro's fault! No, he's being calm and not scared at all.

Momoshiro swings their hands between them in a joyful manner. "You _will_ make me a late night dinner, right? I'll help peel the potatoes, I guess."

Kaidoh hisses. "_Fine_," he sighs, sounding put upon and completely unenthusiastic about the idea. Which is, well, not all that different from how he sounds the rest of the time anyway.

He lets Momoshiro take the lead, blazing their way back towards the beach, since Kaidoh doesn't trust himself to know where he's going. He doesn't trust the jungle either—not right now, anyway—but he can kind of hear the ocean sounds growing louder as they walk, and that's reassuring, as though the sand will be some kind of force field that the ghosts and monsters won't be able to break through. If they can just get back there before they're followed …

Kaidoh steals another glance over his shoulder, just to check, but it's just black behind him. He can't even see that giant scary tree anymore, and can't decide if that's comforting or creepy. He squeezes Momoshiro's hand, not even thinking about how later he'll probably feel embarrassed about it, because right now it seems like the only thing that makes sense to do.

The trees start to thin out as it becomes brighter and brighter the longer they walk; they're getting towards the beach. Momoshiro can feel the dirt slowly transform into sand right beneath his feet, and the loud waves crashing ashore rings in his ears. Kaidoh should be happy; they didn't get completely lost. In fact, if Momoshiro's sense of direction is correct, then they should be right around …

"Hey look, it's the hammock!" Momoshiro exclaims.

Now that they're at the edge of the jungle, Momoshiro can see the low hanging palm tree curving over the beach, a white net stuffed with pillows hanging from it peacefully and undisturbed. He happily pulls Kaidoh with him as he starts to race towards it; at least he knows the way back home from here. They come out into the clearing of the beach, kicking up sand as they dash towards the hammock (well, Momoshiro is dashing, Kaidoh is stumbling along). He finally lets go of Kaidoh's hand when he reaches the net, and looks at it with a happy grin.

"Great, everything is still here, even the candles." Momoshiro stuffs his free hand into his pocket to pull out his Zippo lighter, which he's been using for months now. He stands on his tiptoes to unhook the empty bottles from the palm tree and flips them over so the half-way burnt candle falls out. He lights it and puts everything back—he does the same to the second one, so that now there's a nice warm glow around them. He clicks his flashlight out and turns to look at Kaidoh with a grin.

"We can rest here for a bit," says Momoshiro. Meaning to say, they should just chill out here together, alone, without Hazue watching. "Test of courage is over!" He holds his fist out to Kaidoh, waiting for Kaidoh's equally enthusiastic bump.

"Good," Kaidoh says, his voice thick with relief, and he knocks his fist against Momoshiro's. More like, _thank god_. Kaidoh isn't sure how much longer he'd have been able to last in there. The whole experience has left him a lot more shaken up than he'd like—well, he'd prefer to not be shaken up at all—so resting doesn't sound like such a bad idea.

"I'm getting a medal for this," says Momoshiro as he tries to climb on top of the fluffy pillows. "For protecting you, and all. You know?" he boasts.

Kaidoh huffs and looks at Momoshiro incredulously. "Yeah, but you're the one who dragged me out there in the first place," he points out. "Why should you get a medal for that?"

"Because I'm awesome, and you're still alive, I think that's a good reason for being awarded." Momoshiro topples over inside the netting, and tries to sit upright, or find a comfortable position at least. He ends up kicking his feet off at the end, and sit in it, staring at Kaidoh.

"Coming?" he asks.

Kaidoh makes a grumpy, disagreeable noise, like he's going to protest, but instead simply says, "Moron, move over a bit." He waits for Momoshiro to shift so he's not sitting dead center in the hammock, and then turns around and sits himself down amidst the fluffy pillows.

Immediately, the whole thing dips at the middle, their shared weight dragging both of them back towards each other, and it's a little hard to balance. Kaidoh's grateful that at least they're not falling out of it this time.

Momoshiro slides up against Kaidoh, not feeling weird or uncomfortable by this in the slightest. "So how about you? I guess since you made it all the way out here, you'd need an award or something too. You're not getting a medal from me though!"

"Whatever," Kaidoh says, rolling his eyes. "Not like I want one anyway." He's not fixated on shiny metal objects the way Momoshiro is. And he definitely doesn't need something to commemorate the night he had to wander around terrified in the jungle—although he'll argue adamantly that he _wasn't_ terrified, or even scared, for that matter.

Maybe he was just having an allergic reaction to all the weird vegetation. Sure, sounds reasonable; he'll take whatever excuse he can get. And Momoshiro said it himself: Kaidoh _did_ put up with the whole thing, even when it was taking every ounce of his willpower not to run off screaming. Not that Momoshiro would be able to know that.

"Why … did you think I _wouldn't_ make it, moron?" Kaidoh asks testily.

"Uhh." Maybe. "Well it doesn't matter, since you came out in one piece. Sort of. So I'm getting a medal, right?"

Kaidoh gives Momoshiro a skeptical look. "You really want one, huh."

"Yes. Obviously. I wouldn't ask for one if I didn't want it, idiot."

"Fine."

"Great! But don't take forever, okay?"

"Don't tell me what to do," Kaidoh replies with a huff.

"Well, fine—I'm asking you not to take forever! Sheesh. As long as I get it, hehe. I want to hang it around my neck, and it should say Super Awesome Great Momo-chan Is The Best. And it should be gold. Or shiny at least. You got that? Maybe you can draw a peach on it as well, that'd be cool."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I got it." What, is Momoshiro trying to see how many words Kaidoh can squeeze on a medal or something? Kaidoh's afraid to ask because he's sure the idiot could come up with several other stupid adjectives to describe himself.

Momoshiro chuckles to himself, already excited at the prospect of wearing something shiny around his neck, created by Kaidoh, of all people! He moves his hands, that's wedged between their bodies, and his fingers stretch to cover Kaidoh's, which are right next to his own. He covers them entirely as he laughs again.

"Great, can't wait." Momoshiro turns to Kaidoh, still smiling happily. "It wasn't so bad, right? You got out and now you don't even seem to be scared anymore."

"Idiot, who says I was ever scared to begin with?!" Well, all the nerves in Kaidoh's body, for one.

Momoshiro simply continues to stare at Kaidoh, as if his eyes are saying 'of course I know you were scared, you can't hide it from me', but he keeps his happy little blabbermouth shut for now. Instead, he uses this closed mouth, to lean closer to Kaidoh, and give him a quick peck on the cheek. He pulls back immediately, fingers curling around Kaidoh's in an exciting way.

"That's your reward," Momoshiro says in what could be perceived as being bashful.

Kaidoh's cheeks heat up instantly like Momoshiro's lips have injected warmth into them, and he turns away, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Dumbass," he says quietly, but his fingers give Momoshiro's hand a soft squeeze.

"Happy Halloween, dumbass," says Momoshiro.


	38. Good Morning

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **this is a really sweet log. They're getting into a routine now.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Momo gets Kaidoh to finally make him a medal (out of scrap metal)  
- Momo whines that Kaidoh should not go running anymore in the morning  
- Kaidoh agrees, and says he'll go running after they have had breakfast together  
- Momo has also repeatedly told Kaidoh to call him Momo-chan

**Date:** November 20, 2012

* * *

Kaidoh has been awake for the past two hours. His routine is hard to break and his body clock woke him up before dawn, just like every other day, adrenaline already pumping through his veins. He was ready for a run. Only, Kaidoh isn't supposed to go running, because he told Momoshiro he wouldn't, because for some dumb reason Momoshiro doesn't want Kaidoh to run. He wants him to stay there in the hut and be there when he gets up and then they can have breakfast together. Or something stupid like that.

At least, it should sound stupid, although, the longer Kaidoh lay there in his bed, the less stupid it felt. And now he's propped up on his elbows, listening to the sounds of the ocean and Momoshiro's steady breathing as the sun comes up, light seeping through the crack under the door. Kaidoh is surprised to find that he isn't going through some kind of crazy withdrawal symptoms—which is what he thought would happen if he skipped his morning run. It feels a little weird to not have a training schedule to keep, but Kaidoh isn't freaking out about it. No, instead he simply feels relaxed.

He sits up and looks across the hut at Momoshiro, who's sleeping soundly, the side of his face smashed against his pillow. Kaidoh feels a little embarrassed to be staring, but right now, he can get away with it. Momoshiro doesn't have to know. It's not like Kaidoh wants to look anywhere else. He doesn't actually know what time Momoshiro normally wakes up, since he's usually up and about by the time Kaidoh gets back from his run.

If Kaidoh were running this morning, he'd probably be on his way back now, feet pounding hard into the sand and sweat on his brow. But instead, his heartbeat is steady and he's hardly moving at all. He leans his head back against the wall of the hut and lets his mouth relax into an expression very different from the grumpy one he normally wears. No, this isn't as stupid as it should be.

Momoshiro on the other hand, is having a stupid dream. He's in his old bedroom, and in fact he's only fifteen years old, sitting on his bed with a game controller in his hands. Next to him is a fifteen year old Kaidoh—who's wearing a pink bandana for some reason—and they're competing in this racing game together.

Of course, Momoshiro easily beats Kaidoh at racing, and Kaidoh gets pissed off and hits Momoshiro on the head with the controller. This obviously leads to a confrontation, and before Momoshiro knows it, they're wrestling on his bed, and clothing items starts disappearing one by one, until they're naked. Suddenly they're not fighting anymore, but instead kissing each other, though the same fighting spirit is still there. That same burning passion inside of him is still there, it just only gets more intense and heated, until hands starts to rub and stroke, and Momoshiro is having a jolly good time.

Then Momoshiro finally wakes up. His dream evaporates into thin air; the feisty hot Kaidoh from his dream is gone, and he's left with a hard morning wood in his boxers. He sighs as he rubs his eyes; maybe he can finish off what the dream started. Well, at least he's alone when he wakes up.

Only he's not; Kaidoh's sitting up in his bed, staring at him. It takes Momoshiro a minute to notice, and when he does, he yelps out loud, startled and a little embarrassed.

"Oh, uhh, so you didn't run," says Momoshiro. He sits up straights as well and stretches his arms across the blanket to make sure Kaidoh can't see that stupid bump. He forgot he had asked Kaidoh to not go running that morning. He didn't think the snake would actually agree to it this time. He doesn't know whether to be happy or embarrassed.

Stupid sexy dream, why did it have to happen now? And why did it have to be _Kaidoh?_ Momoshiro just wants to jerk off real fast and get on with his morning. It's what he would have done if Kaidoh hadn't been there; he didn't really think that one through when he whined for Kaidoh to be there in the morning and basically cockblock him.

"Hi, uhm, morning," says Momoshiro a bit awkwardly. He hopes it's not obvious, it'll go down in a minute ... or ten.

"Yeah," Kaidoh replies, a little annoyed that Momoshiro doesn't seem particularly pleased to see him. Not that Kaidoh would care if he was. That would be kind of stupid. Just, Kaidoh's been sitting here waiting in the hut for two hours for him to wake up. Isn't that what the idiot wanted?

Momoshiro bites his lips and looks to his left, then to his right where Kaidoh is. Suddenly things feel awkward.

"So … awake long?"

Kaidoh gives Momoshiro a flat look. "Well, I can't just sleep in on command," he says, as if that answers Momoshiro's question.

"Oh." Momoshiro wishes he could go down on command. "Guess not. So you didn't secretly run, right?"

"No, dumbass." If he had, he wouldn't see the point in being all secretive about it—it's not like there's anything wrong with going running after all. "I've been here since I woke up."

"Dude. That's kind of creepy."

Kaidoh glares at him. "Shut up. I just couldn't fall back asleep … At least I didn't draw on your face or something stupid."

Momoshiro's hand shoots up to touch his face for anything weird that might have been drawn on it. "If you did, I'd kick your ass." Well, maybe when his boner goes down that is. He's not going to jump up _now_. "You're supposed to be sleeping in though … not just staying up all creepy-like."

"It's not my fault!" Kaidoh protests, and then scowls, crossing his arms over his chest. "I wasn't doing anything creepy."

He was certainly doing something in Momoshiro's dreams though. He mumbles something incoherent to himself, and wills his stupid hard penis to go down already. At least seeing Kaidoh's grumpy face is helping. As long as it keeps looking grumpy, and not like anything that appeared in his dream. His dream Kaidoh was nice.

"Well, whatever. Tomorrow try to sleep in! You have to, otherwise you uhh … don't get enough sleep. Of course. It's good for … vitamins? I think. But uh, it's okay, you don't have to stay just because I told you so …" Just so Momoshiro can take care of his morning problem perhaps.

Kaidoh hisses, and glances over at the door. "No, I don't … I don't mind," he replies slowly, because he finds he doesn't really. Anymore. Not now that he's been sitting here for the past two hours trying to adjust to the idea and his body has finally settled down and stopped itching to run.

"Oh, okay." Momoshiro looks down at his hands that are hiding the bump underneath his blanket. He still feels kind of happy—happy that Kaidoh did indeed stay in for once and woke up with him. Well, sort of woke up with him, at least he's there. If only Momoshiro weren't so horny all the time, then he could smile at Kaidoh and show he appreciates the fact that he stayed.

_Now_ if he smiles, he'll just look like some horny pervert trying to secretly masturbate underneath the covers with Kaidoh right there. And that's disgusting. Ew. Oh good, it's going down.

"I guess uhh …" Momoshiro flicks his eyes over towards Kaidoh. "Thanks."

Kaidoh shrugs. "Yeah. No problem. I mean, whatever." He doesn't really know how to respond to gratitude.

Nothing is said after that really weird exchange. Momoshiro focuses on getting the evidence in his shorts to go away, and it finally does. Good. Stupid morning wood. He starts to look around his bed for something, when his eye catches something shiny reflect the sunlight in his eyes. Happily he reaches for it with his hand and brings it up to his face.

"You should have given me a strap for it," Momoshiro points out. He's holding the uhh, well 'creatively' made medal in his hand. It's a cheap flimsy metal coated in gold, and in the middle, Kaidoh tried to write Super Awesome Momo-chan, but once tried to scratch off the 'super awesome' part of it, and failed.

It's pretty ugly.

Momoshiro still likes it.

"Well, you just asked for a medal," Kaidoh points out argumentatively—which is kind of his default tone when talking to Momoshiro. "You didn't say I had to make the strap to go with it."

"Actually, I did. Asshole." Momoshiro sticks out his tongue.

"Yeah well, shut up."

"Come, let's make one. You can make one, right? With your sewing skills. We've got some sewing stuff over here somewhere, right?" Momoshiro was sure he saw a needle at least, so that counts for something. And well, there has to be some stuff around here to sew, since Kaidoh did stitch on his name on his red bandana.

Momoshiro takes a quick peep underneath the blankets to make sure that thing went down, then crawls out from underneath it, and walks on his bare feet towards Kaidoh. He holds out his medal towards him, waiting for him to take it, standing in front of him wearing nothing but heart printed boxer shorts.

"Dumbass," Kaidoh says, and takes the medal out of Momoshiro's hands, feeling momentarily awkward about the proximity, and the fact that Momoshiro isn't wearing very much, but if Momoshiro's not going to be weird about it, then Kaidoh won't be either.

It's not like it's anything out of the ordinary … just, on any other morning, by the time Kaidoh gets back from running, Momoshiro would be dressed. If Momoshiro's this close to him without a shirt on, it's usually not because they're about to do some sewing.

Kaidoh cuts off that thought before it can go any further and looks back up at Momoshiro. "Fine, I can do it. What color do you want it to be?"

Momoshiro sits down next to him, happy and excited—his previous erection already forgotten—and he shrugs his shoulders. "Which colour do you think I'd like, hm?"

"I don't know … You like red, right?"

"Good boy." Momoshiro pats Kaidoh's head. "Hey, you're already wearing your bandana. Did you go to sleep with it or something?"

Kaidoh makes an annoyed sound. "No, I didn't," he grumbles. "That would be stupid. I just … well, it's a habit every morning. For running. I didn't really think about it."

"You said you didn't go running though." Momoshiro snickers at Kaidoh's addiction to running. "You sure it's not glued on there?" He playfully tries to make a grab for it at the ends to pull it off.

"Of course it's not," Kaidoh spits, smacking Momoshiro's hand away. "You should know that, moron. You're the one always pulling it off my head."

A second after the words leave Kaidoh's mouth, he feels embarrassed by them, like he's referencing some secret and taboo thing, so he quickly tries to change the subject. "Uh… So where did you say the needle and thread are?"

Momoshiro gives him a blank look. "... Do I look like I play around with that stuff? You're the one who uses it, dumbass. Where'd you last put it?"

"Umm. Over …" Kaidoh searches the room and eventually his gaze falls on the end of his bed and the pile of laundry sitting next to it. He can see the small sewing kit peeking out from under two neatly folded tank tops. "There," he finishes, pointing across Momoshiro's lap at the pile.

"Cool. Go get it then." Momoshiro wipes his nose, sitting comfortably on Kaidoh's bed.

Kaidoh rolls his eyes, and slides off the bed to go retrieve the sewing kit.

"You're still making breakfast, right?" he says, remembering. If Momoshiro's going to turn Kaidoh into his sewing servant for the morning, then Kaidoh had better at least be getting something out of it in return.

Momoshiro rolls over onto his stomach and sprawls his limbs across Kaidoh's bed, claiming it as his own. "Hmmhmm," he agrees in an uncaring way. "If you make me that strap," he says.

Of course he'll make breakfast. Momoshiro always prepares breakfast for himself, it's just that Kaidoh was never there in the morning to make extra, or perhaps split his meal. Now he is though, but it shouldn't be a problem. They've got access to healthy and fresh vegetables at the moment, and Momoshiro can do whatever he wants with it.

He waits for Kaidoh to get back, letting his face rest on Kaidoh's pillow. At least it doesn't smell like sweat; he truly didn't go running.

Kaidoh turns around again, sewing kit in hand. Then he narrows his eyes and huffs, because in the span of just a few moments, Momoshiro has managed to completely take over his bed.

"Moron, you have your own bed for that," Kaidoh says, kicking at Momoshiro's leg. "I need somewhere to sit if I'm going to do this."

Momoshiro simply rolls over onto his side, so that his bare back is pressed up against the wall. He props his elbow up the pillow and leans his head on his hand, staring at Kaidoh with a smirk.

"You got anything in there to use for an actual strap?" Momoshiro asks warily when he sees the sewing kit. "I don't want it to dangle off my chest with only a small piece of thread."

Kaidoh opens the kit and examines it. There are pins, a couple needles, about a dozen small spools of thread, a pair of scissors, some small buttons, and even a measuring tape, but there isn't much in the way of fabric. There are a few scraps, including one that is fringed in stupid lace, but Kaidoh's pretty sure Momoshiro wouldn't want that hanging around his neck. No one would, it's pretty hideous.

He looks back at Momoshiro. "I'm sure we can, er, find something to use." He once again scans the floor of the hut, looking for options. Shoelaces—No, he needs those. His clothes—He's not about to rip them up. His bandanas—Over his dead body!

"Maybe part of a blanket or towel would work," he suggests finally. They have a lot of those lying around.

"They're not exactly red though," Momoshiro points out. "But whatever, go rip up one of these pillow sheets, that should do it. Just make sure it's not all ragged and ripped looking—you can do that, right?"

Kaidoh pulls the scissors out of the sewing kit and clicks them open and closed. "I can cut it so it's even," he says flatly. "It'll look fine." Just. Yeah, not red. But that can't be helped. "Unless you have a better idea for something to use," he adds.

"I've got red hearts on my boxers," Momoshiro jokes then laughs at his own suggestion.

Kaidoh, humorless as ever, just glares at him. "I'm not cutting your boxers apart, idiot."

"Idiot." Momoshiro swats at Kaidoh's ankles. "That was a joke. I'm not letting you get a hold of them." Not now anyway …

"Oh. Okay then. Good."

Momoshiro rolls his eyes. He's not going to let Kaidoh mess up his already short supply of boxers he's got. That, and no way will those scissors ever even come anywhere _near_ his crotch area. Over his dead body indeed.

"Okay, just use my pillow or something. We can dye it red. Or colour it red, if I had a red marker." Momoshiro snickers at the thought of having coloured markers. The things he could do with them.

"Yeah …" Kaidoh agrees. "Well, whatever, I'll use red thread on it so at least it will be sort of red that way."

He crosses the room to Momoshiro's bed and picks up his pillow, then takes the scissors and carefully cuts along the seam and begins to cut around the pillowcase until the entire edge of it is cleanly cut off into a single long, narrow piece. Then he sets the pillow down again and returns to sit down next to Momoshiro, who's still hogging most of his bed.

He pulls the red thread out of the sewing kit and threads it through a needle, and then folds the fabric once over itself and begins stitching it together around the edge so that it starts to resemble a real lanyard and not just a scrap of sheet. He moves quickly—it's not like he's stitching in lettering or anything difficult like that, and once he reaches the other end, he takes the medal and threads the fabric through it so he can close the loop. He does several stitches to make sure it will hold together.

"How's that?" he asks, holding it out to Momoshiro with an almost hopeful expression on his face. Like he suddenly needs his approval or something dumb.

Momoshiro's fingers reach out to lightly touch the shimmering fake gold. He smiles slightly and nods his head; he couldn't do any better, and this seems to do the trick.

"Looks good," he says. He pulls his fingers back and returns to lazing about on Kaidoh's bed once more. "That needs to say _the_ Super Awesome Momo-Chan. And uhh, Number One. Yup. You can write it with my marker, it's somewhere in the pocket of my pants."

"It doesn't need to say that," Kaidoh says flatly, knocking his elbow into Momoshiro's side. "It _needs_ to say Stupid Dumbass."

Momoshiro glares at him as he rubs his side. That's playing dirty, he's practically _naked_ and defenseless here on Kaidoh's bed.

Wait, that came out wrong.

"Whatever, draw a peach on it while you're at it. You're the one who has to be looking at it, I won't read it upside down on my own chest. That'd be annoying."

"Are you seriously going to wear it?" Kaidoh asks skeptically. But it looks so … stupid. Then he blinks at Momoshiro. Oh right, he'd forgotten who he was talking to for a moment there. Of _course_, Momoshiro would wear it.

He rolls his eyes. "Fine, where are your pants?" he asks. Wait, does that mean Momoshiro just carries that stupid marker around all the time? Asshole.

"Somewhere at the end of my bed where I kicked them off," says Momoshiro in a lazy voice. When he gets ready for bed, he kind of crawls and strips at the same time until he's in his undies by the time he slips underneath the covers. Meaning he leaves a trail of clothes towards his bed, shouldn't be that hard to find.

Then Momoshiro knocks his fist against Kaidoh's arm. "Of course I'd wear it. You made it for me, why wouldn't I wear it then?" He chuckles. "Idiot, I'm not going to ask you to do things for me just so I can be an asshole and use you as my slave or something. Dumbass."

Kaidoh's face goes warm and his mouth twitches a little with a smile. "You're the dumbass," he says.

Then, before he can let himself feel sentimental—because that would be dumb—he looks over at the mess at the foot of Momoshiro's bed and scrunches up his nose. "You really should fold your clothes."

He stands up again and goes over to dig that marker out of Momoshiro's pocket, trying to be quick about it because it feels kind of weird to have his hands literally in Momoshiro's pants. Although … of course, once he's done he can't stop himself from folding them into a neat little pile. Then he turns the marker over in his hands and then returns to the bed. Why won't the damn thing just run out of ink already?

"... Guess I won't have to," says Momoshiro as he watched Kaidoh fold his clothes all neatly. "But whatever, they're my clothes. If they bother you, I won't stop you from storing them away or something. Just let me know where you put them."

Momoshiro rolls back onto his stomach once more, wrapping his arms around Kaidoh's pillow and suddenly feeling like going back to sleep is a good idea.

"Remember, draw a peach," he says in a muffled voice. And don't write something stupid on it, that too, but Momoshiro knows Kaidoh isn't the type of person to do something like that. That's more befitting of his own character.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Kaidoh replies irritably. "I got it." He shoves Momoshiro over so he has room to sit down. Surprisingly, he isn't all that annoyed about Momoshiro making himself at home all over Kaidoh's bed—as long as he doesn't drool on Kaidoh's pillow. It's actually kind of, well … not so bad.

But Kaidoh's not just going to sit there staring, so he uncaps the marker and surveys the medal's surface. There already isn't much room left, but he somehow manages to squeeze 'The' into the top corner and 'Number One' down at the bottom. Then he draws a tiny peach in the middle, right between the words 'Super' and 'Awesome', since that's the only place it will fit. He hasn't gotten any better at drawing peaches that don't look like hearts, but as long as Momoshiro knows there's no way it would be a heart then they're good.

Kaidoh puts the cap back on the marker and pokes it into Momoshiro's shoulder. "Hey, dumbass," he says, still poking. "Stop trying to sleep in my bed, and take your stupid medal back."

"I'm not sleeping in your bed," Momoshiro mumbles. He breaks out into a yawn which totally ruins that sentiment. "I'm just resting. There's a difference." He's feeling comfortable enough to go back to sleep though. Something about Kaidoh being so agreeable and letting him in his bed makes him feel warm and nice—two things that his body thinks is a good combination to fall asleep to.

"Give it then," says Momoshiro. He sticks out one arm across the bed, palm up, pointing at Kaidoh.

One of his cheeks is squished into the pillow as he looks at Kaidoh with sleepy eyes; okay so maybe he's trying to sleep a little bit. But only a little! It's Kaidoh's fault, Momoshiro simply feels comfortable around him that it's lulling him back to sleep. Surprisingly, Kaidoh's grumpy and annoying voice sounds nice this time—maybe it's because Momoshiro isn't awake all the way.

Kaidoh grumbles and shoves the medal into Momoshiro's hand, and wants to shove Momoshiro out of his bed, too, but it's hard to be annoyed with him when his face looks all sleepy and content like that. Kaidoh hates to admit that he's kind of weak to it. So instead he just turns away, arms crossed and face feeling warm again.

"I woke up even earlier than you and _I'm_ not resting," Kaidoh points out, because he feels the need to argue about something.

Ignoring Kaidoh's intent on arguing, Momoshiro slowly brings the medal up to his face. He tilts it until he can read the extra stuff Kaidoh wrote on it. It looks really stupid, like it was made by someone who had too much time on his hands, and they love making stupid crafty projects. It's so stupid Momoshiro can't help but like it and smile. Truly, hand-made presents are the best. Not that Kaidoh made this on his own without Momoshiro requesting it, but still, Kaidoh made it for him (despite being grumpy all the way through), and that's all that matters.

"I like it." Momoshiro grins at Kaidoh and places the medal next to the pillow. "I'll wear it when I get dressed. Gotta wear it all the time to show people how awesome I am."

Kaidoh rolls his eyes. "And are you planning on getting dressed anytime soon?" he asks.

"Why, does it bother you?" Momoshiro snorts in response.

"No," Kaidoh replies quickly, because it doesn't. "I don't care. Just … it'll be annoying if you lie around in my bed all morning." Why is Momoshiro sprawled out in his bed in the first place? His own is right over there!

"Well, not _all_ morning, you dumbass. I'm just relaxing. I'll put on some clothes when I make breakfast." Momoshiro starts swinging his legs up and down as he toys around with the medal next to the pillow. The pillow which he gave to Kaidoh, the one with the drawings on it. Suddenly Momoshiro feels inspired to add some more scribbles on it.

"Hey, give me back my marker," says Momoshiro. Kaidoh better not keep it or throw it away again.

"Why..."

"... No reason."

Kaidoh sighs, and looks Momoshiro over with a skeptical expression. "Fine," he says reluctantly, and hands the marker over. Then he scoots back on his bed a bit, away from Momoshiro, just in case he tries to go for Kaidoh's face again.

Momoshiro happily snatches it out of Kaidoh's hand, and quickly takes the cap off, holding it between his teeth as he readies the tip on the pillow. Hmm, now what should he draw? He starts snickering to himself as the first line is drawn.

"What are you—What was wrong with how it was?" Kaidoh says, his voice protesting. He doesn't need to sleep on a pile of graffiti. There's already enough of that on their walls.

"Lalala, nothing. I just felt like it." Momoshiro finishes the shape and draws a smile inside of it. "There, done."

Kaidoh inches closer again until he can peer over Momoshiro's shoulder at his pillow. A peach? … A weirdly happy one at that.

"What's that for?" he grumbles. "It's my pillow, not yours."

Momoshiro takes the cap out of his teeth and puts it back on his trusty marker. He pokes Kaidoh's knee with it as he sits up this time. "It was _my_ gift though. I can do whatever I want with it."

"That's not how gifts work!"

"That's how mine work!"

Kaidoh shoves him in the side. "Moron."

"Asshole." Momoshiro jabs his marker in Kaidoh's side as payback. "Learn to like what I make for you."

"I didn't say I didn't li—Shut up."

Momoshiro's lips pull up in a smirk. "Ahh, is that so? Well of course you'd like it! I made it after all, and I'm _The_ Super Great Awesome Momo-chan who makes the best things ever! Besides, it's just a peach, shut up, be happy I didn't draw on your boxers or something. That'd be weird."

"Yeah …" Kaidoh agrees. "And I'd punch you in the face if you did that."

"... Well I'm not going to, so don't punch me." Momoshiro gives Kaidoh a wary glance. "Or hit me, period. Think of it as a return gift, yeah! For the medal."

Kaidoh hisses. "Whatever. Fine, I won't punch you. Not right now, anyway."

"Hey!"

"Well, I won't as long as you don't do annoying things."

"What—this isn't annoying at all. It's just a peach. Or do you want something else?"

"No. It's fine. Just the peach is fine." As long as Momoshiro puts that marker away, it's fine.

"Well if you wanted something else, all you had to do was _ask_," says Momoshiro, completely ignoring Kaidoh's previous sentence. "I mean sheesh, I'm not a mind reader. If you wanted me to do it, all you have to do is ask …"

And with that, Momoshiro quickly smacks his lips on the side of Kaidoh's cheek. A bit too hard and a little painful—like bumping heads together—but it should convey his sentiments. He's really just yanking on Kaidoh's chains and messing with him. But maybe he wanted to do this on his own as well.

"There, a thank you," Momoshiro says with a big grin.

"M-moron …" says Kaidoh, in a voice that's soft and sounds a little shell-shocked. He brings his hand up to the side of his face which is now warm and probably red, like he can hide it behind his fingers. Kaidoh wishes Momoshiro would warn him next time he's going to do that, so Kaidoh can be prepared and not look like an embarrassed idiot afterwards. Although if he did warn him, Kaidoh would probably just punch him and stalk off, so maybe it's better this way.

That's not the kind of reaction Momoshiro had anticipated (he had prepared for a punch, or be shoved away), so seeing Kaidoh's bashful face—trying to hide it as well—makes him feel bashful in return. More and more, Kaidoh's defying his expectations, doing things that surprise him, and Momoshiro ends up wanting to do more things to draw those reactions out of him. After all, when had he ever seen Kaidoh turn red and _not_ punch him in the gut for it?

It's as if he's suddenly allowed to get away with so much more, as if anything is okay. Momoshiro sure feels like it, and finds that he likes seeing those reactions. He's memorized all of Kaidoh's grumpy expressions, he's probably got over a hundred different ones, but the rare ones such as these, still need to be explored. Sure, let's call it exploring … an exploration that makes Momoshiro feel exhilarated along every step of the way.

So just like that, Momoshiro puts the marker away and reaches for Kaidoh's hand, covering it with his own. He sees Kaidoh look up at him, and Momoshiro smiles; it's becoming less scary each time he does it. Reaching for Kaidoh's hand that is, probably ever since Halloween did this get easier. He might not want to analyze why he wants to, but all Momoshiro knows is that it feels comforting, and it draws out another rare reaction from Kaidoh.

"I'll make you some good breakfast," says Momoshiro in a soothing voice.

"Yeah," Kaidoh says, and wonders if maybe he's been missing out on something by running early every morning, because this feels like something he could almost get used to. Sure, there's none of that familiar tension, and Kaidoh thought he'd miss that, but instead he finds that even when there's not something immediate to argue and fight over, being with Momoshiro still feels exciting.

He blinks down at the hand still holding onto his own, like it's some kind of strange phenomenon. It never ceases to surprise Kaidoh that they're able to do that, just hold hands with no hurdles to leap over or obstacles to overcome, like it's simple. Well, Momoshiro makes it seem like it is.

"So what are you going to make?" he asks, before the silence starts to feel like too much.

"Something that doesn't involve mangoes," Momoshiro grumbles.

Kaidoh snorts. "Guess not," he agrees.

"Well, you see, I've got a surprise, hehe." Momoshiro remembers why he had offered to make breakfast in the first place; the day before, someone had told him of something they had made. And they had given some to Momoshiro as well.

"Oh, really?" Kaidoh replies, looking a bit skeptical. He doesn't always like Momoshiro's surprises.

"Yeah!" Momoshiro points his index finger up as if he's gotten an idea—the other hand still glued to Kaidoh's as if they're inseparable. "Remember how I was whining for some chocolate so I could have chocolate covered strawberries for a while? Well …" Momoshiro's smile grows bigger as he waits for Kaidoh to finish his sentence.

"... You finally got some?"

Momoshiro nods his head up and down like an excited puppy dog. "Yup! So guess what we're eating?"

"Chocolate covered strawberries," Kaidoh responds flatly. It's not much of a guess if Momoshiro basically just said as much.

"Obviously. And don't complain about it being sweet … you can eat some chocolate for _once_. I promise it'll be delicious!" Momoshiro sure thinks it is.

"Fine, whatever," Kaidoh says, acquiescing fairly easily like his short fuse has burnt out and he doesn't feel like protesting. "I'll try it."

Momoshiro's almost squees this time, happy to see Kaidoh agree and promise to try. If Kaidoh won't like it, he'll be very disappointed. "Alright, let me go get dressed then. Can you get me some strawberries then? Thanks!" WIth that, Momoshiro picks himself up from Kaidoh's bed—grabbing the medal while he's at it—and saunters over to his own side and starts picking up his clothes from the neatly folded stack.

The chocolate had been stored somewhere in the corner, near their water supply. Momoshiro figures since it's warm outside, the chocolate would be melted by now, and that makes it easier to dip in the strawberries. He pulls on his pants as he sees Kaidoh go retrieve the strawberries, and quickly dresses himself fully. To be honest, he'd rather just lounge around in his underwear all day long, but Kaidoh would probably complain.

And he'd get a nasty sunburn as well. Momoshiro does not want to look like a red lobster. Oh hmm, lobster sounds good.

Slipping into his shirt, and throwing the medal over his head (he'll wear it!) Momoshiro's finally done and quickly gathers his jar of chocolate, as well as a plate and knife. He arranges it on their little table in the middle of the hut, and even lights a candle for extra light.

It's almost romantic.

Which is purely coincidental. Not that he'll do anything sappy or romantic for the snake, that's weird.

Kaidoh makes his way to their garden where he starts to fill his hands with strawberries. He's not really sure how many to pick, but has learned that he can never really underestimate Momoshiro's appetite, so the more the better. Once he can't carry any more, he takes what he has gathered to the river to rinse them off, then heads back, thinking that for once he's not returning to the hut drenched his sweat, muscles aching from a run. Instead he's just kind of strolling along, like he doesn't have a care in the world. It feels very strange.

Once he gets back to the hut, Momoshiro has a shirt on again finally, and he looks at him expectantly, and probably hungrily too.

"I got them," Kaidoh says matter-of-factly, as if it weren't already obvious from his full arms. He empties his hands onto the plate, the strawberries all rolling around and looking fresh and juicy, like all of their food from the garden has been—the island's soil works in mysterious ways. "Hope it's enough." Not that Kaidoh would go get more if it wasn't. He's definitely not going to do whatever Momoshiro tells him to do.

"Yeah, that's good! Yum, freshly picked. We should have breakfast like this every day," says Momoshiro with a smile. He picks one strawberry up and cuts a cross-shape into it with his knife, then pries it open with his fingers, creating enough space so he can put some chocolate inside.

Kaidoh sits down next to Momoshiro at the small table, watching his actions carefully—in small part because he doesn't want Momoshiro to accidentally slice off his finger. "You know what you're doing, right?"

"'Course!" Ignoring Kaidoh's uneasiness and unwillingness to trust in Momoshiro's own abilities, he cuts the rest of the strawberries, all with the same cross-shape. When all of them are done, he cuts off the stem and places them upside down so he can put in some of his gooey chocolate filling.

Momoshiro grabs the jar of chocolate—already almost at a liquefied state because of the hot temperature inside as well as outside, and unscrews the top. With a spoon he scoops some of it up, and Momoshiro smells it for a bit. Chocolate, how he has missed eating deliciously sweet chocolate. Sure it might not be real chocolate, like from back home, and this one was grown by his other cast mates on the island, but it's chocolate nonetheless. Apparently it's also less sweet, so Kaidoh would probably like it more. He dips some chocolate inside of each of the strawberries, and when done, divides them equally (well, there's one left, which Momoshiro puts on his own plate) and gives Kaidoh his share on his own plate.

"There. Easy as pie! Well, not really pie, since our cake really sucked, but this should taste good at least." Eagerly, Momoshiro picks up his first deliciously red strawberry; the chocolate dripping off on its sides, and looking like some kind of food ad for a bakery. He brings it to his mouth and pops it in, savouring the sort-of-sweet-but-not-really taste of the chocolate, before biting his teeth down on the strawberry, and mixing the two flavours together.

"This, is fucking delicious," he says with a loud voice. Momoshiro grabs another one and pokes Kaidoh's side so he can eat too.

Kaidoh huffs, like he's bracing himself for the worst, and gingerly picks up one of the strawberries and just stares at it for a few seconds, like he's trying to figure out what the most polite way is to eat something like this, since the chocolate is all melty and drippy. Just holding it is making it run down onto his fingers. Well, it's not going to get any less messy the longer he sits there thinking about it, so finally, he gives up and just bites into it.

And it's not half-bad. The chocolate isn't as sickeningly sweet as the milk chocolate bars Kaidoh remembers from his childhood, and it's kind of nice with the sweet and tart taste of the fresh strawberry. He quickly puts the rest of the berry in his mouth, chews it, swallows, and then says, "Huh, that was pretty good," in a voice that sounds just as surprised as he is to be giving a compliment.

"Obviously it's pretty good—it's strawberries with chocolate!" Momoshiro playfully nudges his elbow into Kaidoh's side, before returning back to his food and stuffing himself full of strawberries before the chocolate has a chance to drip all over his plate and fingers.

"I can't believe strawberries grow back. We're so lucky. We even got jam from An-chan, hehe. Guess November will be strawberry month." Momoshiro licks up his finger as some chocolate had started to trickle down, and heading towards his arm. He doesn't realize he's getting chocolate all over his face though.

"Moron, you're making a mess," Kaidoh says, staring pointedly at Momoshiro like he's totally incompetent. He's got chocolate at the corners of his mouths and all over his lips and even dripping down his chin, but he doesn't even seem to notice, and just keeps chomping on strawberries, looking like the happiest guy in the world. What a dumbass.

As if to set an example, and to try and focus on something other than Momoshiro's chocolatey mouth, Kaidoh plucks another strawberry from his plate and eats it politely—as politely as he can when there's warm chocolate dribbling off of it. He hisses irritably as it still ends up on his fingers.

"You put too much chocolate on them," he says, because obviously it must be Momoshiro's fault that his hands are messy.

"I like chocolate, what do you expect?" says Momoshiro with a huff. "I'll gladly lick it up for you if it bothers you." He grins mischievously.

Kaidoh glares at him. "Idiot," he says. "Lick your own face, you look disgusting."

"_You're_ disgusting," Momoshiro fires back. He then licks his lips and the corners of his mouth with his tongue, getting most of it, but not all (not that he knows).

"Use chopsticks if you're too incompetent to eat without getting dirty." Momoshiro huffs once more, and then pops in the rest of the strawberries in his mouth. Why'd Kaidoh have to argue with him over anything—the mood was nice!

Kaidoh kicks at Momoshiro's leg. "I'm not incompetent … You can't eat them without getting chocolate on yourself either, dumbass, so shut up!" He stares at the lingering chocolate at the side of Momoshiro's mouth, missed by his tongue. Now who's incompetent? Kaidoh wants to grab a towel and wipe it off.

"You shut up, I don't care if I get chocolate all over myself!" Momoshiro jabs his elbow into Kaidoh's side again. "Stupid. Who cares anyway, no one's gonna see, and you can just lick it off."

Then, as Momoshiro steals one strawberry from Kaidoh's plate, popping it into his mouth, he says, "Just stop complaining, this still tastes good."

"I wasn't complaining about the taste anyway," Kaidoh says grumpily. "But fine, whatever, do what you want. It's your face, not mine."

And with that he ignores Momoshiro (and his face), and takes another strawberry off his plate and bites into it, sucking out the chocolate before it can drip all over him—his fingers are already messy enough as it is—and then swallowing the rest.

Momoshiro watches Kaidoh in the corner of his eyes as he sucks on his own strawberry. It's slowly starting to get through to him that he's sitting here eating breakfast with Kaidoh. Delicious breakfast, too. Sure he might be grumpy and complain, but that's Kaidoh, it is to be expected. It is certainly unexpected for him to agree to not go running in the morning and vanish from their hut.

It's kind of nice. In a Kaidoh-like way, who still finds something to complain about.

And Kaidoh even made the medal for him, which is now proudly showcasing on his chest, showing everyone how he's awesome and number one. A silly bit of text (nonetheless true), that Momoshiro requested simply because he felt like messing around with Kaidoh; he didn't think the snake would actually make it. That it'd be too ridiculous to make, but it seems no request coming from Momoshiro is too ridiculous for Kaidoh. It's like he's getting special treatment or something. He certainly couldn't see Kaidoh do this for anyone else.

Only Momoshiro can get away with that.

Momoshiro swallows his strawberry and laughs a little bit, raising his arm to pat Kaidoh's head again, ruining his neatly tight bandana. "You're so stupid," he says in a tone that suggests he doesn't think Kaidoh's stupid at all.

"You're the stupid one," Kaidoh replies, the retort coming naturally like it's some kind of automated response. It's an insult they've used on each other so many times now that it doesn't even seem to hold much meaning anymore, but it still feels like the easy and right thing to say.

He gives Momoshiro a cursory scowl, one without any real irritation behind it, and socks him lightly in the arm—with the hand whose fingers aren't annoyingly covered in chocolate. "And don't mess up my bandana. I'm still going to go running later."

"I can just tie it back for you," Momoshiro offers. Though he's really just joking, as Kaidoh would never allow him to tie a bandana on his head and keep it—he sucks at it.

Kaidoh hisses. "If you did it, it would probably fall right off again."

"No it wouldn't." It totally would, but Momoshiro's gotta argue with something. He takes a moment to let Kaidoh savour his strawberry, before quickly slipping off Kaidoh's bandana off his head. He plays around with the cloth between his clean fingers.

"I'll redo it better, just watch." Besides, Momoshiro likes seeing Kaidoh's hair more. "After I'm done eating."

"Yeah, whatever, you can _try_," Kaidoh challenges, and picks up another strawberry to eat. He hasn't eaten this much chocolate at one time in … well, he can't really remember how long it's been. But he doesn't really mind this kind. He doesn't really mind the company either, for that matter, although that could change real fast if Momoshiro gets chocolate on Kaidoh's bandana. He'd better not.

Kaidoh would be snatching it back right now if his own hands were clean. Instead he just huffs and pops the strawberry into his mouth, deciding that the combination of flavors is surprisingly nice. He almost wants to compliment Momoshiro on the good idea, but he isn't really the type to pay compliments, especially not to Momoshiro. Kaidoh glances at the shiny circle of metal around Momoshiro's neck. Yeah … his ego is big enough already.

Momoshiro sucks the chocolate out of the last strawberry before popping the entire thing in his mouth. He wants to ask Kaidoh if he likes his breakfast, he seems to be enjoying it (in that grumpy kind of way), not to mention seems more relaxed. He even let Momoshiro get away with slipping off his bandana—which he only allows when they're … yeah.

"You know, we should have a rule. No bandanas indoors," says Momoshiro with a confident nod. This will make it easier to reach out to Kaidoh's hair, unobstructed. Not that he's thinking of that.

"That's a moronic rule," Kaidoh says, shooting Momoshiro a grouchy look. "What's wrong with my bandana, huh?"

"Nothing," says Momoshiro. He reaches out with his hand towards Kaidoh's head again, intending to mess up his hair. "I just like doing this." His fingertips brush underneath the thick locks of brown hair, and instead of ruffling it up like he was going to, Momoshiro changes his objective and gently strokes his fingers through Kaidoh's hair. The hair is soft against his skin, a feeling he could get used to. What was supposed to be a way of pissing Kaidoh off by ruining his long hair, turned into a gentle stroke of his fingers as they brush the hair behind his ear.

Well sure … he likes doing that too, but Momoshiro suddenly feels awkward for saying that out loud and demonstrating a perfect example of it. He quickly pulls his hand back and rests it on top of his lap, staring at his empty plate in front of him. He's being really touchy feely with Kaidoh this morning, isn't he?

Kaidoh's face goes hot and he stares at Momoshiro accusingly. His fingers fly up to pull his hair back the way it was before, like they can't just sit there tolerating that.

"Don't just—I'm not a pet, asshole!" he growls—albeit a bit shakily—since irritation is the easiest way to react to the situation. He's suddenly aware of his pulse, which seems to thrum loudly in his ears, but he can't make himself look as annoyed as he feels he should. Instead he probably just looks kind of stunned and embarrassed, like Momoshiro's words and actions have disarmed him.

Momoshiro feels the tip of his ears burn with red because of Kaidoh's words, calling out his fingers like they're traitors. And just like Kaidoh, he can't respond with anything else but irritation either.

"Moron, that's not how I touch a pet!" he fires back, showing Kaidoh a balled up fist. Then his words sink in, realizing just how twisted they sound, and Momoshiro's eyes widen and now his cheeks are turning pink. He lowers his fist and looks down at his lap again, glaring at his traitorous fingers; it's all their fault for wanting to touch Kaidoh all the time.

"I-idiot," Kaidoh says weakly, and looks anywhere but Momoshiro's face, like he's searching for a distraction from the sudden awkward shift in atmosphere, and eventually he settles for taking the last strawberry off his plate and eating it, because he can't think of anything to say, but as long as his mouth is full he can't be expected to.

Momoshiro continues to stare at his fingers, as if he is some kind of detective looking at them with a magnifying glass, trying to figure out why they would have this ache to reach out.

"That's not how I …" _Touch anyone else._ Momoshiro swallows his words as he can feel his heart race painfully fast.

It's true, isn't it? Momoshiro might be a touchy feely guy in general, a guy everyone loves to be around because he's so cheerful and friendly, but with Kaidoh … Yeah, he doesn't touch anyone else like that. It's just Kaidoh who gets this weird special treatment from him. It's not even about trying to screw whatever moves because of his hormones—that doesn't explain the buzzing feeling he gets in his fingertips, wanting to be gentle and caring, feeling Kaidoh's skin and drawing out all those unexplored reactions out of him.

No, not a pet. Just Kaidoh.

"Boy it's getting hot in here, isn't it?" Momoshiro proclaims loudly as he fans his face. His heart's about to burst out of his chest it feels like, but blabbering his head off is something he feels familiar with, something he can deal with. It's his safe place, just ramble off a thousand words per minute, and no one has the chance to feel awkward at all, because they're too busy trying to make sense of what he's saying. The best part is, Momoshiro doesn't have to think when he talks.

"You done? It was good, wasn't it? I told you it'd be so. Next time we can try chocolate … and coconuts! Eh, how does that sound? Pretty good huh? Oh you know, I've heard about these coconutballs, I think it's just some kind of chocolate sprinkled with coconut flake ... thingies … yeah I think that's how it goes. No clue how to make it though, what with this hot temperature right now, this chocolate isn't going to be solid for a very long time! I wish we had something to cool our stuff with, like ice cubes. Ice cubes sounds really good right about now … I want to take a bath in a tub full of them."

Kaidoh feels the tension start to dissolve, little by little, as Momoshiro talks, and even though he doesn't really give a shit about coconutballs or ice cube baths, Kaidoh finds himself suddenly interested in what Momoshiro is saying, because it distracts him from that flutter of embarrassment moments before. It's something Kaidoh has always been able to rely on from Momoshiro—his ability to diffuse situations when Kaidoh is himself too petrified to do much of anything but run away.

Yeah, sometimes Kaidoh is actually kind of thankful for Momoshiro's big mouth.

"… Isn't that how people freeze to death?" he asks bluntly, after a moment of contemplating the strange visual his mind has provided of Momoshiro sitting in a bathtub filled with ice cubes and chocolate, surrounded by palm trees … That's what he gets for actually trying to follow Momoshiro's stupid train of thought. He shakes his head, trying to clear it of the weird image. Then he shivers too, because he's pretty sure neither of them would last longer than a few minutes in a tub full of ice cubes anyway. Although he will agree with Momoshiro that, as of a few moments ago, the air in this hut has become kind of stuffy and uncomfortably warm, so maybe he could use a couple ice cubes himself.

"What, no way! Don't they put people who have a fever in a bath full of ice cubes to cool down? They don't freeze to death." Or at least, Momoshiro doesn't think so. Then he thinks of a brilliant idea. "Hey … how about a bathtub filled with chocolate?" There are practically stars in his eyes as he thinks of the possibility.

Momoshiro clasps his hands together as he daydreams about all the chocolate he can swim in. "It would be … awesome! Kind of gross—but awesome!"

"More like unsanitary," Kaidoh mutters.

"Well it's not like I'd be _naked_," Momoshiro huffs. "I'd wear underwear!"

"Dumbass, why would you want chocolate anywhere but in your mouth in the first place?" Kaidoh asks, genuinely confused. He only has stray drips of melty chocolate on his thumb and forefinger at the moment and it's still more than he'd ever like to have on his body.

"So I can lick it off?" Momoshiro thinks that was pretty self explanatory.

Kaidoh rolls his eyes. "That's disgusting."

"No it's not." Momoshiro brings his thumb to his mouth and licks off some residue chocolate left behind (though he's sure there's still some left on his face). He slides his lips around it, using his tongue to lick it clean, before removing it with a loud pop. He smirks at Kaidoh, giving him a thumbs up with the same hand.

"Moron," says Kaidoh. "Like I said, disgusting." Although his mouth feels kind of dry all of a sudden.

Momoshiro flicks his finger against the side of Kaidoh's head. "You try it, your fingers are covered in chocolate too. Doesn't taste bad ... unless you've got dirty hands. Which you shouldn't if you wash yourself before coming in here like I said you should." Momoshiro squints his eyes at Kaidoh, moving a bit closer to inspect the side of his face.

"... You _did_ wash yourself, right?"

Kaidoh glares at him, his mouth curling into a scowl. "_Of course_ I washed myself, you idiot. I'm not some weirdo who likes being dirty."

"You've got dirty fingers though," Momoshiro points out.

"Yeah, well … that's because you gave me messy food, so shut up."

Quickly, Momoshiro snatches Kaidoh's hand, his fingers slipping around Kaidoh's wrist, and brings it up between the both of them. "Well, then lick it clean, it won't be the end of the world. Unless you want to use your bandana."

"Asshole, don't tell me what to do," Kaidoh protests, his scowl only growing more irritated. But he doesn't want to risk Momoshiro trying to use his bandana as a napkin, so before Momoshiro can press him about it again, Kaidoh tugs his hand free of Momoshiro's grip and sticks his finger in his mouth to lick it clean, feeling really stupid all the while, because this is what water and soap and towels are for.

"Good job!" Momoshiro slaps his hand on Kaidoh's back to congratulate him. "You are well on your way of becoming someone who will love eating finger food, hehe." That'll be the day when Momoshiro sees Kaidoh eating a hamburger. It would be awesome.

Kaidoh just hisses and gives Momoshiro a sour look like he's just been made to do something incredibly demeaning.

Again—Momoshiro can't leave it alone—he digs his fingers into Kaidoh's hair when he gets the chance, and ruffles it up with a laugh. "Don't give me that sour look, this wasn't bad, right? Tastes good to me!"

"Yeah, whatever," Kaidoh replies, still sounding grumpy. "At least it wasn't too sweet."

"How about a 'that tasted great, Momo-chan, thank you for making breakfast', huh?"

"Well, it's not like you actually _made_ all that much," Kaidoh points out, dodging the thank you. "You didn't even cook anything. But it … wasn't bad." In fact, it's something Kaidoh would eat again without complaint, provided he had a napkin next time for all that dripping chocolate.

Well, ouch. Kaidoh really can't stand to give Momoshiro any compliments. Momoshiro puckers out his lips, fishing for compliments still.

"Not bad? That's it? At least I told you that you did a good job growing the strawberries. And hey, I did do something! I cut the strawberries up and put chocolate in it. Getting the chocolate wasn't so easy either." Momoshiro huffs indignantly, turning away from Kaidoh, but keeping one eye on him.

"Fine, I guess that counts as something," Kaidoh concedes.

"Soooo?" Momoshiro once more scoots closer, embracing Kaidoh by putting an arm around his shoulder. "Thank you, Momo-chan?"

Kaidoh sighs. "Yeah. Thanks."

Momoshiro smiles. "...Momo-chan?"

"Idiot," Kaidoh replies, shoving Momoshiro's arm.

"That's not my name," Momoshiro fires back. He stubbornly refuses to leave Kaidoh's side, gripping onto his body even tighter with his arm. "And we had a promise, hmm?"

"_Fine_." Momoshiro's persistence never fails to make Kaidoh crumble. Or maybe that's his physical proximity. Or both.

He huffs, sounding annoyed, and then says in a small voice—like he hopes it will go unnoticed, "Thank you, Momo-chan."

The earlier agitation at Kaidoh calling him an asshole and pushing him away is now forgotten. Replaced by a happy bubbly feeling that makes Momoshiro squeal in delight. He wraps his other arm around Kaidoh as well, in front of his chest, so now he's giving him a side hug.

"You are very welcome!" he says happily, knocking his forehead against the side of Kaidoh's head. "I'll make you something nice tomorrow morning too, okay?"

Kaidoh just makes a disgruntled grumble that might as well be agreement—at any rate, he's not pushing Momoshiro away.

"Whatever," he says, then adds, "I guess I'll try to sleep in later this time." Or find something to do if running is off-limits.

"It shouldn't be that hard!" Momoshiro is still perplexed how Kaidoh would not be able to sleep in longer. "You just … keep lying in bed and close your eyes. Think of happy stuff and fall back asleep."

"Easy for you to say, you can probably sleep anywhere."

"Well." Kaidoh's probably got a point. "I can't sleep on a bed of needles, so hah!"

Kaidoh rolls his eyes. "Moron, no one can do that, so that doesn't count."

"I can't sleep in dirt either! Or something really uncomfortable. Your bed isn't uncomfortable, right?" Momoshiro happily tightens his grip around Kaidoh with a grin. "Or do you want me to make you comfortable?"

"I'm comfortable!" Kaidoh protests, although if Momoshiro squeezes him any tighter he won't be. "And there's nothing wrong with my bed, dumbass. I'm just used to waking up early so it's hard to make myself sleep late." It's been his routine for as long as he can remember and that's not the sort of thing he can just change overnight. It was hard enough just to keep himself from trying to go running anyway once he'd woken up.

"I guess that just means you'll have to sleep in lots and lots of times so I can see you every morning, and so you're used to it. Sounds like a good plan to me!" Momoshiro gives Kaidoh a smug smile; Kaidoh can't refuse that offer.

"Well, of course it would sound good to you," Kaidoh says flatly, giving Momoshiro a scowl. "You're not the one who has to do anything different."

"Well it's not anything _bad_, right? You're just postponing your running a bit, and sleeping in later. It's not the end of the world." Momoshiro rolls his eyes.

Kaidoh huffs. "Yeah, I guess so …" he says reluctantly. And really, Momoshiro _is_ right; it isn't. Kaidoh just feels like he has to argue the point out of habit. Or on principle. He won't admit outright that this is something he doesn't mind nearly as much as he lets on, because somehow that would make Momoshiro the winner, and Kaidoh's too proud to let that happen.

"That's what I thought!" Momoshiro says triumphantly. His arms quietly slip away from Kaidoh's body, falling to the floor.

Despite the stiffy he got when he woke up this morning … it's been really nice having Kaidoh here. Seeing him first thing when he wakes up, arguing with him, eating with him, doing things with him. It's really nice. Momoshiro hopes Kaidoh thinks the same, and isn't wishing to be running instead.

"Oh, let me tie that bandana back for you now." Momoshiro snatches the cloth messily lying on the floor next to him—quickly wiping his hands off on his shorts in case there's any chocolate still left on them—and positions himself behind Kaidoh.

Momoshiro stares at the back of Kaidoh's head for a bit, focusing on the way his growing hair falls on his neck, and the way his neck is shaped … it's rather thin for a guy's. He leans closer, wanting to touch Kaidoh's hair again, but stops himself in time.

"Don't call me an asshole this time," Momoshiro says. Just in case.

_Well then don't be an asshole_, Kaidoh feels like saying, but Momoshiro isn't acting like one right now and Kaidoh doesn't really feel like picking a fight while his bandana is being held hostage by Momoshiro's fingers.

So instead he says, "Whatever, just make sure you tie the knot right."

"Of course. I don't suck, you know." Momoshiro smiles a little, his eyes darting all over Kaidoh's head. The first thing he does is sweep his fingers through some of Kaidoh's hair on the side of his face, and settle it behind his ear. He removes his fingers and backs off for a bit, waiting for Kaidoh to call him an asshole either way.

Kaidoh swallows and his voice sounds a bit dry as he grumbles, "Dumbass, stop messing around. I would be finished by now if I were doing it myself." Although, much to his embarrassment, part of him doesn't really mind if Momoshiro takes his time.

That's not messing around, Momoshiro wants to say, but instead he holds his tongue and uses it to tut disapprovingly at Kaidoh. "Relax, I'll do it." Besides, Momoshiro feels like drawing out every second he can; he likes to be able to touch Kaidoh with an excuse.

Momoshiro clears his throat and lifts up the bandana, ready to throw it on Kaidoh's head, but it's easy to get distracted when they're this close, and Kaidoh's hunched over, his bare neck exposed. It really _is_ slender and thin, unlike the rest of his body which is mostly hard angles and muscle. His neck however, looks as soft like a girl's, and it's strangely alluring. It's even more alluring when Momoshiro remembers how many times he's kissed it, and bit it as well. Why would he bite something that looks so delicate? He shouldn't, he should treat it with care instead. Subconsciously, he runs his thumb from the back of Kaidoh's neck, and trails it to his shoulder—it really is soft.

Kaidoh's shoulders arch and he squirms a little, feeling a shiver skim through his skin each place Momoshiro touches.

"Idiot …" he growls, the sound low and unsteady, half warning, half encouragement. It's like he's torn between yelling at Momoshiro to knock it off, or simply urging him to do it again, and he ultimately can't make up his mind to do either, so he just hisses.

Regardless of Kaidoh's tone of voice and body posture, Momoshiro is too engrossed with checking him out to stop. Why stop? He's got free reigns right now, he _has_ to touch Kaidoh now that he's got a good enough excuse for it.

At least he didn't call Momoshiro an asshole and pushed him away—so Momoshiro will take this as a silent agreement that it's okay to continue what he's doing. Mainly, making the tips of his fingers brush through Kaidoh's hair. He can't help it! It's gotten longer since the time he cut it … and it's soft … almost comforting … and it's Kaidoh's head that he's allowed to touch. Before he knows it, Momoshiro is simply playing around with Kaidoh's hair, letting it twirl around his fingers, and slip through them as he drags his nails from the top, down to Kaidoh's neck.

He should be tying Kaidoh's bandana … but this is fun too. It's not like he can stop his fingers from moving, they have this itch to touch. To bury themselves deep within Kaidoh's hair. Momoshiro knocks his head against the back of Kaidoh's, resting against it. His fingers stay tangled within the dark brown hair, sitting there as if they belong.

"At least you didn't call me an asshole," Momoshiro muses out loud. Or pushed him away. Either would be bad.

Kaidoh sighs, his breath shaking out of him, and feels a little exposed and embarrassed, but it's not making him want to shove Momoshiro away. Instead, he just leans back a little without thinking, like his body is nudging closer to Momoshiro's touch.

"Yeah …" he agrees quietly, because he doesn't think Momoshiro's really an asshole at all, especially not right now. He closes his eyes, his other senses becoming more aware of how warm Momoshiro's fingers feel, somehow both firm and gentle at the same time, of Momoshiro's breath against Kaidoh's hair, of his own heartbeat, rising but steady, and the way all his muscles are yielding from their tense and guarded position and starting to relax, like they're giving up the fight. Even his fingers no longer have the urge to clench into fists.

He can feel himself blushing a little, and he doesn't want to let on that this isn't actually something he objects to. It's been his argument for years that Momoshiro annoys the hell out of him and he's said it so many times that he's just started believing it's the truth. Since that's how things should be.

But this feels nice too. Weird, but nice. And if this is Momoshiro's way of tying a bandana then he really sucks at it.

Kaidoh opens his eyes again. "Are you going to tie that thing or not?" he asks. He still wants to go running sometime this morning, and he's not going to let Momoshiro distract him completely from that. No matter how tempting that may be.

"Yeah," Momoshiro breathes out against Kaidoh's hair. He plucks himself away, detaching themselves from each other, as if they were getting too comfortable like this. Not that Momoshiro minds, no he doesn't mind at all, he could probably do this every morning. But Kaidoh seems adamant on running away.

"I'll do it, just hold on for a second." Momoshiro takes the bandana on his hand again, leaning away from Kaidoh this time, and wrapping it around his head.

His actions are deliberately slow, since this is actually kind of nice, and to extend the amount of time he's got left alone with Kaidoh. He flattens his hand against Kaidoh's head and smooths out any wrinkles, pulling the ends tighter so that it makes a nice wrap around Kaidoh's head. With a little smile, he brushes Kaidoh's hair behind his ear again, just because. Then he focuses on task again, eyes strained on the knot that's forming in the bandana, until he's tied it nice and secure without any hairs stuck in it.

"There," says Momoshiro, leaning back. "Done." He flicks his finger against the back of Kaidoh's head to test if the bandana isn't falling off. "Feel weird?"

Kaidoh brings his own hand up, over his head, and finds that Momoshiro seems to have actually done a solid job this time around. At least the knot should hold up until the end of his run. Maybe Momoshiro isn't incompetent after all.

"Huh, it feels okay," he admits, although it does feel _different_. It's not quite how he'd do it, but it isn't falling off, or tied so tight it's digging into his scalp, so he can't complain. Maybe different doesn't have to be weird.

Momoshiro silently fistpumps in the air as Kaidoh's back is still turned to him. "Hah, see, I am number one, simply the most awesome." He fiddles around with the medal gracing his chest as he smiles at it.

Kaidoh turns around and rolls his eyes at Momoshiro. "I wouldn't go that far …" he says with a huff. "So you can tie a knot, big deal."

"And make breakfast," Momoshiro adds, as if he's the smartest person on earth to have invented strawberries with chocolate. He hunches over a bit and leans forward to Kaidoh, so that they're at face level with each other. "And that wasn't so bad either, huh?"

Kaidoh grimaces—the way he often does when he has to agree with Momoshiro about something. "No, I guess not."

"So, gonna sleep in tomorrow as well? Or well, at least try to. I'll make you something else, since we're out of strawberries hehe."

"Yeah, maybe," Kaidoh says with a shrug. "Depends on how this new running schedule works out, I guess." As though running a couple hours later in the morning could drastically alter the balance of his daily workout.

Momoshiro rolls his eyes. "It's still early in the morning—what time is it anyway—you've still got plenty of time to do your stupid running. How'd you do this in America anyway, go running at an ungodly hour as well? Run between classes? Wait, I think I actually did see you run between classes sometimes in middle school." Momoshiro crosses his arms and frowns at Kaidoh; what a dedicated freak.

"What?" Kaidoh asks stubbornly, scowling back at Momoshiro. "There's nothing wrong with making time for it."

"So you did run between classes, didn't you?"

"So what if I did?"

Momoshiro balls his hand into a fist and softly pushes it up against Kaidoh's chest, his knuckles pressing into the dark fabric. He smirks. "Freak."

"Shut up, asshole," Kaidoh retorts, his tone petulant. "It's not like I went running _during_ class or something."

"You sure?" Momoshiro laughs a bit, picturing Kaidoh sitting on his chair, moving his legs underneath his desk as he can't stay still. Like some kind of energizer bunny that just keeps on running. "You totally would have if you could! No wonder I could hardly find you during breaks, you were always running away!"

"I wasn't running _away_," Kaidoh protests grumpily. "I was just making the best use of my time."

Momoshiro once more rolls his eyes at Kaidoh; running every chance he gets is definitely not the way to spend one's time effectively. There's other things Kaidoh can do. For example; spend time with Momoshiro. Back in middle school, Momoshiro spend a lot of time during his lunch trying to find Kaidoh, because he felt like messing around with him, or steal his bento, or play cards with him, or tell him something funny. But it was hard finding him, as it seems he was just running again. Freak.

"There's lots of other things you can do with your time." Momoshiro turns his body around and sits next to Kaidoh, leaning his back against their flimsy wooden table. "Like spending time with friends! Or eating. Or sleeping. Sleeping's good. Eating is better."

Kaidoh elbows Momoshiro in the arm. "I do eat," he says flatly. "And sleep." Well, he does! Just because he doesn't prioritize it to the point that Momoshiro does doesn't mean it doesn't count.

Momoshiro retaliates by poking Kaidoh's side with his finger. He lolls his head to the side, almost knocking into Kaidoh's, and slumps in a relaxed state against the other. "How about spending time with people then," he says in a small voice.

Kaidoh's forehead creases and he looks down at his hands. That's not something that usually occurs to him. Spending time with people, that is. It's not really Kaidoh's thing. He isn't the type to go meet up with friends to have a meal or to hang out at an arcade, mostly because having friends doesn't seem to be Kaidoh's thing either. He's never been very good at it, and he's usually too busy with training to put much effort into it either.

"Well, I don't really like most people," he says bluntly, which makes him sound like a total misanthrope, so he adds, "I mean, I just don't see the point in hanging out with them."

Perhaps Momoshiro should have tried harder in middle school to get Kaidoh involved with social activities. Well, he _did_ try, but mostly Kaidoh grumbled and complained about everything, it was hard getting him to join any kind of group activity. When it's just him and Momoshiro though, he would usually agree, albeit reluctantly.

"That just means you have to find people you do like … I mean it's natural, right? To want to spend time with people you like. I was always spending time with friends, I wouldn't do that if I didn't like them." Momoshiro's eyes dart over to the side, to study Kaidoh's profile.

He wouldn't be spending time with Kaidoh if he didn't like him either, but he keeps that small piece of information to himself.

"You should make an effort to be more friendly then! Then maybe you can find people you'd like, and stuff … as long as you don't forget about me," Momoshiro mumbles that last part.

Kaidoh has heard the same thing from his mother countless times, but it's easier said than done. It can be hard for him to even hold a conversation with people he doesn't know well, let alone try and be friendly toward them. What does that even mean? Smile a lot? If so, then Kaidoh thinks that's dumb. He's not going to walk around with a stupid grin plastered on his face just so people will like him. He doesn't really care what other people think about him in the first place. Well, most other people, anyway.

He huffs and crosses his arms. "Whatever," he says. "I'm fine with how things are." Meaning, he doesn't really like the idea of walking up to strangers and trying to make friends. He'd rather run a marathon. Well, as with most things, he'd rather run a marathon.

Momoshiro scoots closer, pressing up against Kaidoh and then throws an arm around his shoulder, like he's done a million times before. "But ah, wouldn't it be nice if you had a running buddy?" He grins and pinches Kaidoh's cheek with his other hand. "So poor Kaoru-chan won't be left all alone in the dark. Who _knows_ what lurks in the shadows, right?"

"Fuck off," Kaidoh grumbles, swatting at Momoshiro's hand. "I'm not scared of the dark, asshole."

Momoshiro laughs, always finding it fun to tease Kaidoh. "Sure you aren't. But hey, does that mean you _would_ like a running buddy? Ehhh, Kaidoh wants friends, how interesting."

Kaidoh punches his fist into Momoshiro's side—lightly, since Momoshiro's kind of pressed too close for him to punch him for real. "Idiot, I don't care about dumb stuff like that," he hisses, as though it would be terrible to say he did. "But I wouldn't mind running with someone, I guess. If they could keep up."

Momoshiro digs his fingers into Kaidoh's shoulders, as payback for hitting him in the side. They can never leave each other alone, can they.

"You can just say yes, you know. Yes I want to run with someone. It's not the end of the world to admit you'd like some company. Being alone is boring anyway, I don't know how you can stand it. Ehh, I just remembered the many nights I spent alone in my tiny apartment … it was really lonely. No thanks." Though a good solution would be to buy a pet, if he could ever afford it. Not that he has an apartment left anymore, he'd have to figure out what would happen if they ever get rescued.

Sometime …

"Just don't ask Hazue-chan," Momoshiro says with a snort. "That kid needs a normal life."

"Running is normal!" Kaidoh stresses.

"For you," says Momoshiro, as if this explains everything. "Do you think running is normal for me? Hah!"

Kaidoh rolls his eyes. "No, but that's because you're a lazy dumbass."

"... You seriously think everyone runs, don't you. Only health freaks do that, you know. Normal people just, I don't know, ride their bike for a little exercise. You however, you're just obsessed with it. Oh hey, why'd you never get a bike anyway?"

"I didn't need one," Kaidoh says, shrugging. "I can run anywhere I need to go."

"Bikes are faster though," Momoshiro points out. He remembers the times he's asked if Kaidoh needed a ride home on his bike—well they weren't that many, perhaps one or two times—and he'd always declined. Ass. "You know, next time I offer you a ride, you should accept it. Bikes aren't evil. They're awesome! And besides, all you have to do is sit there and shut up."

Momoshiro sighs. "Well, that's if I even have a bike though. Not that we've got anything like that here. So I guess run all you'd like while you're still on this island, go nuts. Just …" Momoshiro rests his head against Kaidoh's shoulder, feeling exhausted all of the sudden. "... Remember to have breakfast with me." Which is really just code for; remember to be there in the morning for me, so I can talk to you, and even mess with you.

"You can have the rest of the day to yourself." Though he wouldn't mind if he and Kaidoh went to bed at the same time either. "Although …" he starts with a smile spreading on his lips. "Coming home earlier instead of running past midnight would be nice too."

Kaidoh's mouth curls into a frown. "But that's … It would be strange going to bed that early," he says. He already couldn't sleep in late this morning, and that was with him going to bed at the time he normally does. It's just not how he functions.

"You think everything is strange." Momoshiro starts to play around with some of Kaidoh's hair, which he has easy access to since his arm is around him. "It's not bad, you know. How about this, if you get home earlier, I'll uhh, go run for a bit with you in the morning after. Obviously after breakfast." He looks at Kaidoh seriously. "And not too far."

"I don't know how far that is for you," Kaidoh says, narrowing his eyes and letting out a low hiss. Since now he kind of thinks of Momoshiro as pretty inept when it comes to running, he doesn't know if "not too far" means a kilometer or two, or … from the hut to the nearest tree.

"Twenty minutes tops," says Momoshiro.

Kaidoh can't even restrain himself from huffing in disapproval. _Weak_, he thinks, but he doesn't say that because he doesn't care to have Momoshiro nearly passing out from overexertion again. If he says that's his limit, then it's probably true. It _is_ Momoshiro, after all.

"Fine," Kaidoh says finally. "But it had better be actual running for the full twenty minutes."

"Hehe." Momoshiro playfully knocks his head against Kaidoh's again. "I'm not saying _you_ should run for that long, that's just how long I'll run before I head back. So uhh, you can keep doing your thing. No problem."

Kaidoh relaxes. "Yeah. Good. I will."

"So, you'll go to bed with me?"

"I guess I could try," Kaidoh says noncommittally.

Momoshiro sighs. "Try? How about I just talk to you till you get bored enough and fall asleep?" Though he's sure he'd already do this without promising. If Kaidoh's there when Momoshiro goes to sleep, he'll talk to him for sure, about anything.

Kaidoh wants to point out that he's never fallen asleep to Momoshiro's rambling before, but that would probably only feed his ego and make him think he's super interesting. Or something. Which he isn't. Instead he just says, "I can't sleep with people talking to me. It's annoying."

"Sure … sure … and that one time on the phone doesn't count ... how?"

"Shut up," Kaidoh says, his cheeks going warm at the memory. "And whatever, you fell asleep too, dumbass."

"Well duh, I'm comfortable around you." Momoshiro grows stiff as he pulls away from Kaidoh this time. "I mean, you're just not really interesting, or something." Yeah, like that. It's certainly not because Momoshiro feels comfortable around Kaidoh. Even if he totally does.

Kaidoh glares at him. "_You're_ the one who's not really interesting," he fires back, even though that sounds pretty lame.

"Hah, yeah right, that's why you made me this awesome medal huh, for how not-interesting I am." Momoshiro snorts.

"Moron," Kaidoh mutters. "There isn't anything on there that says you're interesting."

"Hm. Then I guess it needs some adjustments then …" Momoshiro's eyes travel down to his pants, where his trusty marker resides.

Kaidoh shoves Momoshiro's arm. "There isn't any room left on the stupid thing for more dumb words." None of which are even true.

"There's always the backside," says Momoshiro with a goofy grin on his face. He tugs a little at Kaidoh's hair again to annoy him—Kaidoh doesn't get away with shoving him for free.

"You can write it yourself," Kaidoh says stubbornly. The stuff he put on the front is already embarrassing enough.

Momoshiro chuckles. "It's fine, I like the way it is already." He takes the medal between his fingers and lifts it up to his face. It shines in the small amount of sunlight that shines through the cracks of the walls.

"Yup, wouldn't want to change it anymore. It's good. Besides, I already know I'm interesting, and I know you think so too, so whatever."

Kaidoh scowls, feeling a blush heating up his cheeks again. "I didn't say that, idiot," he manages, rather weakly. In fact, he'd said more or less the opposite. Apparently not very convincingly though.

Because Momoshiro finds it hard to resist the rosy cheeks belonging to Kaidoh, he pinches it again. "Moron," he says in a playful voice. "So, this morning hasn't been all that bad, huh. I told you it'd be fine! Fine because I'm here, of course."

"_Not_ because of that," Kaidoh argues, because he can't help himself, but then adds a little less harshly, "But yeah, it's been okay …" And maybe Momoshiro did have something to do with that. Or everything to do with that.

"Yeah … it's nice," muses Momoshiro. He closes his eyes, and once more leans his head against Kaidoh's shoulder, resting on him. So maybe he does feel really comfortable around Kaidoh, but admitting that out loud just seems so weird and girly. "Should do this every morning," he murmurs.

"Yeah …" Kaidoh mumbles in agreement, then realizes what he's saying and corrects himself. "I mean, whatever."

"Whatever isn't really an answer," teases Momoshiro. "Unless whatever means yes."

"Shut up, dumbass."

"That's not an answer either!"

"Whatever, I don't care what you think is an answer or not," Kaidoh replies grouchily.

Momoshiro snuggles a bit closer. "I guess we'll just have to see whether or not you'll be there when I wake up then."

Kaidoh leans back against Momoshiro a little. "Yeah."

For a little while, Momoshiro says nothing, but quietly enjoys sitting here with Kaidoh, pressed against each other like it's natural, like it's some kind of routine. If it could be a routine, it would make Momoshiro very happy; waking up with someone there, and that someone being Kaidoh, who will eat breakfast with him, and argue with him and … cuddle with him? Alright, fine, he can call this 'cuddling', in his mind that is. Out loud? Never.

The cuddling is nice though, as Momoshiro feels himself getting sleepy again when they're sitting together like this. It's true that he feels comfortable around Kaidoh, and even more so when Kaidoh's not trying to run away or yell some kind of insult at him. It's nice to just sit here silently, enjoying each other's company. Yeah, Momoshiro would definitely like for this to happen every morning, even if he will have to give up his morning masturbation.

"Oh," says Momoshiro all of the sudden, his eyes finally opening. "Word of advice."

Kaidoh tilts his head a bit to look Momoshiro in the eye. "What?"

"Don't … stare at me when I wake up. I get morning wood a lot."

Kaidoh shoves Momoshiro away from him like he's got a disease. "You're disgusting," he grumbles … although that does explain why Momoshiro acted weird to see Kaidoh there when he first woke up. Gross.

Momoshiro shoots Kaidoh some dirty looks as he composes himself to sit up straight again with some dignity.

"So what, you get it too, I'm sure," says Momoshiro defensively.

"S-shut up," Kaidoh sputters, his face flushing. "I don't want to talk about this."

Neither does Momoshiro. "Well I'm just saying. Don't stare."

"Fine," Kaidoh growls. "It's not like I was in the first place," he lies. Well, he certainly wouldn't have been if he'd known about _that_.

"Sure you weren't," says Momoshiro with a snort. Kaidoh _was_ staring at him during his sleep, so that counts. "But whatever. Just give me a minute or three to deal with it."

Kaidoh hisses, still disgusted. "Whatever. Yeah. Okay."

"Good." Momoshiro bumps his fist into Kaidoh's arm, to relief some of the awkward tension between them. Mostly because Kaidoh's a wimp though. "So we're good?"

"I guess," Kaidoh replies. As long as Momoshiro doesn't bring it up again.

"Alright. You can go back to your running now then, I guess." Momoshiro would prefer to hang out more, but he knows how obsessed Kaidoh is with running, so he'll throw him a bone.

"Yeah, I should get going," Kaidoh agrees. If he's going to stay on schedule for the day then he has a couple of hours of running to make up already. And Momoshiro can just … do whatever it is he does when Kaidoh's not there. Which suddenly seems gross, considering the conversation they just had. Well, Kaidoh probably shouldn't let himself think too much about that. It wasn't like Momoshiro did it on purpose.

Momoshiro slowly gets up from his sitting position, dusting off his shorts and steadying the medal that was swinging back and forth from the movement. He'll get used to wearing it. He smiles at it a little before he stretches out his hand towards Kaidoh to help him up.

Kaidoh accepts his hand, and pulls himself up to his feet, then retrieves his sneakers from the foot of his bed and puts them on. Once he's got his towel around his neck, he's ready to run.

"I'll be out for a couple hours," he says, not sure why he feels the need to notify Momoshiro of his plans.

"As usual," says Momoshiro. But this time it's not so bad. At least they spend the morning together. He leans against the wall, waiting for Kaidoh to leave. "I'll go get us some more water, I guess."

"Sure, sounds good," Kaidoh says. "Well, uh …" He fiddles with the towel around his neck a bit, pulling the ends even over his shoulders. "I guess I'll see you, um, later."

"Okay." Momoshiro looks over at Kaidoh fiddling around with his towel. "I'll be here," he says, as if Kaidoh needs to know. Then he realizes something. Something he can do now that Kaidoh is here still.

"Oh, and a morning isn't complete, without this," he says. It sounds stupid and cheesy, but whatever.

Momoshiro pushes himself away from the wall, and takes the two steps to close the gap between the both of them, with Kaidoh looking at him weirdly. He hesitates a little bit, clouded with thoughts such as rejection and nervousness, but Momoshiro is determined. He brings up his hand to tug on Kaidoh's towel, to bring his head down at an angle, and he leans in to quickly kiss Kaidoh on the lips. But he's not as quick to pull back, quite the opposite, instead he just stays like this, eyes closed, and mouths pressed together as if it's feeding him oxygen. He can feel his own heart thump approvingly in his chest.

It's what he wanted to do the most with Kaidoh in the morning. Something as simple, or perhaps the most complicated matter between them, as this.

Kaidoh pushes his mouth back against Momoshiro's, feeling his lips buzz with energy, and lets himself get swept up in the sensation for a few moments before he pulls back and blinks at Momoshiro. He doesn't let himself look at Momoshiro's mouth, because that would just make him want to go back for more and he has running to do. Although now he sort of feels like he already _is_ running, adrenaline singing in his veins.

Bashfully, Momoshiro lowers his head a bit, but doesn't stop looking at Kaidoh. "Enjoy your run," he says. He's sure enjoyed this morning already.

"Yeah," Kaidoh says, feeling helpless to say anything else at the moment, and conscious of the rising heat in his cheeks.

Luckily, he has an excuse to leave before that sets in, so he takes it, grazing his fist against Momoshiro's arm as he turns toward the door and jogs out down the steps out of the hut.

His heart is already pounding before his feet even hit the sand, but it's a good kind of feeling, and when he sets off running, he's going a bit faster than his usual pace. And maybe that's just because he's not running on an empty stomach like he usually would be in his early morning run, but it also might have something to do with the pleasant and fluttery feeling in his chest.

Momoshiro stays behind, leaning against the doorpost, watching Kaidoh run off until he can't see him anymore. Absentmindedly his fingers touch his own lips, they feel warm and sort of tingly, but in a good way.

Yeah, this morning was pretty good.


	39. Good Night

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **last log before they get rescued. Yeah you heard me, rescued!

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Kaidoh 'sleeps in' every morning since the last log so he can have breakfast with Momo  
- Sometimes Kaidoh comes back early to go to bed at the same time as Momo  
- Momo sends Kaidoh a message that he needs to come home before 11 PM to eat dinner

**Date:** December 15, 2012

* * *

Tonight, everything will be perfect.

Or at least, very damn well near perfect, Momoshiro thinks. He doesn't want to admit it outright, but he's got something special for Kaidoh planned. It wasn't like he'd been planning on this forever—definitely not—but he came up with the idea this morning, when one of his scavenging hunts had introduced him to a small area in the ocean in which scallops lay.

At first Momoshiro was under the impression they were oysters, and he'd been giddy about opening it up and finding a pearl inside, but instead was introduced to something fleshier. As he recalled, it wasn't an oyster, but a scallop. And they were considered delicacies. At least it's better than fish or crab that they've been eating so far, so Momoshiro spend a good four hours diving for a bunch of them.

Which is why he's in their hut, arranging the cooked scallops on a plate, decorated with green vegetables which he doesn't remember the name of, completed with some mashed potatoes, courtesy of Kaidoh's garden. It's the perfect meal for this island, and Momoshiro is pretty proud of the fact that it looks _really_ good. Mouthwatering. Not only that, he even succeeded in making those coconutballs he'd been talking about a couple of weeks ago. It took a little bit of trial and error, with some help from An—but he did it!

Actually, he spent way too much time on something as simple as a meal. Truth be told, Momoshiro sort of, but not really, wanted to do a little something special for Kaidoh.

The last few weeks, the snake had listened to Momoshiro's pleas to sleep in late, and go to bed early—simply so that he'd be there when Momoshiro woke up, or went to bed. And he did it, every single day. Sure he'd complain and be grumpy about it, but with each passing day, Kaidoh had complained less and less, and Momoshiro was sure that he was enjoying this as much as he was. Yes, Momoshiro really likes spending his mornings and evenings with Kaidoh.

He'd be lying if he said seeing Kaidoh's face first thing in the morning ruined his day. Quite the opposite; it _makes_ his day.

It's become a routine for the both of them now, and Momoshiro is very pleased with himself, so much, that he felt the need to do something nice for Kaidoh in return. In his mind, that means cooking a very nice meal.

Momoshiro had already sent a text message to Kaidoh to come home before 11 PM; he doesn't want to wait forever to eat it, and right now, it's still hot and fresh. He quickly lights on a few candles and places them on top of the wooden table next to their plates, and waits for Kaidoh to come home. A bit impatiently, he rocks back and forth on his spot, staring at the door, then back at the food, then back at the door, and sighs; he's getting too excited for this. Well, it's not like he can help it! He feels like doing something nice for Kaidoh, and perhaps see Kaidoh in a good mood—or even _smile_. Yes, he'd like to see Kaidoh smile for once.

Kaidoh was already on his way back when he got Momoshiro's message, but seeing it makes him pick up his pace, and he doesn't even feel like griping about it. He doesn't like changing up his routine, but over the past couple of weeks, this has become as much a routine as anything else he does, and he's come to not mind it. The peak of daylight isn't nearly as hot as it was in the summer, so Kaidoh can run during midday and save the cooler mornings and night to spend back at the hut.

Sure, it had started as a stupid request from Momoshiro, one that Kaidoh didn't really take seriously, but now it's something he does on his own, by choice. Well, everything he does is by choice—he just doesn't like to let Momoshiro know that he's doing these things freely, rather than as a result of constant prodding. Because that would just be weird.

He stops by the river to wash the sweat from his face and arms and neck—another recently formed routine after each run, since Momoshiro harped on him about it enough—before jogging the rest of the distance back to the hut. He checks the time on his phone and it's only 10:35, so for once he isn't late. He considers loitering around for a bit just to make Momoshiro wait since he doesn't want to look like he was eager to rush back, but he isn't that much of a jerk, so instead he just dries his face with his towel and heads up the steps to open the door.

"I'm back," Kaidoh starts to say, as the door swings open, but the word is cut short by his breath as he sees the table all set up with a fancy meal. There's a look of confusion on his face for a second, like he's an animal trying to figure out if it's just walked into a trap, but when his eyes meet Momoshiro's, his expression is just happy and open, like there's no hidden agenda there. Kaidoh can't even muster up a glare in response to that.

He takes another step inside, and lets the door swing closed behind him. "You made dinner," he observes, but it comes out sounding like a question. It wasn't that Momoshiro hadn't made food before, but this looks a lot nicer than any simple breakfast. In fact, this looks like it must have taken a lot of time.

The first thing Momoshiro does when Kaidoh walks in is smile like an idiot. Then he realizes he's being an idiot, and promptly stops, but his lips are still tugging up on their own. The second thing he does, is check out Kaidoh's body for sweat; it seemed he washed himself before getting here. Good. He wouldn't want to have Kaidoh stink up the place when he prepared such a nice dinner.

"Yo!" he greets Kaidoh, lifting up an arm to give him a small wave. He eagerly shifts his weight around on his spot, and gestures for Kaidoh to sit next to him, on a nice fluffy pillow.

Sure, Kaidoh could be sitting on the opposite side of the table, but Momoshiro likes to sit next to each other so that they're close. It's easier to hit him then, he thinks.

"Guess what I found," says Momoshiro in an eager voice, almost leaning over the table with a happy smile.

Kaidoh looks at Momoshiro a bit warily, like he's worried he found another creepy-looking sea slug thing to adopt as a pet. But after scanning the room, he doesn't see any signs of stray creatures flopping around, so he decides that he can probably stop worrying.

He pulls his towel off, folds it, and drops it onto his pile of laundry by his bed before joining Momoshiro at the table. And maybe Momoshiro's good mood is rubbing off on him, because Kaidoh doesn't look all that grumpy either. Well, running did work up a bit of an appetite, so maybe that's just because he's feeling a little hungry.

"What did you find?" he asks, indulging Momoshiro with the question, since he knows he'll find out in a second anyway, whether he asks or not.

Momoshiro looks at Kaidoh as if he's a bit too slow on the intake. That was a rhetorical question, idiot.

"Obviously, this," he says, and points to the scallops neatly aligned in a circle on the plate. "Fancy food."

"Oh," Kaidoh says dumbly. "Wait, are those scallops?" He blinks back at Momoshiro and can't help but look kind of impressed. "How'd you get scallops?" Okay, so maybe Momoshiro is actually a better fisherman than Kaidoh after all.

Momoshiro shows him a peace sign. "I dived for them! Well, I found one washed ashore first, thought it was an oyster and thought I was going to get a pearl, heh, but then I realized it was a scallop! And man, they're huge you know. So I dove into the ocean and looked around for a bit until I fished out plenty of them." He leaves out the part where it took him four long hours, and by then his skin had gotten all wrinkly and pruney.

"This island is full of surprises, you know," says Momoshiro. "So yeah, I made us a nice dinner. We deserve it!"

Kaidoh shrugs. "If you say so," he says, not sure what one does to deserve food, but whatever. "It looks good, at least."

"And I made us dessert as well," says Momoshiro, remembering the coconutballs. "You may or may not like them, I don't know, we'll see."

"I guess so," Kaidoh says, sounding a bit skeptical, since he's not really fond of most desserts. But everything Momoshiro's made for them to eat hasn't actually been half bad—which Kaidoh chalks up to the fact that he's been living on an island for over six months now, so anything that isn't a fish grilled over a fire is bound to taste good. Of course, he doesn't want to give Momoshiro the idea that he's some kind of culinary master … Well, Momoshiro probably thinks that already.

But tonight's meal _does_ look pretty good. Take away the ocean sounds and the sand and the simple wooden hut around them and under their feet and Kaidoh could almost imagine they're in a restaurant somewhere. Which isn't the kind of thought Kaidoh should be having, since why would he and Momoshiro be having a candlelit dinner out a restaurant? That would be way too much like a date. Which would be weird.

Luckily they're just in Kaidoh's hut, and the candles are for lighting more than anything else. And Kaidoh's glad for that, because dates are stupid.

"So you're hungry?" he asks, nudging Momoshiro in his side.

"Starving! Making this food just makes me hungrier you know—it's not easy preventing myself from taste-testing it as I cook it, so be proud of me for controlling my urges." Momoshiro proudly beats his chest, which in turn makes his hand touch the cold metal of the medal still slung around his neck. He looks at it with a smile and says, "Well, I guess you already are."

Kaidoh rolls his eyes at Momoshiro. "I can't believe you're still wearing that thing …" Or well, he can believe it, because it's Momoshiro and he's an idiot like that. But Kaidoh kind of likes that he is.

"What, you rather I didn't?" Momoshiro looks a bit dumbfounded; why _wouldn't_ he wear it? Sure, it's stupid and pointless, but Momoshiro likes it. It's a little something to keep him from going insane on this island. He needs stupid stuff like this to distract himself. Besides, he likes handmade gifts, especially those that come from Kaidoh because they're rare.

"It doesn't get in the way or anything, and I like it." Momoshiro pushes his fist against Kaidoh's shoulder in an encouraging way, as if he's saying thank you.

"Well, as long as you like it," Kaidoh replies, knocking his own fist into Momoshiro's arm in return. He huffs. "You can do whatever you want." Which is pretty much what Momoshiro does anyway.

"Is that so …" Momoshiro grins mischievously, before hunching over his shoulders, and sneakily creeping an arm up behind Kaidoh's back. Within a swift second, his fingers have gotten a hold of his bandana, and he's slipped it off.

He laughs. "Then you won't mind if I take this off, no? You'll be going to sleep soon anyways!"

Kaidoh hisses, and shoots Momoshiro a half-hearted glare. But then he just says, "Yeah, I guess so. Let me fold it though so it doesn't get all wrinkled." He's very serious about keeping all of his bandanas neat and organized.

Momoshiro hands him the bandana with no objections whatsoever; he can do whatever he wants with it, as long as his head stays bandana-free. Momoshiro likes the easy access to it.

"Now, let's eat! It's getting cold, so hurry up." Momoshiro grabs his chopsticks, positions them neatly between his fingers, and quickly grabs hold of a finely cooked scallop. He swiftly brings it to his mouth and chomps away. The flavour is strange, and much different than fish—Momoshiro's eaten enough fish these past several months that he knows all the different flavours—but it's a good flavour.

A delicious flavour. In fact, is so good, Momoshiro's mouth drops open after he swallows and stars appear in his eyes. He turns to Kaidoh with this dumbstruck look on his face.

"Kaidoh … this is really good," says Momoshiro in amazement. And this time, he's not just bragging. Well, maybe a little.

Kaidoh lifts his own set of chopsticks and uses them to pick up a scallop for himself which he pops into his mouth. And Momoshiro isn't lying, as Kaidoh thought he might be—well, the guy thinks every kind of food is good, so how can he trust his opinion? But this actually really is delicious.

He even gives Momoshiro a small smile as he nods in agreement. "Yeah, it is," he says, once he's finished chewing.

This makes Momoshiro feel even more radiant than he already is; Kaidoh's approval and his tiny, tiny smile is probably the best thing in the world right now. This night has gotten so much better already, he's glad he found the scallops and cooked them for Kaidoh and himself. Even the candlelight casting a nice warm glow around them seems to lift the mood up even more. The cozy atmosphere makes Momoshiro feel fuzzy inside, and he nudges closer to Kaidoh until his leg brushes up against Kaidoh's. It's actually, if you squint and hold your head sideways and pretend Kaidoh is a girl, a little bit romantic, he admits. Most of these days it's like this.

Momoshiro brings a hand up Kaidoh's back, and gently strokes his head in an affectionate way, his fingers gliding down his hair. "Maybe I should be a chef when I go home," he jokes with a small laugh. He's feeling pretty content right now; nothing can go wrong.

Kaidoh snorts. "I don't know what restaurant would trust you around that much food," he points out flatly, but sounds more like he's just teasing him than actually arguing. "You'd probably eat as much as you cooked." Because if there's one thing Kaidoh is certain of, it's Momoshiro's ridiculous appetite. There's no denying that food makes him happy, and that in turn makes Kaidoh feel not half-bad himself. Not that he pays extra attention to Momoshiro when he's eating or anything—well, no, he kind of does. He can't help it; when Momoshiro's looking all stupid and smiley, it's like a weird magnetic force pulling Kaidoh in, despite all his efforts to avoid it.

Momoshiro leans into Kaidoh, his arm now slipping around his neck and shoulders. "Hey, I'll let you know I've actually worked at a restaurant before." He uses his chopsticks to get another scallop and dip it in his mashed potatoes before he puts it in his mouth.

"Had a part-time job at some fancy place—didn't touch any food! But boy … it sure did look good alright. I was hungry every time I got off work," he says with his mouth full. Momoshiro remembers the painful memories of going back home and eating instant ramen instead, because that was all he had. And now? Now he's sitting here with Kaidoh eating _scallops_.

Kaidoh picks up a second scallop as well, but unlike Momoshiro, he swallows it before responding, as though he's trying to set a good example for Momoshiro and his annoying lack of manners.

"You're hungry most of the time anyway," he says. Or at least, Momoshiro acts like he is.

Momoshiro laughs. "True!" he spits out. He finally finishes chewing his food before swallowing, and then eagerly opens his mouth again to blab on some more. "But I was _more_ hungry. Besides, I could only eat instant ramen at home. It was never anything as fancy as this. You could say island life is pretty good to me."

"Huh, I wouldn't want to be eating instant ramen either," Kaidoh agrees, his mouth crinkling at the thought. "This is much better."

"I knew it, I should be a chef. Maybe then I'd finally get fat." Momoshiro snorts at the thought of him being fat; he's never weighed more than sixty kilos, it's a miracle. Then again, it's not like he had access to a lot of food when he was in college.

Kaidoh looks disgusted. "Why would you want to get fat?" Although, Kaidoh's often found himself baffled by how Momoshiro isn't already—he's seen the number of burgers the dumbass can put back in a single meal.

"That was sarcasm!" Momoshiro splutters. He doesn't _really_ want to get fat. "I mean, I'm just saying. I don't gain any weight whatsoever. Hm." Momoshiro looks over at Kaidoh, his eyes trailing up and down his obviously trained body. "I wonder how fat you'd be if you didn't work out."

Kaidoh shoves Momoshiro in the shoulder. "Gross," he says, clearly horrified. More at the thought of not working out than the thought of gaining weight. "That's not going to happen."

"Hah, I guess not! You not training would be the end of the world—you're still obsessed with it." And before Kaidoh can punch Momoshiro, he quickly scoots to the right and flashes him a grin. "But I guess you're improving." Kaidoh is after all, here with him right now.

And that is actually pretty cool. Sitting here in their hut eating dinner together, cracking jokes, and surrounded by the nice warm glow of the candles. Eating food he could never get at his own apartment, talking to someone he probably would have continued to ignore back at home. Everything's different here, everything feels like an improvement almost. Sure he doesn't have a fancy toilet and warm water, but he's got a full and satisfied stomach, and company which he likes—which he's _missed_. He's got routines now, he gets his own food, builds his own house (even if Kaidoh was the one to make their hut), he gets things done, and honestly? He doesn't miss his apartment that much. This, island Dumbnuts, it's starting to feel like …

Momoshiro looks down at his plate and takes another scallop from it, chewing on it thoughtfully. "Hey Kaidoh," he starts slowly, rolling the scallop between his tongue. "This is starting to feel like home to me now."

Kaidoh looks over at Momoshiro, for a moment just noticing the way the candlelight frames his face—not staring, of course, because Kaidoh isn't some kind of freak—and then he smiles a little and says, "Yeah, I guess I'm kind of getting used to it too."

"It's not that bad here … really it isn't. Besides, I didn't burn our food, so we get to eat yummy meals, hehe." Momoshiro chuckles for a bit until he eats some more of his mashed potatoes. The potatoes taste really delicious, he'll have to compliment Kaidoh for growing them sometime later.

Momoshiro stares at the door for a bit, chopsticks hanging loosely between his fingers, and wonders what it would be like to return to the civilized world again. Could he adjust to all the advanced technology again? Buying food from the store instead of fishing for it himself? But more importantly; would he and Kaidoh still talk to each other? He doesn't want to go back to five years of white noise again. But then again, he doesn't know how to say that to Kaidoh. That would be weird, as if he _wants_ to see and talk to him after this. And he does, but saying it out loud and admitting it feels kind of scary, like they're agreeing to something and it's set in stone. As if what they're doing right now—with kisses in the morning and some fooling around at night—could continue well into their life back at home.

And yeah, Momoshiro would like for that to happen. Yet it feels like the hardest thing to say out loud, despite his eagerness to start talking ten words a second. It's not like they really talk about it, that one really awkward time Momoshiro managed to ask if they're going to do this, and Kaidoh said yes, was probably the most he could get out of them both—and they're not very articulate either.

Perhaps he's gotten used to the safety of their routines, that are tied to this island. If the island is gone, will the routines go away with it? He can't imagine going over to Kaidoh's house and have breakfast with him, then kiss him goodbye as he goes on his run. That would be awkward, weird, and it's not like Kaidoh lives alone or anything. And besides; what would Kaidoh want? Maybe he doesn't want it to continue after this island, maybe this is all Momoshiro is going to get; fun on the island, but the vacation is over when they go home.

And just like that, Momoshiro feels this dread sink down in his stomach; he doesn't want to go home anymore if that's true.

"I uhm, I'd be ok with staying here," he murmurs under his breath. He stares at his plate some more, still deep in thought. Yeah, he'd rather stay stuck here on the island, then pretend nothing ever happened between them and go back to pure silence once more.

Momoshiro realizes what he's really saying, that is, that he's okay with staying alongside Kaidoh, and quickly tries to cover it up. "I mean, we've got a roof over our heads, with a door even, food on our plate, and well, no one to bother us."

"Yeah, but," Kaidoh starts, "it would be nice to have some solid routes to run on again." He misses the flat expanses of parks and the meandering sidewalk trails along the riverside. He's gotten used to running in sand and uneven island terrain but that doesn't mean he likes it. Well, sure, he likes running, whatever the form, but he still has preferences.

And he never thought he would, but he actually kind of misses running in the city.

He thinks for a moment about that, if he were home in Tokyo right now, if they both were, what would Momoshiro be doing? Would he still be sending Kaidoh demanding text messages and bothering him in the middle of his run to come spend time with him? Kaidoh's gotten used to that too, and unlike the sand, he actually kind of likes it. He's come to anticipate Momoshiro bugging him, so now it doesn't annoy him so much as just feel kind of nice and familiar.

Not that he'd say as much out loud. He doesn't want to confirm what Momoshiro already seems to know—that Kaidoh lets him get away with a hell of a lot, just on merit of who he is.

He shrugs. "Well, I don't mind it here anymore," he says, careful not to look at Momoshiro as he says it, because he doesn't want it to seem like he's the reason for that—although he kind of is. "But I hope we aren't stuck here forever." He doesn't like the thought of his parents sitting at home worrying about both him and Hazue, wondering where they are and if they're okay. That's not the kind of burden he wants to put on his family. Especially when they're actually perfectly fine, and healthy, and not in any kind of immediate danger.

"Yeah … me neither." As long as Kaidoh goes home with him.

It's strange how it all changed so much. Before, Momoshiro's time in the civilized world was spent worrying about having enough money for food, or paying rent, and getting any kind of job he could find. And if he had the time, he would send badly written resumes to any kind of tennis club he could coach. No luck, of course.

There was no mention of Kaidoh in his life. After all, they did split up for years, and Momoshiro was managing his life without the grumpy snake. Of course, he had thought about him a bunch of times. Like when he'd see someone's bento wrapped in a cloth that looked similar to one of Kaidoh's bandanas, or when he'd see someone jogging on the street, wearing a black tank top, briefly thinking it actually _was_ Kaidoh. Sometimes at night, he wondered what all his old classmates, and his team members from Seigaku were doing, he spent an unnatural amount of time wondering what Kaidoh would be doing, what he'd be thinking of, and perhaps if they're ever going to meet again. Other than that, Kaidoh was not a part of his life anymore.

But now? Momoshiro can't _stop_ involving Kaidoh into his life, and he wants him there, as long as possible. He enjoys bugging him relentlessly, messing around with him and getting into stupid arguments about whether or not fish are an animal, or to get into stupid competitions with each other to see who can catch the most fish. Or throwing fists at each other until they're both down in the sand and gasping for breath. Then there's the other kind of gasping for breath which leaves them feeling as if they've been working out all day long … And even the milder stuff, like Kaidoh making trinkets for him, or Momoshiro doodling on his face, or sending messages to each other—Momoshiro has grown really fond of it. He's grown very fond of Kaidoh.

And that's still something he's not willing to admit out loud, especially in front of said Kaidoh.

That's just embarrassing, and also sort of mortifying, that Momoshiro's former rival, the guy whose guts he was supposed to hate (and kick his ass), is someone he wants to continue to be in his life. To be there to bug, tease, argue, fight, touch, kiss—he wants it _all._

Is that a good thing? Or a bad thing? To be this attached to someone …

Momoshiro decides, for the meantime, that it's a good thing, and he shouldn't think about it too much. He should simply enjoy what he has.

"I'll buy you some new sneakers, if I get money for it," says Momoshiro. "Since the ones you have now are falling apart." It seems like an innocent gesture and remark to make, but Momoshiro is hoping that by saying this, he can get Kaidoh to hang out with him still even after they go back to their old lives.

Inconspicuously, Momoshiro places his left hand between the both of them, inching towards Kaidoh's thigh, until his pinky touches the fabric of his shorts and he stops. He gorges down another scallop, acting oblivious, and hopes Kaidoh takes the invitation of his hand without having to outright say it, or grab it himself.

_Be in my life._ Momoshiro tilts his head a tiny bit to the right, as his eyes dart over to Kaidoh until their eyes lock onto each other. Maybe it's the lighting, or maybe it's the cozy atmosphere, but Momoshiro's body starts to feel fluttery and hopeful again.

Kaidoh smiles a little at Momoshiro and wiggles his feet against the toes of his sneakers, feeling the places where they're worn down, yet spectacularly still holding together.

He leans back, like he's stretching himself out, and slides his hand a little until it grazes over Momoshiro's, trying to brush it off as accidental. But once it's there, it's hard to keep pretending it's an accident, his fingers longing to curl around Momoshiro's own.

Maybe it's the good food or the nice atmosphere that disarms him of his shyness, but Kaidoh lets go and lets his whole hand cover Momoshiro's, hesitantly yet determined. He feels his cheeks heat up like he's just drawn in close to a fire, and like his shoes, he's amazed that their hands can still hold together, too. That this is something he's allowed to do. That this is something he's _able_ to do. Since when did he become so bold?

"Yeah," he says, sounding slightly wary, and his eyes flick away from Momoshiro and then back to him again, once he realizes, relieved, that Momoshiro's not going to yank his hand away anytime soon. He continues, "New shoes would definitely be nice. If we're stuck here for too much longer I'm going to have to start running barefoot." His forehead crinkles. That sounds really uncomfortable, given the distances he runs. His feet have callused from all his hard training, but they're still not ready for that kind of exposure.

"I don't know if I could do it …" he admits, frowning as though that would be the worst thing in the world. Well, to Kaidoh, not being able to run just might be. And admitting that there's something out there he might not be able to do is up there as a pretty terrible thing in and of itself. Since Kaidoh has his pride after all, especially when it comes to anything athletic.

He hisses, and then adds, "I just mean it would be annoying," like he needs to clarify that it wouldn't be a matter of him being physically able to handle it. Because he likes to think he could handle anything, and wants to make sure Momoshiro doesn't think any less of him either.

Why Momoshiro's opinion of him is important isn't really something he wants to dwell on. He doesn't care what people think. What most people think, anyway. But he _does_ care what Momoshiro thinks, even if that makes him a big idiot.

"Feels kind of cool though, walking barefoot on sand," says Momoshiro encouragingly. He spreads his fingers out and softly twists his wrist around so that his palm faces up, his fingers brushing against Kaidoh's, and he grips it, feeling Kaidoh do the same.

It's nice that they're able to do this, and even nicer that Kaidoh does it in the first place. It gets easier each time, slipping together like another routine, a comforting and familiar routine. It doesn't make it any less exciting though, to reach out and link hands; if only Momoshiro had the courage to do this _all_ the time. But he'll settle for when they're just alone together. It's hard to prevent himself from smiling at their linked hands, but Momoshiro pretends it's because he's looking at some really good food.

"Well, I mean, on wet sand at least. Feels cool to the touch. Probably wouldn't be ideal for running though. I think you need a treadmill or something. Hm, I wonder if we'd be able to make one." Momoshiro frowns as he starts thinking of how to conjure one up that would actually work. This would also give him the benefit of keeping Kaidoh in one place; aka, close to him. Yeah, that would be _very_ nice.

Kaidoh looks a bit perplexed, like what Momoshiro is suggesting is a totally foreign concept. "If I'm going running I want to actually be moving somewhere," he says, as though it's obvious. A treadmill would make him feel too much like a hamster on a wheel.

Although he has seen some really advanced ones in sports stores before, ones where you can adjust the terrain and create a virtual running course. That kind of appeals to Kaidoh's need for control, but he's fairly certain he and Momoshiro wouldn't be able to build something like that on this island, even if they did find all the electrical parts for it. No, especially not then. Momoshiro would probably electrocute himself before they got anywhere. Or else he'd electrocute Kaidoh. Either way, someone would end up zapped.

"I'll stick with sand for now," Kaidoh grumbles, since that's a better alternative to possibly getting his insides fried from electric shock. He looks down at their hands. Yeah, he gets enough of those fizzling feelings as it is without any wires or sockets.

"Guess so. So, do you run to go somewhere, or do you do it purely for moving your legs? I mean running in one place would be pretty useful, you don't have to go away pretty far to run a long distance, and you'll always be here where you can get some food or water." And where Momoshiro is, but he doesn't say that.

Momoshiro leans over the table to eat some more of his food; it's almost gone. With some mashed potatoes stuck to the corner of his lips, he looks at Kaidoh's plate; still pretty full. He raises his head and looks at Kaidoh.

"Not hungry?" He points with his chopsticks at the plate. Or does Kaidoh not like the food? That makes him feel a bit queasy.

Kaidoh blinks. "No, I just …" Need my hand back. That's not really something he can say out loud. That would mean acknowledging that they're actually sitting here right now, holding hands. And Kaidoh knows that's what they're doing, and Momoshiro knows it too, but calling attention to it would be super weird.

It would be simple enough to just let go, but Kaidoh doesn't really want to do that either. So he just hisses and clumsily picks up his chopsticks with his left hand instead, somehow managing to sweep up some mashed potatoes from his plate and push them into his mouth. Then he gives Momoshiro a cursory glare, like he's risen to some challenge of chopstick use.

"Well, I'm not a pig like you," he argues, since that sounds like a more legitimate excuse than, 'I want to keep holding hands'. "I'm eating at my own pace."

Momoshiro grins as he feels his cheeks glow with a pleasant warmth. Right, Kaidoh can't use his right hand, and he is right handed. Momoshiro suddenly feels a lot less worried whether or not Kaidoh likes the food, and instead is feeling quite content and happy knowing Kaidoh won't stop holding his hand. Momoshiro doesn't want to either; he's fine sitting here like this, eating food, and feel the warm skin of Kaidoh's hand against his own. It's soothing and actually pretty comfortable. Maybe it's the nice atmosphere that's making Momoshiro feel so affectionate, or perhaps recently, he's just growing more touchy feely with Kaidoh. More daring.

"Well then." Before Kaidoh can make another sad attempt at snatching some food with his left hand, Momoshiro sweeps up a scallop from his plate, using his expert chopsticks skills, and hovers it in front of Kaidoh's mouth. "Then I'll feed you, say _aaa_, Kaoru-chan." He's trying to hold back his smile as he says this; it's always fun to tease Kaidoh. He softly squeezes Kaidoh's hand, to let him know it's either the hand, or the food.

Kaidoh narrows his eyes at Momoshiro and scowls. "Dumbass," he mumbles, keeping his lips together. Momoshiro may enjoy being fed, but for Kaidoh it's just kind of embarrassing. It's only natural for him to be reluctant when Momoshiro is shoving food in his face like he's a baby bird.

"_Please?_ " Momoshiro whines. "I worked hard on this!" He starts to circle the scallop in front of Kaidoh's juicy lips. Hm, those suddenly seem very attractive to Momoshiro. Kaidoh better hurry up and use his lips before Momoshiro uses it for him.

"… Fine," Kaidoh says after a long moment, like he had to have some kind of internal struggle before he could finally agree. Which isn't that far from the truth. He huffs, parting his lips, and gives Momoshiro a look as if to say, _Well, get on with it already_.

Eagerly, Momoshiro moves closer and closes the distance between the chopsticks and Kaidoh's lips, the scallops touching his bottom lip so he can go ahead and take it off himself. He can see Kaidoh roll his eyes at him as he takes the piece and pulls away from the chopsticks. Immediately, Momoshiro feels giddy that he's allowed to do this, that he's allowed to do any of this. Sitting close to Kaidoh, holding his hand, feeding him food.

If only they could do this every day. Yeah, Momoshiro would like that.

"There, wasn't so bad, right?" says Momoshiro. He gives Kaidoh a thumbs up with the chopsticks still clutched between his fingers. "Want more?"

It's kind of funny the faces Kaidoh is making; he's being grumpy and obviously showing disdain towards this feeding thing, and Momoshiro really doesn't care, it's actually sort of cute. Which isn't the kind of thought he should be having about Kaidoh. Kaidoh is not cute. That's weird, and disgusting. Girls are cute. Kaidoh is grumpy. It's hard to convince his mind of this, because now he can't stop picturing Kaidoh as some entitled kid who is carrying out a punishment, and pouting the whole way through. How can anyone not think that's sort of adorable? Besides, it's not like Momoshiro is _forcing_ Kaidoh to accept food from him; he's doing that all on his own.

Kaidoh swallows the scallop and then goes back to glaring at Momoshiro, which is a little less effective now that he's also blushing. Well, anyone would be. This is stupid and embarrassing. Although Momoshiro looks like he's enjoying himself. Moron.

"Whatever," Kaidoh says crankily. "Fine." He might as well let Momoshiro get it out of his system and then he'll stop bugging him. And, to be fair, the food is really pretty good.

"Hehehe," Momoshiro giggles pleasantly. He pinches Kaidoh's cheeks again with the chopsticks—he _can't_ resist doing it. "Well aren't you cute," he says. Which is actually not a lie.

Well, no, it is. Kaidoh's not cute. His actions are. Right?

"Fuck off," Kaidoh growls—because like hell is he cute!—and uses his free hand to bat at Momoshiro's arm. "That's not what chopsticks are for, asshole."

This just makes Momoshiro want to do it again, but he restrains himself. "Well, why not—they're used to pick at things! So why not your cheek." This time Momoshiro scoops up some potatoes with the chopsticks and lifts it up to Kaidoh's mouth once more.

Kaidoh scowls. "Because my face isn't food, moron!" he retorts, but he still complies and opens his mouth, leaning forward a little to grab the potatoes off Momoshiro's chopsticks before Momoshiro can shove them into his mouth—since Kaidoh wants to demonstrate that he's not totally helpless.

"Obviously your face isn't food." But it's very fun to pinch since his actions are kind of endearing in a way. Momoshiro can't help feeling that way; more and more grumpy Kaidoh looks less of an annoyance to him, and more like something he wants to tease.

"Then stop poking at it," Kaidoh grumbles exasperatedly. That should should go without saying.

"But it's fun!" Momoshiro whines.

Kaidoh shoots Momoshiro a glare. "For _you_," he says, rolling his eyes. "It's annoying."

"Aww …" Momoshiro looks crestfallen; pouting his lips and shrinking his head into his shoulders. Then he perks up immediately. "So you prefer my fingers then?"

Kaidoh's cheeks flush. "N-no …" he stutters. "I'd prefer if you didn't pinch me at all. Obviously."

"Not even a _little_ bit?" Momoshiro really insists on being able to do this, purely for getting funny reactions out of Kaidoh. Endearing reactions. His fingers are already itching to pinch it. "I'll do it really softly, how about that?"

"Whatever," Kaidoh says, his voice thick and reluctant. He shifts a little on his spot and his eyes flick warily to Momoshiro's hand. "If it will shut you up."

"Really?" asks Momoshiro in a disbelieving tone.

Kaidoh huffs. "Yeah, idiot. If that's what you want."

"I do," Momoshiro hums and he leans closer, staring at the side of Kaidoh's face. He puts his chopsticks down on his plate, then uses his free hand to pinch Kaidoh's cheek—gently, of course. He doesn't let go though, instead lingers, his grip not hard at all, but becoming more and more like a caress or something. "How can I resist these rosy cheeks?" he jokes.

Kaidoh's lips curl into a scowl, but it's not like he can turn off the color to his face. In fact, Momoshiro's words and the soft touch of his fingers only seem to make Kaidoh's cheeks feel even warmer. It's annoying. More annoying than the pinching itself, because Kaidoh can't do anything about it.

Maybe something was in those scallops, because why else would Momoshiro be saying such weird things?

"Shut up," Kaidoh protests, and he uses his free hand to grab Momoshiro by the wrist. But he doesn't shove his hand away, just pulls it back from his cheek, gripping it awkwardly, and keeps scowling. Punching would probably be a more effective way to demonstrate his irritation but for some reason the thought of fighting isn't even occurring to him right now.

The scowling and the fidgeting, and the stupid insults, only serve to make Momoshiro want to do it _more_, it's _enticing_. He doesn't know why this is so much fun to him, but making Kaidoh squirm is pretty high up on his list of things he likes to do. Right below punching him, which is below uhh … well, other things. He looks at Kaidoh gripping his other hand, so now they're in this weird position, hands intertwined below the table, and one up in the air, being gripped by Kaidoh. Does he want Momoshiro to stop pinching him, or does Kaidoh think it's totally awesome to keep holding him like this?

Well, he won't deny that there's something fuzzy about holding Kaidoh's hand like it's natural. Not that he will admit this, and besides; his arm up in the air is not exactly comfortable, nor natural. He finally tugs it down so he can rest it on the table, Kaidoh's hand going down with him.

"You're the one who said it was okay," Momoshiro mumbles. He looks away, to his hand, to Kaidoh's hand, and then thinks it's not so bad to hold that one as well. His fingers move before he can even finish thinking about the option, and they're digging themselves underneath Kaidoh's palm, until he's holding that one, too.

This is not really about the food anymore, is it? Not that Momoshiro minds. Food does taste better when he's got someone to share it with, after all. It's the reason why he likes feeding Kaidoh. Partially, at least. The other part is just to mess with him, and because his rosy cheeks are really something Momoshiro doesn't mind seeing more of. Yes, an embarrassed Kaidoh, he does like seeing that a lot.

Bonus points if he's the one to make him blush and stammer.

"Unless you'd prefer something else other than pinching," Momoshiro suggests. Immediately he thinks back of all the mornings they've had, with Momoshiro sort of saying goodbye to Kaidoh before he goes on his morning run, by kissing on his cheek. Kaidoh had rosy coloured cheeks then too. Then the snake dashes off before Momoshiro can enjoy it, and perhaps pinch it. Momoshiro sometimes runs with him, and when they're finished, kisses him on the cheek as well, for good behaviour. Or something. Or maybe just to mess with Kaidoh. Or maybe because he likes it.

He'll settle for messing with Kaidoh. In a nice, fuzzy kind of way, that doesn't involve using his fists.

Kaidoh's forehead creases and he looks away and down at his lap instead. "You're such an idiot," he growls. An idiot who needs to stop talking about Kaidoh's face before it actually gets stuck at this mortifying shade of red. That seems to be what Momoshiro is aiming for, though.

When Kaidoh looks up again, the most he can manage is a hiss. He isn't great with words at the best of times, and he's totally hopeless when Momoshiro won't stop calling him cute or commenting on his cheeks—who does that!? He doesn't know what else to do besides retreat into dumb insults.

"I'd _prefer_ if you shut up," he says grumpily, and both his hands curl more tightly around Momoshiro's, as though that's supposed to be some kind of threat. Somehow it's a lot less effective than an angry shirt grab.

Momoshiro's grin grows wider; he's enjoying this. Kaidoh is squirming after all, completely uncomfortable with the 'affection' Momoshiro is giving him. He really can't take compliments or suggestions, but hey, at least he hasn't been punched in the face by now. Which is a miracle, actually. Kaidoh is getting more lenient with him, and that makes Momoshiro want to push boundaries even more, see what he can get away with. Poke and prod Kaidoh everywhere, just to make him blush. Oh yes, he definitely wants to do it now.

There's an undercurrent of electricity flowing between them; Momoshiro can feel it buzz through his hands, and it's only getting intensified the harder Kaidoh grips them. Kaidoh could easily let go, but since he's not, Momoshiro won't either, instead he squeezes right back; he won't back down from this. It simply serves to encourage him to keep going.

"Are you sure? I thought you liked my voice," says Momoshiro as he pulls himself closer to Kaidoh, nearly hogging his entire side with his chest. "Besides, how can I not comment on your face, when it's this _adorable_," he stresses, his voice ending in a high note. Not that Kaidoh is adorable or anything. It's his cheeks. He wants to pinch it for emphasis, since they're pretty red right now, but he thinks Kaidoh gets the point, and his hands are being held hostage. It's always fun teasing him.

"Asshole," Kaidoh growls. Can't Momoshiro see him glaring at him right now? But that doesn't seem to work on Momoshiro anymore, if it ever did. In fact, much to Kaidoh's annoyance, it seems to be having the opposite of the intended effect, because Momoshiro just keeps drawing closer, crowding Kaidoh's personal space.

Kaidoh's long since gotten over the instinct to shrink back, or shove Momoshiro away. He can't decide if that's a good or bad thing. All he knows is that it gives him annoyingly fast heart palpitations. And the embarrassment is still something that's hard to shake, especially when Momoshiro keeps pushing all his buttons like this.

He nudges Momoshiro with his shoulder, but doesn't really accomplish much in terms of getting Momoshiro to leave him alone, since his fingers still stubbornly won't let go of Momoshiro's hands. He tugs at their hands still on the table, like he's trying to pull an invisible tug-of-war rope between them back to his side, and petulantly grumbles, "Quit being so disgusting."

Momoshiro pulls back on their hands, sliding it over to his side. "You _really_ find this disgusting?" Momoshiro asks.

If there's anything disgusting about what they're doing, it's because Kaidoh is dead set on calling him names—Momoshiro has gotten used to it, but it would be nice if for once, Kaidoh didn't resort to insults. If that wasn't his default go-to reaction or something. Sometimes, Momoshiro wondered what it would be like if Kaidoh acted nice, and simply smiled at him as if there was no need to argue with each other. Obviously, that won't ever be a reality. Is it really disgusting when Momoshiro is doing something that makes him happy? Eating food he cooked, under the warm glow of the candlelight, locked together, and simply being with each other? To feel that rush pump through him, leaving him tingly all over, and he can't resist indulging that feeling?

Well, fuck Kaidoh. Unlike him, Momoshiro doesn't find this disgusting. He stares long and hard at Kaidoh; his cheerful expression transformed into a much more serious one.

"I meant you saying all those weird things!" Kaidoh argues.

Then the scowl on his face softens into more of a bewildered frown as he adds in a quieter voice, "… It's embarrassing." He's not sure why he mumbles it … it's not like it's some kind of secret, not when his cheeks are already doing a great job of broadcasting it. He knows Momoshiro is just saying stupid shit to fuck with him, but knowing that doesn't seem to make him blush any less.

Aha, so Kaidoh doesn't find what they're doing disgusting. Good. Momoshiro would have punched him if he did. Or sulk a lot; he doesn't know why the thought of Kaidoh being disgusted by him suddenly feels like such a low blow to him. Kaidoh has thought, and voiced, many things about him—but outright disgust (aside from pigging out while eating, which is sort of understandable), hasn't been one of them.

So Momoshiro chuckles, his previous happy expression gracing his face once more. "Lots of things are embarrassing to you, idiot," he says.

Momoshiro starts making himself more comfortable, by turning away from Kaidoh and facing the table, leaning his head on top of Kaidoh's bare shoulder. It feels warm against his cheek; he wonders if a blush can extend to one's shoulder. He finally lets go of Kaidoh's left hand—not letting go of the other—so that he can pick up his own chopsticks again to scoop up some more food for himself, and eat it while relaxing against Kaidoh. When he's done, he picks some food from Kaidoh's plate, and brings it up to his mouth once more to feed him.

"Embarrassing things means you'll just have to get used to it for it to stop being embarrassing," says Momoshiro with a light squeeze of Kaidoh's hand. Which means he'll have to call Kaidoh adorable or cute lots and lots of times. He smiles; that will be fun.

Kaidoh accepts the food, a little less reluctantly this time, because he is still hungry after all, and it would be a shame to let the meal go to waste. Not that it would, Kaidoh knows that Momoshiro would gladly eat his share. How he has that much room in his stomach, Kaidoh will never understand.

Maybe the food was Momoshiro's plan to keep Kaidoh from flinging an insult back, because although Kaidoh wants to argue that it would be a lot easier if Momoshiro just didn't _do_ the embarrassing things in the first place, he can't with his mouth full. He's not an animal like Momoshiro who talks while his face is stuffed with food. But even so, Kaidoh can recognize that it's stupid to be this embarrassed by Momoshiro. It's Momoshiro, after all, and if he can make Kaidoh blush with just some stupid words then, competitively at least, doesn't that mean he's got an edge over Kaidoh? Which is really annoying.

So maybe if Kaidoh can get used to this, he'll stop turning the color of a tomato around Momoshiro. That would be nice. And he's gotten used to other new things recently, so it's not like it's an impossible task. He no longer flinches every time Momoshiro uses his first name, for one. But it's still hard to change things that are involuntary, and for some reason Momoshiro being weird and affectionate, even if he's just doing it to get a rise out of Kaidoh, makes Kaidoh's insides all jumpy and his face feel like it's pressed up against a heater. And that, Kaidoh thinks, _is_ sort of disgusting. He should be annoyed by Momoshiro treating him that way, and he is, but it's not because he hates it. Instead it's because it fills him up with nervous and excited energy and he doesn't know what to do with it. How does someone get used to that?

Once Kaidoh swallows the food, he huffs and leans his weight into Momoshiro a little. "Easy for you to say," he mumbles. Momoshiro doesn't blush at the drop of a hat.

It's interesting how easy Momoshiro can manipulate Kaidoh. It's also quite funny, and it gets a rise out of him too. Even now, he's already accepting food without a complaint, and Momoshiro is positively glowing with the way Kaidoh is allowing this all—even leaning into him.

"Well it's true! Did you think I popped out into the world being as awesome as I am? No wait, I totally did, forget I said that." Momoshiro laughs. "Now, don't tell this to anyone but … when I was little, I used to be scared of talking to strangers, it was embarrassing, I would stutter all the time, and not know what to say. I was like three years old though, so, don't be too hard on me. But anyways, my mom forced me to talk to loads of strangers in a week, to get over my shyness, and hey, it worked. I'm totally awesome right now." He nudges his shoulder against Kaidoh. "You can be too."

Kaidoh rolls his eyes. "Who said I want to be like you?" he replies with a snort. He can't even begin to imagine that. Being super friendly and outgoing just isn't who he is. Besides, it's not like he's _scared_ of talking to people, and he certainly isn't scared of talking to Momoshiro. He just doesn't see the point in acting all eager about it either. Especially not when Momoshiro is calling him cute and pinching his cheeks. Kaidoh thinks any normal person would think that's weird.

"I didn't, I said you'd be as _awesome_ as me," says Momoshiro as he rolls his eyes. Kaidoh could never come close to being him. That'd be weird anyway.

He eats some more from his own plate, almost finishing the entire thing, then goes to Kaidoh's and grab the second to last scallop and brings it to his mouth once more. "But hey, feel free to be embarrassed, I don't care. I think it's fun."

Kaidoh scowls at him. "You have some weird ideas about what fun is," he grumbles, and then, just before he takes the scallop from Momoshiro's chopsticks, adds, "Idiot."

Momoshiro grins. "You're always fun to tease, stupid snake." He quickly pinches Kaidoh's cheeks with the chopsticks as he laughs.

"Stop poking me with those," Kaidoh says, letting out an annoyed hiss. "You're probably getting food on my face." Not that the chopsticks even look that messy, but they still belong in a person's mouth and not on their cheeks.

"Well then." Momoshiro takes his chance without even thinking about it, it comes naturally to him. He leans closer so he can crane his neck around, and face Kaidoh's cheek. He then sticks out his tongue, and licks his entire cheek, from bottom to top. "Now it's clean," he says while laughing again.

"D-dumbass …" Now Kaidoh's cheek is both red and _wet_. He uses his free hand to punch Momoshiro's cheek in return, although it ends with him simply pushing his knuckles into Momoshiro's face, like he ran out of steam mid-action.

"Don't use your tongue to clean things," he says grumpily, embarrassed to even be saying something like that.

"What else do you want me to use it for then?" says Momoshiro with a snort.

Momoshiro pushes Kaidoh's hand away (he can't believe he didn't get punched for real) by pressing his entire face against it until he leaves him alone, and he can focus on finishing his own plate of food. He resumes his previous position; leaning his head against Kaidoh's shoulder, and lazily picking off food from his plate.

"Just … use it to eat your food, stupid," Kaidoh retorts, and shrugs his shoulders a bit so Momoshiro gets jostled, but not hard enough to actually knock him off.

"Stop moving," Momoshiro grumbles back. He stays put against Kaidoh, and even lifts up their hands between them, so it can rest on his lap instead, fingers still secure and warm around Kaidoh's. He scoots closer until everything between them is touching, with their hands secretly hidden away under the table on his lap.

It's nice. It's even nicer that Momoshiro can get away with it. He won't question why he's doing it, why he likes it, but the fact remains, he wants to do it. Stay close to Kaidoh that is, and enjoy his food. He quickly manages to finish his own portion of food, stuffing everything inside of his mouth like he's a hamster that's saving up food for the winter. With his mouth still full, he goes over to Kaidoh's plate—already half empty—and picks up the last scallop and offers it to Kaidoh.

Had anyone told Momoshiro years ago that he'd end up feeding Kaidoh while holding his hand, he would have punched the guy. But here he is.

"Come on, Kaoru-chan, it's the last scallop, you can do it," Momoshiro encourages him with a slight chuckle, mouth still full of food.

"Obviously I can, moron. I'm not incapable of eating," Kaidoh grumbles, and pulls the scallop into his mouth. He's going to pointedly ignore how it might appear, at the moment anyway, that he _is_ incapable of picking up food on his own.

Momoshiro swallows his own food, then smiles at Kaidoh. "Good boy," he says. He brings the chopsticks back down (resisting the urge to pinch him again—how can he not!?) to the plate to scoop up some potatoes, but patiently waits for Kaidoh to finish what he has in his mouth.

"Hey, Kaidoh," Momoshiro nudges his hand, "would you be back in Japan by now? Since you were in California or whatever."

"Florida," Kaidoh corrects. He's not great at geography himself, but he's pretty sure California is on the other side of America. "And yeah … I guess I would be. That study abroad thing was supposed to finish in July." Which suddenly feels like a very long time ago.

"July you say? Damn. I wonder if they'll give you your money back, unless it was for free." Momoshiro slouches against Kaidoh, realizing just how long they've been stuck here.

"I dunno," Kaidoh says. "I hadn't really thought about it." He cranes his neck back and looks up at the ceiling of the hut. "I wonder if they think I just dropped out or something."

Momoshiro snorts. "No, wouldn't you be put up as missing? Unless no one actually missed you." Momoshiro squishes his cheek closer against Kaidoh's shoulder. Well, at least one person missed him.

Kaidoh shoves Momoshiro with his elbow. "Shut up, my parents would." Then he frowns. "I really hope they don't think Hazue and I are … well, you know. I wish they knew we were okay."

They probably do. "We're okay … we'll be okay. Hey, at least you know, we didn't leave anyone special behind, like a girlfriend or anything. That would suck. They would think we're dead, and try to move on, and when we'd see them again, they've have another guy! That would really suck. Good thing you can't seem to get a girlfriend," says Momoshiro teasingly.

"I wouldn't want one, idiot," Kaidoh grumbles. Nearly all his experience with girls has been an uncomfortable nightmare. But isn't a matter of him not being able to get a girlfriend—no, in all likelihood, it probably is. But it's not like he's ever even _tried_ to in the first place. He's always had more important things to think about.

_You better not._ Is the first thought that crosses Momoshiro's mind. Kaidoh having a girlfriend would kind of ruin what they have. They definitely wouldn't be sitting here like this if he did, and they definitely wouldn't be fooling around with each other, alone and naked in their hut. The thought alone makes Momoshiro's cheeks warm up a little bit. He definitely does not want to give up on that, so he's glad, that Kaidoh can't get a girlfriend to save his life.

"Not like a girl would want you too, dumbass," says Momoshiro. And he's glad that's true. He gathers some mashed potatoes with his chopstick, failing a little bit and having to try twice, and brings it up to Kaidoh's face.

Kaidoh rolls his eyes. "Well whatever," he says dismissively, not going to argue with Momoshiro on that point, since it's not like he wants girls to want him. That would be stupid, and awkward, and kind of scary. He already gets flustered enough when girls simply give him compliments. Well, no, he gets flustered when those come from anyone, actually.

He doesn't seem too flustered by the feeding anymore though, as he takes the potatoes off Momoshiro's chopsticks without even a protest, and rolls them around in his mouth before swallowing and adding, "I don't care if they do anyway, you can have them." Although he'd kind of rather Momoshiro didn't. But Momoshiro likes girls—he's made that much pretty clear—so maybe he's looking forward to getting home and finding some nice girl to date. Well, fine then, if he wants to be stupid like that.

"I don't have to have them," huffs Momoshiro. "They drop at my feet, I can pick them out if I want to." Not that he really wants to … not anymore actually.

Momoshiro might act and talk like he's some big hot stuff, and has got a fanclub of girl chasing him, but the cold reality is that he doesn't. He's friendly, outgoing, and can make people laugh—but a lot of girls see him as childish, and not date material. Even Tachibana An said so, and she's been the only girl he's dated so far. He used to like her, had a small crush on her, and they went out for about two months, perhaps even shorter, and realized, they were just not very compatible. Ever since then, Momoshiro hasn't had a girlfriend since.

It probably has to do with the fact that he wasn't really looking, and he's unemployed. No one wants to date someone who's unemployed.

Kaidoh doesn't seem to mind though.

Not that _they're_ dating. Hah! Preposterous. That's stupid. besides, they're both guys. Momoshiro likes girls, and he definitely doesn't like Kaidoh.

Even if they're sitting here, holding hands, snuggled up against each other, and Momoshiro feeding him food.

Yeah, they're just … being Momoshiro and Kaidoh together. It's definitely not part of anything that resembles 'dating' or 'like', that would be really gross. And Momoshiro doesn't like to think about that, because it makes him feel queasy, excited, guilty, ashamed, and kind of fluttery. Those thoughts are better left in the corner of his mind, a subject which he shouldn't touch upon, because it could ruin what they have right now. As long as it's undefined, then maybe, just maybe, they can stretch this out longer.

Momoshiro plays around with the mashed potatoes left on Kaidoh's plate, picking at it, and swirling the mass around. Yeah, as long as it doesn't get put into words, then it's okay. They can get away with anything. He finally brings some more food to Kaidoh's mouth, which he takes, and despite his inner thoughts, he thinks nothing of it, it's like second nature to him now. Feeding Kaidoh that is. And perhaps being close to him and touching him wherever he's allowed. If Kaidoh had a girlfriend, then he couldn't do this.

Momoshiro doesn't want Kaidoh to get a girlfriend then. Despite the small chance of Kaidoh ever getting a girl to like him enough, Momoshiro doesn't feel like sharing. Besides, picturing Kaidoh with a girl just seems strange. Big, bulky and muscular Kaidoh, next to a petite shy girl. It's weird, and doesn't fit; Momoshiro tries to shake it from his mind.

And well, it's not like Momoshiro wants one right now. The desire to curl up against a cute girl all but left him by now. Maybe he's just not interested anymore, what with being busy with his island life. Or maybe it's because he's curled up against Kaidoh instead. Big, bulky and muscular Kaidoh. Momoshiro's eyes dart over to him as he studies Kaidoh's profile, his gaze soft and lingering.

"Not that I want to right now … anyway," says Momoshiro in a small voice. He doesn't know why he says it, why he lets Kaidoh know, but it makes him feel warmer and and content with the way things are right now.

Kaidoh smiles a little at that, although he doesn't know why he even cares. Momoshiro can do whatever the hell he wants with his life. It's not Kaidoh's problem. But hearing Momoshiro say that … it's kind of a relief. It settles the nervous edge in Kaidoh's stomach, and he has to fight the urge to say, "That's good". But that's kind of how he feels. That, for whatever reason, it's a good thing that Momoshiro doesn't want a girl right now.

But he's not about to say as much, because he doesn't want Momoshiro to think anything weird—setting aside the fact that this whole situation they have themselves in right now is kind of weird in and of itself.

Instead he just elbows Momoshiro in the side and says, "That's because no one's _actually_ dropping at your feet, dumbass." Well, technically Kaidoh probably has, a couple times before when they were fighting, but that was only because Momoshiro shoved him to the ground, and it's not like Kaidoh let Momoshiro _stay_ on his feet for much longer after that, so Kaidoh's pretty sure it doesn't count.

And besides, Kaidoh's not a girl. And he sure as hell isn't about to act like one around Momoshiro of all people. That would be stupid.

But he's not sure what to call what he's doing right now, because letting some other guy feed him and hold his hand is not really what guys do, but somehow it's become what _they_ do. It's strange that it's not stopping, that Momoshiro doesn't ever take a step back to gloat and say, "Haha, gotcha!" like it's some big joke. It doesn't feel like a joke at all, and more and more Momoshiro seems to be prodding at Kaidoh for reasons other than just to pick a fight. Maybe there's no word for that. Or maybe Kaidoh's trying his best to not think of one, because they've been doing well this long without defining it, and Kaidoh would rather not have anything change.

Momoshiro can't sit still as Kaidoh elbows him without repercussions, and mock his ability to get girls. So he stretches out his body a bit, his face now at the same level as Kaidoh's, and swiftly grabs that same cheek with his chopsticks. He pinches it a bit harder and wiggles it around as if he's a piece of sushi he needs to eat. Payback.

"Well, that's because you're always around me, and you scare them away with this kind of face!" Though to be honest, Kaidoh's face up till this point was anything but scary, more or less the opposite.

"Asshole, there's nothing scary about my face!" Kaidoh protests, swatting at Momoshiro's hand until he dislodges the chopsticks from the side of his cheek. Although, if there's any grain of truth to what Momoshiro says, then Kaidoh thinks he wouldn't mind scaring people off if it meant he gets to keep Momoshiro to himself. Which is sort of a weird and embarrassing thought to have, so Kaidoh tries to shove it out of his mind as quickly as it had entered.

Momoshiro sits back down, slumped against Kaidoh's side, and he brushes his fingers against the palm of Kaidoh's hand, softly. "You'd look a lot more pleasant if you stopped scowling so much. A smile will do wonders."

Kaidoh's brow furrows. "I don't have to smile all the time to look pleasant," he grumbles and, miraculously, manages to not scowl completely as he says it—like he's deliberately holding back to prove some kind of point. "What the hell does that even mean? There's nothing wrong with how I look normally." Besides, Kaidoh doesn't really care about looking super friendly and approachable. If he looked happy all the time, more people would try and talk to him, and the thought of that makes him anxious.

"You look like you hate everyone around you, that's not exactly a good kind of face." Momoshiro pouts his lips. "Really couldn't hurt to look like you don't hate being around me …" he mumbles very softly.

Stubbornly, he picks up the chopsticks and feeds Kaidoh some more, waiting for him to take the bite.

"I don't hate being around you, moron," Kaidoh says, because it's true, but it's also kind of embarrassing to not be throwing back something insulting instead. So he uses the food presented in front of his mouth as an excuse to shut himself up.

Something bounces off Momoshiro's chest, and his fingers feel warmer than normal. "Then stop being so grumpy," he says as he pulls his chopsticks back. He'd like to be able to enjoy his time with Kaidoh without him looking so damn grumpy all the time. A smiley and happy looking Kaidoh would be so nice to have around.

And kind of weird too, since Momoshiro is used to Kaidoh being a thorn in his eye.

"Smile some more!" Momoshiro suggests in a cheerful voice. "And if you don't want to smile to everyone … just do it to me." Just like he wants Kaidoh to do other specific things only to him.

Kaidoh rolls his eyes. "I can't just smile on command," he says, sounding a bit thrown by the idea. "That would be weird." He'd look stupid wearing a big toothy grin like Momoshiro often does. It's not his fault his mouth just naturally curls this way … well, that and he's often annoyed by stuff and it shows on his face.

Momoshiro grins. "I bet I could make you smile …" His eyes look down at Kaidoh's side. "You don't happen to be ticklish, right?"

Kaidoh narrows his eyes at Momoshiro. "I'll punch you," he warns.

"Is that a yes?" Momoshiro teases, leaning in closer.

"Asshole, I'll seriously hit you in the face," Kaidoh protests, his free hand curling into a fist to show he's serious about his threat. No one's tickled him and gotten away with it. Well, not that anyone's really tried … he doesn't let most people close enough to have the chance in the first place.

"That's a yeeeeeess," Momoshiro drawls out excitedly. He finally lets go of Kaidoh's hand, which Kaidoh had been squeezing a bit harder to show he meant his threat (not that Momoshiro cares). Now he turns his entire body to face Kaidoh, one arm around Kaidoh's back, the other in front of his stomach, and his fingers flexing and ready to tickle.

"I'm going to make you laugh—that's much better than a smile!" Momoshiro grins and leans his chin on Kaidoh's shoulder. A punch in the face will be worth it.

Kaidoh grabs the hand Momoshiro has poised over the front of his tank top. "No, you're not," he argues, feeling his face heat up. "You're just going to piss me off." If there's any smiling or laughing happening, it will be completely against Kaidoh's will. Because tickling is stupid.

Momoshiro tries to pull his hand free, giggling at the prospect of tickling Kaidoh—one thing he's never done before—but Kaidoh's being a dickhead and is too stubborn to let him go. Well fine; he's still got one free hand! With a devilish grin, Momoshiro's left hand sneaks around Kaidoh's waist, and starts lightly poking his side with his index finger.

Kaidoh lets out an undignified yelp and flinches away from Momoshiro's finger, ending up shoving into Momoshiro's chest in the process.

"Stop it," he grumbles, directed at himself as much as it is to Momoshiro. He's annoyed at the way his body keeps betraying him and squirming each time Momoshiro's finger jabs into his side, despite his best efforts to not give Momoshiro the satisfaction of getting a reaction out of him.

Momoshiro simply laughs, though he's a bit disappointed Kaidoh's not the one laughing, but hey, his reactions are always funny.

"No way," he says, and jabs his fingers into Kaidoh's side again. And when Kaidoh jerks away in response, Momoshiro frees his other hand in the process. Now he's got both hands; time for a full tickle attack.

Momoshiro lets out a battle roar, and pushes Kaidoh down onto the floor, getting on top of him. He lets his fingers tickle his chest, his stomach, his sides, everywhere he can think of in this small time frame where Kaidoh hasn't punched his face yet.

Kaidoh twists and squirms around underneath Momoshiro but he's not agile enough to escape Momoshiro's fingers, which only makes him even more frustrated and squirmy. He can't even concentrate long enough to throw Momoshiro off of him, he's too focused on trying to keep from making embarrassing noises, while still remembering to take in air.

Then when Momoshiro pokes his finger into his side, just under his ribcage, a sharp, strangled bark of laughter bubbles out of Kaidoh's throat before he can stop it, and Kaidoh, mortified, lets out a growl and throws a frantic punch. But his body isn't cooperating. He's flailing around too much to get a clear shot and ends up socking Momoshiro in the side of his head—which really fucking stings his knuckles—instead of hitting him squarely in his face like he'd have liked. Well, he's lucky he managed to hit anything at all, given how helpless a position he's in.

Momoshiro tries not to wince at the blow to his head, but it's not hard to ignore it, not when Kaidoh is desperately trying to prevent himself from making any noises. Squirming underneath him, face red and agitated—but that golden sound of laughter is still ringing in Momoshiro's ears, even if it was short lived.

So Kaidoh _can_ laugh.

It makes Momoshiro smile and forget about the pain Kaidoh is trying to inflict upon him, he feels like he always does when they have one of their fights, pumping adrenaline coursing through his veins, and hands touching everywhere. Only this time, he's not trying to hurt Kaidoh, but force him to laugh.

It's making Momoshiro laugh, as if it's some kind of contagious disease. Or maybe he's just pretty happy at the moment. Or maybe he just really wants to hear Kaidoh laugh again. A sound so rare, Momoshiro can hardly recall a time where he's heard Kaidoh's laughter. So he wants to treasure it—hear it again.

So his hands go back to work as they rub, poke, and pinch Kaidoh's skin where he knows people are very sensitive. Momoshiro tries to dodge Kaidoh's dangerous fists, which are becoming more sporadic, and without aim, as he tries to get away from his fingers which are making him twitch and squirm, and Momoshiro's loving every second of it. He tries to keep Kaidoh down, pinned beneath him, but one wrong aim of Kaidoh's fist, brushes up against his own side. He jerks away at the touch, cackling out a loud laugh in response.

"Nghhaah." Momoshiro promptly shuts his mouth.

Right, Momoshiro almost forgot he's extremely ticklish as well. He was hoping, or relying on, Kaidoh's nature to be a grump and not try to return the favour. As weird as it is to see Kaidoh laugh because he _is_ ticklish, it's even weirder to see him try to tickle Momoshiro in return. He probably won't do it. So Momoshiro tries to brush it off as an accidental bump, and goes back to attacking Kaidoh's stomach, sticking one hand underneath it for skin-on-skin contact.

"Asshole, cut it out!" Kaidoh gasps, but hardly manages to sound threatening when the syllables are all punctuated by sharp, wheezing breaths and then Momoshiro's fingers manage a particularly accurate jab and his protest turns into a choked laugh instead.

But he's not enjoying this! In fact, he feels like kicking Momoshiro's ass right now, but it's hard to fight against his body's reactions every time Momoshiro's fingers find a sensitive spot, and he knows Momoshiro notices because he's exploiting all of those spots mercilessly. Even punching doesn't seem to be doing much to deter Momoshiro. Not that Kaidoh can even seem to land a punch anywhere that hurts.

So he decides to go for a different tactic and tries to pry his own hands under Momoshiro's fingers, but it's hard when Momoshiro won't stop moving them, and Kaidoh's own body won't seem to hold still under their onslaught. Eventually he manages to catch one of Momoshiro's hands and he holds it in a death grip and glares at Momoshiro. But before Kaidoh can catch Momoshiro's other hand, it pokes into Kaidoh's stomach again, making Kaidoh wheeze out an unwanted laugh through his gritted teeth. His whole body flinches too, and he ends up kneeing Momoshiro in the thigh—on accident, but it startles Momoshiro enough that Kaidoh is able to make a grab for his other hand. He holds onto them both now and looks up at Momoshiro, tight-lipped—afraid of the noises his treacherous mouth seems to want to make—and trying to ignore the lingering itchy feelings crawling over his torso.

"Stop," he repeats grumpily, his voice sounding strained and defeated and still out of breath.

Momoshiro tries to free his hands, tugging at Kaidoh's arms, but he's stubbornly not letting go, and hissing at him.

"But why!" he whines, his voice already slipping into a laugh. He leans his entire body down so he can hover his face right above Kaidoh's. "Mamushi's actually _ticklish_—who would have thought?" He must take advantage of this discovery! He grins at Kaidoh's distressed face. "And you can laugh after all … soooo."

"So?!" Kaidoh retorts, his face now an angry shade of red. "That doesn't mean I want to!" Any laughter that happened just now happened against his will and Momoshiro knows it.

"I wanna!" Momoshiro says with a giggle. He tries to break free again, but doesn't seem to have much strength in him anymore, not after enjoying himself like that. "Let go!" he says.

"Hell no," Kaidoh growls, tightening his hold on both Momoshiro's hands. "Not if you're going to do that again."

Momoshiro tightens his lips into a suppressed smile, as he tries to look serious again. "Promise," he lies.

Kaidoh raises his eyebrows and gives Momoshiro a skeptical look. Then he huffs. "If I punch you again, I'm not going to miss," he says finally, and, a bit reluctantly, lets go of Momoshiro's hands.

"Whatever." Momoshiro's fingers are twitching and aching to reunite with Kaidoh's skin again—but he restrains himself. He'll have to distract Kaidoh first. Well, that's easy.

Momoshiro leans down towards Kaidoh's face even more, quickly planting his lips on Kaidoh's open mouth (lately the snake doesn't even so much as flinch or move away when he does it). He sucks on it a little, then tries to block Kaidoh's view from his arms, which are sneaking down towards his sides.

Even though Kaidoh is still feeling a little short of breath from the earlier torture, he doesn't really mind feeling breathless if it's because of this. He hisses softly, like he's still trying to keep up the pretense of a protest, before letting his eyes close and pressing his mouth back against Momoshiro's. At least this kind of touch is something he can tolerate, although he'd probably feel a little more comfortable if he weren't still pinned underneath Momoshiro, since, up until a few seconds ago, that was a pretty dangerous place to be. Which might be why he's still got one hand balled into a fist, ready to defend himself.

The tingling sensation of their lips slowly moving together makes Momoshiro's mind a little hazy, like there's a lot less incentive to tickle Kaidoh again. As much as he loves hearing the snake laugh, he does enjoy this whole lot more.

Momoshiro smiles pleasantly against Kaidoh's lips, pressing against them harder, and sucking at it just the way he likes. His hands lower at Kaidoh's side, but this time his fingers aren't itching anymore. He always tends to lose track of his objective when Kaidoh's mouth is on his, demanding all his attention. Instead, his hand lightly presses down on Kaidoh's bicep, trailing it down to his hand—which is enclosed in a fist. Slowly he tries to pry it open so he can slip his fingers between Kaidoh's, and after a bit of kissing and wiggling in there, Kaidoh's fist relaxes and Momoshiro can entwine their hands together.

This is nice too.

Momoshiro's lips pull away from Kaidoh, but he leaves their mouths close together, in case they'll kiss again. He smiles as he stares at Kaidoh's closed eyes. "I guess you don't want to stop this, huh," he says in a smug voice.

Kaidoh's eyes blink open and he immediately gives Momoshiro an annoyed look like he's suggesting something totally embarrassing. Which it is, even if it also happens to be the truth.

"Shut up, dumbass," he grumbles, while at the same time squeezing Momoshiro's hand.

"My pleasure," hums Momoshiro, and he presses his lips on Kaidoh's again. Now he can't decide whether or not to tickle Kaidoh again. It would definitely interrupt their fun-time, and he'd get a black eye, probably. But Kaidoh's laughter is addicting! He wants to hear it again.

… Not that what they're doing now isn't addicting either.

Well, he can have a little bit of fun before prodding again, so he keeps their lips smacked together, kissing and sucking slowly. His fingers keep brushing against Kaidoh's, playing with his fingertips.

Kaidoh easily forgets any embarrassment or irritation once their mouths are back on each other's again, pushing gently back and forth. Somehow something that was once stressful to even contemplate doing is now almost the opposite. Which is, in itself, kind of stressful, because what the hell? But Kaidoh's not about to question it and run the risk of having it stop. Because Momoshiro's right—Kaidoh doesn't want this to stop.

His teeth tug a little on Momoshiro's bottom lip and, in an effort to keep Momoshiro from pulling back to talk again, he slides his free hand up and around to the back of Momoshiro's head so he can keep him close. Although Momoshiro seems to have gotten the message and doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

One of Momoshiro's hands glides down Kaidoh's chest, towards his stomach and … goes right back up. Alright, so maybe he had wanted to tickle Kaidoh, but with the way things are right now, he's getting kind of blown away by fizzly and pleasurable feelings that are way better than attacking an unwilling Kaidoh. _This_ Kaidoh however, is very willing to continue kissing. It's kind of strange the way it happened, to be so comfortable with kissing. To be able to call it kissing period. But it's what they're doing; lips suckling on each other and Kaidoh is making sure to keep Momoshiro trapped so he can't escape. Not that he wants to. And shouldn't it be the other way around? He's the one on top of Kaidoh after all.

Kaidoh's teeth playfully tug on Momoshiro's bottom lip again, quietly demanding attention. Well, he's got Momoshiro's full attention. Kaidoh always gets his attention, even if there's some lovely food around them that Momoshiro would love to eat—Kaidoh just has this way of quietly screaming 'look at me'. Or perhaps 'kiss me'. The image of Kaidoh telling Momoshiro to kiss him, makes his heart jump inside of his chest, and his fingers squeeze Kaidoh's hand even harder.

That … seems so out of reach. So forbidden. To talk about it, to ask for it, to admit they're doing it. But to be honest, Momoshiro _does_ want it, and he likes it too. Yet it still seems like some huge mountain to overcome to come right out and say; hey, let's kiss. It's silly and stupid, but imagining Kaidoh saying that to him makes his heart race once more.

But right now, they are strictly non-verbal. Kaidoh did tell him to shut up after all. And if anything, Kaidoh seems to be asking for Momoshiro to open his mouth, what with the way his teeth are biting on his lips again. So Momoshiro complies. He opens his mouth, and can feel Kaidoh do the same, then he swiftly slips his tongue inside, meeting up in the middle with Kaidoh's hot and smoldering tongue. His body shivers at the sensation. No matter how many times they manage to do this, it still feels good and almost like a fantasy—too good to be true.

Kaidoh's tongue swipes against Momoshiro's and he feels electricity shudder through him clear down to his toes. His heart is pounding now, steadily speeding up as Momoshiro's mouth becomes more demanding against his own and Kaidoh can't help but respond.

He runs his tongue over Momoshiro's, and presses until he's pushed his way into Momoshiro's mouth instead, where he rolls his tongue around a bit, before drawing it out again, letting it linger over Momoshiro's bottom lip and then slipping heatedly against Momoshiro's tongue once more. This always feels like muscle memory to him, requiring almost no thought at all but still managing to send every nerve-ending in his body into a state of high alert.

Kaidoh likes the way he can feel Momoshiro tense and shiver with each changing movement, the way his fingers clench around his own, so tightly Kaidoh can feel his pulse. It mirrors the anxious and excited pounding in his own chest, and it somehow eases away any lingering embarrassment to know that Momoshiro is just as into this too. It's been like that from the beginning; neither one of them holds back when it comes to this. If either of them did, it probably would never have gotten this far.

Kaidoh's fingers trail down through Momoshiro's hair and curl around the back of his neck, his fingertips pressing solid, yet gentle, circles into the skin. It's something he wouldn't do freely any other time but when they're like this it feels like it's allowed, like he has an excuse, like he can get away with being gentle or affectionate or any number of things.

And it's something Momoshiro likes. The warm feeling of Kaidoh's hand wrapped around his neck, his fingers pressing down like a comforting presence that won't go away. It's _very_ comfortable, and also a little exciting. Like Kaidoh is fine with keeping him here, with holding him like this. Momoshiro is more than fine with it.

He slurps up Kaidoh's tongue, his own moist lips sliding over his tongue as he pulls back a little, before coming back to meet Kaidoh's mouth again. He could do this for ages. Usually however, that doesn't happen. Things always ... escalate. It's hard to continue sitting on top of Kaidoh, with their tongues entangled, and not feel like there's something about to happen. Something more, something better. Momoshiro knows exactly how this situation will play out.

Like it has, many times before. Yet each time it happens, it still feels like some kind of dream, like Momoshiro is making the whole thing up, and he's just having horny fantasies about Kaidoh. But he's not, it's real, as real as Kaidoh's tongue and his hand, refusing to leave Momoshiro alone. And not only that, they agreed, didn't they? To continue this thing they share with each other. It's probably the most verbal they will ever be regarding this issue, but Momoshiro is glad his big mouth started talking before he could stop himself, because now he doesn't feel anxious, now he's not scared.

Now he simply feels excited at doing it again with Kaidoh. Because he knows … it _will_ happen.

And Kaidoh doesn't seem to be rejecting his advances, in fact, he's into it as much as Momoshiro is. Their previous tickle attack has long been forgotten by now. Even the food on Kaidoh's plate, lies there cold and alone.

Wait, food. Hey, Kaidoh didn't finish it. Momoshiro tries to focus his mind as Kaidoh swirls his tongue around his, causing him to let out a strange groan from the back of his throat.

Right, he had food. He made dinner for Kaidoh which he didn't even finish. Oh, and the dessert!

Momoshiro separates their lips, taking in a deep breath and readying himself to speak. "Wh—" he manages to say before Kaidoh quickly sticks his tongue in his open mouth. The rest of the words are muffled, and Momoshiro twists his hand into the fabric of Kaidoh's shirt, pulling them both closer. Ahh, this is not good, if Kaidoh keeps doing this, Momoshiro is sure he'll forget all about food. Hmm … Kaidoh ... or food. Both sound really good together.

Again, Momoshiro parts from Kaidoh to take another breath. "Wait," he finally manages to say. His eyes are half open and feel tired and heavy—his entire body feels heavy. Kaidoh looks up at him, irritated to have to wait, but still looks as disheveled as Momoshiro.

"I've got ... balls," says Momoshiro in a hitched breath.

Kaidoh's forehead creases in bewilderment and he narrows his eyes at Momoshiro. "I … know that, moron," he says slowly. Why the hell is Momoshiro interrupting their thing to tell him this? Actually, why the hell is Momoshiro talking right now at all?

"What."

Kaidoh's expression turns into more of a scowl. "What do you mean 'what'?" he demands, sounding impatient. The more he's having to talk, the stuffier the air between them is starting to feel. "What's your point?" He really hopes Momoshiro has one; now is not a time when Kaidoh can tolerate his pointless rambling.

"My balls! They're on the plate still." Momoshiro frowns. "The coconutballs, you idiot. Not my own."

Kaidoh blinks. "Oh," he says dumbly. He huffs and loosens his grip on Momoshiro's hand and around his neck. "So what, you're … hungry?" Somehow his voice comes out sounding a bit insulted, like he's offended that Momoshiro would get so easily distracted by the idea of food. He's not sure why he's surprised though, it _is_ Momoshiro, after all. He can probably sense food from miles away.

Momoshiro takes his time before answering, looking down at Kaidoh, who is slowly starting to squirm beneath his body. The warm hand on his neck now feels hesitant and uncertain, as if he can't make up his mind whether or not he's allowed to do this anymore. Momoshiro wants to say; it's okay. But again—talking seems like a mountain he hasn't overcome yet. Instead he looks down at their hands together, which also feels reluctant.

"No … I mean …" Momoshiro looks back up at Kaidoh again, feeling a bit bashful. "I just made them for you … that's all."

"Oh. Uh." Kaidoh glances away, feeling awkward, and then looks back at Momoshiro. "Thanks … I mean, whatever … Do you want to eat them right now or something?" he asks, still confused about why Momoshiro suddenly brought them up and interrupted their kissing just as it was starting to get exciting.

"Uhh …" Momoshiro feels awkward as well; Kaidoh's rubbing off on him. He didn't mean to eat it right now, it was just … a friendly reminder. Or something. "Well I guess they'll still be good till tomorrow morning," he says. And it's true, it can stay in shape for two days at least. But he did want to eat them today, it was just something he wanted to make Kaidoh happy with.

Kaidoh looks anything but happy right now though. Damn, he should have just kept his mouth shut.

Momoshiro's fingers uncurl from Kaidoh's shirt, and he sits up straight, feeling like he's put on the spot when they're so close to each other and talking instead of kissing. He clears his throat and averts his gaze from Kaidoh. "Unless you want to eat them right now."

Kaidoh's mouth pinches into a frown. "No, I …" _want to be doing something else right now_, is that he wants to say, anyway, but that sounds mortifying even in his head, so there's no way he'd let those words leave his mouth. "I'm fine," he finishes instead, and glances down at the front of his tank top, which is looking kind of rumpled now.

"Right, okay then." Momoshiro scrunches up his nose as he tries to think of what else to say. Or do. It's weird now, they're both aware of what they're doing, yet neither of them is addressing it.

It's stupid, that's what it is. If Momoshiro can easily kiss Kaidoh without any sort of embarrassment, then he should have no trouble regaining the momentum they lost right now. Though Kaidoh isn't helping, not with that face, the face that says 'I hate you, why did you talk, this is awkward'. At least it's still sort of cute, since his cheeks are coloured red again. Momoshiro snorts, and lifts his hand up to Kaidoh's face.

He pinches Kaidoh's cheek. "You look stupid," he says. But not really. Momoshiro smiles at him; they can go back to not being awkward again. As long as someone takes the first step.

"You look stupider," Kaidoh retorts weakly, his hand sliding from Momoshiro's neck to his shirt collar and tugging at the material, like he does when he's trying to pick a fight. Only this time he's not pulling very hard, and he doesn't look like he wants to punch Momoshiro either.

"You're the stupidest," Momoshiro fires back with a grin. His own hand glides back to Kaidoh's chest as well, fingers curling around the fabric. Why does Kaidoh not walk around shirtless?

Kaidoh hisses and twists his fingers into Momoshiro's shirt so that his knuckles press against Momoshiro's collarbone. "Dumbass," he grumbles. "You're the stupid one, not me."

Momoshiro rolls his eyes. "Do you want to take this off for me?" he asks, referring to the way Kaidoh is gripping his shirt.

Well, Kaidoh certainly wouldn't object, but he's not about to agree to something embarrassing like that. Especially not when Momoshiro asks it so bluntly. So instead Kaidoh gives Momoshiro a challenging look and says, in a tone that suggests he thinks Momoshiro is helpless, "What, you can't take it off yourself?"

"Hmpf." Momoshiro pushes against Kaidoh's chest to heave himself off from Kaidoh's body, finally freeing him. He stands up straight, turning away from Kaidoh. "Let's just undress," he says as he tugs at the hem of his shirt to take it off. They have to go to sleep sometime.

Kaidoh kind of gapes at Momoshiro's back for a moment, before rising to his feet as well. "Uh, yeah. Okay," he says hesitantly, feeling a little uncertain about what exactly he's agreeing to here.

Momoshiro pulls off his shirt, messing up his hair in the process, but it was already a bit messy when Kaidoh's fingers were in it. He smiles to himself as he tries to fold his shirt in a sort of neat way. At least Kaidoh is getting more assertive. He dumps his shirt next to his bed, then tugs off his socks, trying to not look like a total spaz as he hops around on one leg. Then his brown shorts are next; he wedges his thumbs underneath the waistband and starts pulling it off till it pools at his ankles, leaving him standing there with his white boxershorts with heart prints on them. This is … kind of weird, what with Kaidoh behind him, and he can hear the ruffling sounds of fabric moving as well.

Momoshiro hopes they can continue where they left off, just kissing. But sleep is also important. Maybe … Momoshiro looks at his bed, remembering the times he and Kaidoh laid there together after doing _that_. That usually happens afterwards though, but perhaps, they can … together … now? It sounds like a nice idea in his head, to sleep against Kaidoh's warm body during the night. And just as fast as that thought entered his head, he pushes it out, shaking his head and frowning at his own blush spreading on his cheeks.

He keeps his back turned to Kaidoh—stupid red cheeks—and shuffles on his spot. "Done?" he asks.

Kaidoh has managed to get his shirt, shorts, and shoes off and all lined up neatly near the foot of his bed, and now he's just standing awkwardly behind Momoshiro, feeling exposed and also like a creep for staring. So he looks down at the floor instead.

"I guess so," he says, still sounding hesitant. He's got one finger hooked in the waistband of his boxer shorts. Well, is he supposed to lose those too? He shifts his weight from one foot to the other like he's waiting for a cue from Momoshiro on what to do next.

"Oh," says Momoshiro as he sees his shadow flicker on the wall. "Gotta blow out those candles."

Momoshiro turns around, avoiding Kaidoh for a tiny bit, and bends down at their table to blow out two of the three candles, each blow making the room darker and darker. The third candle however, is nearly burnt out, so Momoshiro decides to leave it, it'll give them a bit more light until they fall asleep. His eyes blink in the dark, gauging where Kaidoh is, who is somewhere behind him, being a creep.

It's a totally stupid and ridiculous thought, not to mention embarrassing, but today, Momoshiro feels like nothing should be embarrassing anymore. Instead, he thinks he'd be okay with sleeping next to Kaidoh's body. For his warmth, that is. Not because he wants to be close or anything. Totally not …

It's hard to come right out and ask for it though. Yo, wanna sleep with me? It sounds ridiculous and stupid, not to mention completely mortifying, and Momoshiro is kind of tongue tied here.

Kaidoh's eyes start to adjust to the dimmer lighting and he looks back at Momoshiro, feeling like he should say something, but somehow words seem a lot harder with fewer items of clothing to cover them. And what would Kaidoh say anyway?

He takes an awkward, and apparently poorly navigated step forward, a little closer to Momoshiro, but ends up bumping his shin against the table in the middle of the room instead and curses under his breath. Real smooth. At least he didn't knock anything over.

"Watch it," says Momoshiro with a chuckle. His hand reaches out for Kaidoh's leg, trying to see where he got hit and if he's not bleeding, or has a splinter stuck in it. Momoshiro has a nasty memory of having that huge splinter in his back that one time.

He decides Kaidoh can live with the damage, and retrieves his hand. "Idiot," he mumbles. He finally gets up, facing Kaidoh in the very dim light of the last candle. He's undressed alright, and Momoshiro doesn't know why this makes him feel all fluttery and nervous again. He tries not to stare. _Tries._

So how does one get a guy into bed anyway?

Maybe Momoshiro can just push Kaidoh into his bed, maybe then he'll get the message. Or maybe he'll get pissed at Momoshiro for pushing him, and punch him in the face. Okay, well, plan B then. He could lure Kaidoh into bed. And that sounds really fucking gross, like he's some demon luring men into bed. Ew, gross.

Is asking really the only option?

Momoshiro grits his teeth and looks away from Kaidoh, down at their bare feet. "So …" he starts. "Uhm …" This is pretty awkward to ask for. "Do you want to …" He gestures towards his bed and hopes that conveys his message. Thank god it's too dark in the room to see him blushing. If Kaidoh says no right now, he might just stab him with a splinter in his back.

Kaidoh feels something clench in his throat, like a bunch of words are jammed in there but he can't seem to get any of them out. His face feels warm and he doesn't have anything to hide it behind anymore, and even his fingers feel aimless without a pocket to stuff them in. He looks down at the floor of the hut too, like he and Momoshiro are both studying the same very interesting floorboard.

"Yeah ..." he says finally. It's low and drawn out and he sounds like he's amazed to hear his voice come out at all. It makes him flush even redder, but it's not like he can take it back now. He looks up again, his eyes still nervous, and cautiously reaches towards Momoshiro for his hand, finding his fingers and trapping them between his own. He can't take that back either, nor can he very easily brush it off as being accidental. Well, maybe for once it's okay for him to not have an excuse.

Momoshiro feels his entire body light up like a christmas tree, a warm and fuzzy feeling filling him up, coming from Kaidoh's hand which is curled around his own. It's there, completely voluntarily, just like everything else they're doing is done on purpose, though a bit hesitant, as if they're testing out the waters. But it's been how many months now? Since this all started. It's been long enough that Momoshiro shouldn't be afraid of doing what he wants, so he tightens his grip on Kaidoh's hand—not wanting to let go of him—and takes a step forward to him.

As if they're two puzzle pieces that fit together perfectly, Momoshiro pulls Kaidoh closer, tugging gently on his hand, until they meet up, meshing together in this dimly lit room. Their warm chests softly press into each other, their waists connecting, and Momoshiro almost steps on Kaidoh's foot. He laughs a bit nervously at his mistake, but doesn't pull away, doesn't let go of Kaidoh's hand, instead he runs his other hand up on Kaidoh's back, and presses his face against the smooth skin of Kaidoh's shoulder. He can feel Kaidoh's heartbeat pound softly against his chest, like a steady and comforting presence that he's there. That this is real.

This is not something Momoshiro could ever get enough of. It's already amazing he can do this, with Kaidoh not pulling away at all. Instead they stay like that, embracing each other and quietly enjoying it.

Momoshiro sighs against Kaidoh's skin, closing his eyes. When it's just the two of them like this, nothing else seems to matter. He's glad they live alone. Which reminds him …

"... You locked the door, right?" he mumbles against Kaidoh's shoulder. His fingers fan out on Kaidoh's back, moving down until they hook around his waist.

"Oh," Kaidoh says, embarrassed. He forgot about that. It still hasn't really become second nature to him … maybe because he hasn't quite broken the expectation that he'll be going out running again later, or maybe because he's still embarrassed that they have a need to lock the door in the first place. Like locking the door makes what they're doing somehow more deliberate and planned, and much harder to ignore.

He pulls back a little, seeming reluctant to do so, and then finally takes a step backwards as well so there's space between them again, although he doesn't let go of Momoshiro's hand right away. The distance only makes Kaidoh more self-conscious about what they're doing, and why locking the door might actually be important. After all, he'd be mortified if anyone walked in on them right now and at the moment all he's doing is holding Momoshiro's hand.

"I'll um…" he starts, sounding uncertain, "I'll do that now."

"Okay," says Momoshiro. He'd rather not anyone walk in on them right now. Or ever. He likes the privacy they share together, even if it's embarrassing. But it'd be more embarrassing if someone saw them. Like this, holding hands. Momoshiro finally loosens his grip and his fingers slip away from Kaidoh's.

"I'll …" Momoshiro doesn't want to finish that sentence. Instead he just turns around and saunters over towards his own bed. He hopes Kaidoh isn't having second thoughts, and will return to Momoshiro's bed and not his own. Just the thought that this could all go wrong, that Kaidoh would reject it and perhaps even make fun of him, makes the palms of his hands sweaty and sticky. He wipes it off in his boxers and then kicks at his bedsheets for some distraction.

Momoshiro can hear Kaidoh walk to the door—it's not that far, since this is a small room—and he tries not to pay attention to the way his feet sound like in this silent night. The way the floorboards creak with each step. As if they're setting everything up, making sure everything will go alright. That no one can see them at least. Not that anyone will in the middle of the night, but still, they might in the morning. Momoshiro takes off the blanket from his bed; it's small and narrow. Alright for one person, but for two people, it does get quite cramped. Momoshiro doesn't know if that's a bad thing, or, when he thinks about Kaidoh's warm chest against his, and his legs entangled together, a really good thing. He'll settle for it being a good thing, and tries to squish down that weird thought in the back of his mind that is saying 'just make the bed bigger for two people'.

He slips under the covers and pushes himself up against the side of the wall to make space for Kaidoh, which is right next to him. He looks over at Kaidoh, but can barely see him as the candle is starting to slowly fade out. He smooths his hands out against the blanket, riding over his own knees, as if he needs to give his hands something to do, otherwise it's too quiet.

The door makes an embarrassingly loud click as it locks shut and Kaidoh simultaneously blushes and grimaces at the sound, like it's announcing to the night that he and Momoshiro want some privacy to do private things. And while that may be the truth, Kaidoh sure as hell doesn't want to think about it that way, because it's mortifying.

He huffs and pads back over the floorboards, toward the table where the candle has now burned down almost entirely, casting very little light over the room. But there's enough for Kaidoh to make out Momoshiro's shape in the bed and seeing him there makes a nervous feeling shiver around in Kaidoh's stomach, and he hesitates, stealing a glance over at his own bed before looking back again. But luckily he doesn't have time to second-guess this, because his feet have already made up their mind and start moving again, like they're being pulled along by some invisible string, until Kaidoh's over at Momoshiro's bed.

His movements are stilted and even a little tense as he sits down on the edge of the bed, like he's still not sure he's allowed to do this, like he's still not sure he's going to allow _himself_ to do this. In the darkness he looks over at Momoshiro for reassurance. Is this really okay?

"Move closer," says Momoshiro. He's thankful for the darkness, as Kaidoh can't tell how red he is for saying that. For wanting him to be closer. "... You'll fall out otherwise," he says, as if he needs to have a reason for getting Kaidoh to come closer. Other than wanting him near.

Momoshiro scoots over a tiny bit more, propping himself up on his elbow, and flips over the blanket so Kaidoh can come and … well … lie in it … with him. For once Momoshiro isn't cold anymore, not with the way his skin keeps heating up. But even the thought of lying next to Kaidoh makes his cheeks glow warmer. This should really stop being embarrassing, he just wants to sleep like this. Together. Without any questions asked, or anyone to bother them.

Kaidoh slides in a little, blushing when his leg brushes against Momoshiro's. "Sorry," he mumbles awkwardly, like he's suddenly worried about crowding Momoshiro's personal space. He's not sure why the proximity is making his heart race. It's not like it is anything new to him, but it seems different from anything they've done before, because now it feels like something they've consciously decided on. Which is a little scary, but not scary enough to make Kaidoh want to leave.

What was it that Momoshiro said a little while ago? This should stop being embarrassing already? It's true, and Momoshiro is a bit irritated with the way Kaidoh is hyperconscious of the way their skin is touching, and it's making Momoshiro self aware as well. He doesn't want to be though, so he bites the bullet.

"Just lie down already," he says with a huff. And then, without giving Kaidoh the opportunity to lie down on his own, he throws an arm around Kaidoh's body and pushes him down flat against the pillow, and flings the blanket over the both of them, so it rests at their shoulders.

And now … they're really, really close together underneath this blanket. While Momoshiro can't see, he knows how close his face is to Kaidoh's, and there's definitely a lot of touching involved. Their legs are touching, and their hips are too, not to mention Momoshiro still has one arm around Kaidoh, which he drops down to rest at his warm waist.

He feels happy, that Kaidoh is here, that he didn't decide to go to sleep on his own after all. It's like as soon as they touch, as soon as they're this close, it doesn't matter anymore, thinking about what ifs, and whether or not it's allowed. Once they're like this … Momoshiro doesn't care about anything else anymore. He shuffles around until he's lying on his side, then takes the brave move of pushing himself closer to Kaidoh, so his entire body is hogging Kaidoh's side. The tip of his nose lightly pokes Kaidoh's shoulder, and he's trying to send ESP signals to Kaidoh to turn over too.

Kaidoh isn't much of a mind reader, but he doesn't have to be because now that Momoshiro's snuggled up against him, all the fear and shyness that was making Kaidoh hesitate is replaced by a simple desire to be close to Momoshiro too.

He rolls over onto his side, and Momoshiro doesn't miss a beat, his arm sliding along with Kaidoh's body, and even curling closer, each fingertip feeling like the bulb of a heat lamp. Kaidoh doesn't need light to know that they're face to face. When Momoshiro breathes out, Kaidoh can feel it against his chin and lips, and he exhales a hiss of anticipation in response.

Momoshiro feels himself shiver a little at the sound, at the closeness of them being together. Usually such moments are reserved until after they've done their perverted thing, and even that only lasts for so long before they break up and return to being Momoshiro and Kaidoh. But right now, there is no excuse of 'I feel so good I can't tell what's going on', they're simply here, together, not moving away. The warmth of Kaidoh's body is engulfing him, making him feel kind of woozy, but in a good way, like he's just done a dunk smash but jumped too high and feels lightheaded.

Why can't it always be like this? Why is it always so awkward and hard to arrive to this point, when they both know that as soon as they're together like this, it's like they connect.

It is getting harder to deny that this is something alright. Momoshiro has been trying, to not let his thoughts wander, to not think of the ramifications that result from their actions. The meaning of what they're doing. It's a scary thought, one that makes Momoshiro's throat close up, so he tries his best to pretend everything is alright, everything is fine and okay. But when they're like this, there really is no excuse at all—and even then, Momoshiro doesn't run away in fear. He stays like this, his hand slowly moving up and down Kaidoh's waist, gently applying pressure to the naked skin.

Only moments before, he would have tickled that waist. But now, now Momoshiro is busy enjoying that fluttery feeling again in his chest, and the dizzy feeling from feeling Kaidoh's breath so close.

The candle on the table finally takes its last breath and burns out, leaving the two surrounded in darkness. But Momoshiro doesn't need to see Kaidoh to know how close they are.

He bumps his forehead against Kaidoh's, and takes in a deep breath as he feels his entire body snuggle closer, as if they can't be separated. He won't allow it. Kaidoh's forehead feels warm, and despite only his nose lightly brushing against Kaidoh's, he can also feel how warm Kaidoh's face is. It's a comforting thought, and he would like nothing more than to stay this close to his face.

In fact, being this close makes Momoshiro want to continue what he interrupted with his balls. It's okay if it's just them, and no one is around, he can indulge in his wants and needs, meaning kissing is looking like a very good idea to him right now. He flicks his tongue over his lips to wet them, inching a tiny bit closer. Then, out of nowhere, the thought of Kaidoh asking for a kiss pops right back in his head again. It makes him feel tingly, but there's no way Kaidoh would ever say that (even if this would probably make his heart beat out of his chest), since there's no way Momoshiro would say it.

And if Momoshiro won't do it, Kaidoh sure as hell won't. That doesn't mean it wouldn't be nice to hear though.

Kaidoh blinks, he can't tell if Momoshiro is still looking at him. He can't tell if he's still looking at Momoshiro either. It's too dark now to see much of anything, but that's making all of Kaidoh's other senses heightened and alert. Momoshiro's fingers are making shivers and goosebumps race up his side, and Kaidoh doesn't understand how Momoshiro's touch can do that to him when the rest of his skin still feels warmer than an oven. He can hear their breaths echo in and out, and his heart is beating in his chest like a drum. He can smell Momoshiro's hair and skin, even the blanket smells like him. It's comforting in a way Kaidoh never expected. He's reassured by the fact that Momoshiro isn't making any effort to leave space between them, or to pull away. He's keeping close like he wants to be there, and Kaidoh wants him there, too, more than he can put into words.

Well, he doesn't need to right now; Momoshiro must know, or at least have some inkling. Kaidoh wouldn't do this with anyone else. This is something only Momoshiro can get away with.

And for some reason that's not a source of embarrassment or nervousness for Kaidoh the way it once was. He's okay with it. He lifts an arm between them and his fingers find Momoshiro's cheek and slide over it, down to his neck where they curl into the skin. And then Kaidoh bites his lip, hesitating for one final moment, before he shakily leans forward, tilting his face until he feels his mouth press over Momoshiro's.

Momoshiro's face flushes with blood and his heart skips several beats. He leans in, his lips warmly accepting Kaidoh's, the pressure between them gentle and soft.

He hadn't expected Kaidoh to do this, or perhaps Kaidoh can read his ESP signals after all. Kaidoh initiating anything like this is rare, and each time he does it, it throws Momoshiro for a loop, like he doesn't know how to respond and is overloaded with thrilling sensations. There's one thing he does know; it's that he wants more of this daring Kaidoh. It's weird, but Kaidoh kissing him first means something more than when he takes the first plunge. It feels special, _he_ feels special, what with the way Kaidoh is massaging his lips with his own, and his hand on his neck feels so caring. Yes, Momoshiro likes this Kaidoh a lot.

Kaidoh might not have used words, but the meaning is the same; _I want to kiss you._

Momoshiro slowly moves his lips along Kaidoh's warm ones; _I want to kiss you too._

And that, is all Momoshiro needs to know to be okay with this. Words are scary, but words cannot begin to describe what transpired between them both. The feelings they get, the urges that surge, the actions they make. It cannot be put into words, so why does Momoshiro even try. All that matters is that Kaidoh wants this too.

He wants to be with Momoshiro, here, in this bed, lips gently sucking on each other, and hands unable to leave their skin. If only Kaidoh knew, what Momoshiro feels when they're like this, how each touch of Kaidoh's hand is like filling him up with sunshine and goose bumps, how he seems to crave his touch more and more. But maybe he already knows, he isn't running away from it at least, and Kaidoh is good at running.

Yeah, Momoshiro is okay with this. He's okay being like this with Kaidoh.

He smiles against Kaidoh's lips, and tightens his grip around his body. Definitely okay with it.


	40. Worst Christmas

**Washed Up**

**A/N: **the boys have finally been rescued from the island. We decided not to write out the rescue, and jump straight to when Momo and Kaidoh meet up again for the first time.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo, Hazue) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- On December 17, a boat was spotted near the island, and rescued everyone on it  
- By the next day, everyone was on a plane back to Japan. Momo and Kaidoh last spoke to one another on this plane  
- Momo and Kaidoh have had no contact since their rescue, but have been bothered by a lot of reporters

**Date:** December 24, 2012

* * *

They had been rescued.

Oh yeah, they're off the island now.

It was December 17, when some people spotted a ship in the distance, and after making fire signals (actually, it was just setting a tree on fire), they made contact with the outside world for the first time in nine months. All the people who had been stuck on this island, were now finally rescued.

Everything happened in a blur—there was barely any time to celebrate, and they were already whisked away on the boat, quickly gathering whatever belongings they had with them at the time. Before Momoshiro knew it, he was on an airplane, sitting next to Kaidoh, going back home to Japan. It felt like a dream, nothing felt real to him, he was spacing out through most of it. He had barely said two words to Kaidoh, other than 'boat, rescue'. He had already said goodbye to Echizen, who stayed behind in America after the ship arrived at the dock. He can barely remember what he said to the little squirt.

Even now, Momoshiro can barely remember what happened during those two days he was on his way back to Japan. He remembers being questioned a lot, by reporters, and lots of blinding flashes in his face from the cameras. It was hard to realize this was reality. When he had been living the island life, away from civilization for so long, reality felt fake to him.

It was a huge story, broadcasted all around the world. The missing passengers of the cruise ship mysteriously showed up. When Momoshiro got back to Japan, he was greeted by a crowd of people cheering at them, holding signs that said 'welcome back' or 'we missed you'. There were news reporters everywhere, and even some people from some sort of charity, who were collecting money for the people who had been stranded. For the people whose lives were completely ruined.

Momoshiro is one of those people.

He had lost his apartment, that much was obvious after not living in it for nine months—but he also racked up quite a debt for not paying his rent. He'd been behind before he even left the place, now he's in so much debt, Momoshiro has no idea someone could be in debt that much. Before, everyone thought he was dead, and the debt was annulled. But since it was announced to the world he was alive after all, they made sure to let him know he has to pay back for the rent. His landlord is not happy with him, but he's certainly glad he wasn't dead, for obvious reasons.

His parents took his 'death' hard, during those months he was gone. Momoshiro tried his best not to think about what his family was doing, and how they were dealing with him being proclaimed dead. They were pretty broken up over it; his sister even cried for him. It was really awkward to come home to them, as they had built a shrine for him … which is gone now, but still. It was weird.

After that, Momoshiro felt like he didn't have anymore privacy, or a time to catch his breath. His parents were delighted he was alive, and yes, Momoshiro was happy to see them too, but it felt surreal. Each time he awoke in his futon (in his old bedroom), he thought he was still on the island, and needed to get up to catch some fish. It was hard to come to terms that he was _back._

Island life had changed him more than he thought.

He hadn't even gotten a hamburger since he's been back.

Mostly he'd been avoiding interviews, and dealing with his parents who were helping him get rid of his debt. His parents decided to hire a lawyer, who said Momoshiro could get rich if he were to sue Atobe Enterprise for the crash, but it would take a few months for that to be settled. Until then, Momoshiro is staying with his parents, and living off of charity money he got from some sort of fund. He's barely had any time to himself, only going out a few times on his own (his parents insist on being with him at all times).

But it's suffocating. It's maddening. Momoshiro feels like this is not where he belongs, that this entire thing is wrong. Even having a good poop on a modern toilet for the first time in months, didn't cheer him up. Everything simply feels annoying and alienating. Even the lightswitch in his room bothers him. It feels extremely lonely. Lonelier than living on the island.

He hasn't had contact with anyone else on the island since they arrived back in Japan. Including Kaidoh.

Not a single message, not a phonecall—nothing. It's been nothing but white noise.

And that's something Momoshiro didn't want to happen. The time he spent on the island … the time they spent together, Momoshiro didn't want to go back to not knowing each other anymore. To act as if they were strangers, because they're _not_. Though what exactly they are, Momoshiro doesn't know either.

He's been thinking about him though, every night. Wondering what Kaidoh is doing, wondering how he's adjusting to his old life, and if he's thinking about him too. Thinking about the things they've done together.

It's all changed now … this is not the island life. Momoshiro doesn't know how to go back to how they were, since nothing is like the island. It's not how they were supposed to be, but somehow that's what they became on the island. But now they're back, and Momoshiro doesn't know if it's okay to be like that together anymore. He doesn't know a lot of things all of the sudden. He feels confused, annoyed, angry, lonely, and …

He really misses Kaidoh.

Yet he can't muster up the courage to look up Kaidoh's home number in the phonebook. Neither of them have any working cellphones (or maybe Kaidoh does, he just doesn't know), so that's out of the question as well. It's completely different from how they were; living together, each day being in constant contact with each other. And now, it's been thrown upside down—they haven't spoken or even seen each other since that fateful day.

What would Momoshiro say to Kaidoh anyway? On the island, it was okay, everything was okay … but back at home, it's different. What does he say? How does he act? Can they still act like that together? Or was the entire thing meant to stay behind on the island, just so they can resume their old lives when they got back? Momoshiro doesn't want to forget about it, he doesn't want to pretend it never happened. Something _did_ happen, and that something has been on his mind ever since.

And he's been damn horny, too.

It's about time he faced it. For months he's been avoiding any kind of talk about it, and even in his mind he would refuse to think about it or analyze it. Words were evil, that's what he used to think.

Well, he still thinks words are evil, and when he tries to put anything into words, they get stuck in his throat, like someone's holding a knife up to it, threatening his life. That's how it feels like; that he's going to change his life forever if he does this. But he has to, Momoshiro has to take that step if he wants to change the way they are right now.

And the first step is to actually speak with Kaidoh. Momoshiro doesn't know what the second step is, but he figures he'll wing it. If he can even get the courage to go through with the first step, that is.

He's excited, yet extremely terrified at the prospect of seeing Kaidoh again. How does he act? Does he say hi? Or does he give him a manhug? Or does he just punch him in the face, because that's something they've always been doing to each other, but not as of late. Momoshiro can't remember the last time they had honestly fought with each other. Sure, there had been plenty of wrestling, and throwing each other down but … it made him happy. Everything they did together made Momoshiro happy. Some more than others.

So how does he act towards Kaidoh now? He certainly won't greet him with a kiss on the cheek. Just the mere thought of doing this in front of his family makes Momoshiro's blood turn cold. No way, never. But even in private, the thought makes Momoshiro uncomfortable. On the island, this was something he was getting used to; greeting Kaidoh with a kiss. He doesn't know if he's allowed to still do it now that they're back. Does he still want to? Does Kaidoh want him too?

There's too many questions, and not one of them is answered unless Momoshiro goes out and confronts Kaidoh. That first fearful step.

What if Kaidoh is okay being apart from each other like this? No—_no_. Momoshiro should stop thinking, and put those thoughts into action instead.

It takes a very long time for Momoshiro to find his balls and get the courage to see Kaidoh. Not to mention with how busy he is, and can barely find any time for himself, it's hard to find an appropriate time. He's even bought Kaidoh a present for Christmas, but now he's starting to doubt he'll even see him by then.

But as luck would have it, he finds an opportunity.

It is Christmas Eve, and his parents turn to him and ask; is there someone you want to spend the rest of the evening with?

Yes. A thousand times yes.

Momoshiro needs to get away from his family, and he needs to see Kaidoh. So he finally grows a pair of balls instead of finding them, and musters up all of his courage to get dressed, and step outside the door. It's dark, it's cold, it's actually snowing a little bit.

He quickly runs back into the house and paces around for several minutes, blushing fiercely (and it's not because of the cold), before his sister kicks him out of the house and locks the door. She's definitely grown into a much bigger brat since the last time he saw her. So now he's outside, it's freezing, and Momoshiro doesn't have a scarf or gloves, but a simple jacket, that isn't appropriate for winter either. It's not like he had a bunch of clothes waiting for him when he came back, people thought he was dead after all. It's such a stark difference to the pleasing temperature on the island.

Alright, he needs to go see Kaidoh.

Momoshiro steals his sister's bike (like hell will he walk), dumping the bag with the present in the front basket, and starts peddling away. It's been years since he'd last been to Kaidoh's house, but he still knows where it is. He takes several detours, trying to psych himself up, and mentally prepare himself for what might happen. And he doesn't know what will happen, and that's the scariest part of all.

It's funny how much his life changed.

After an hour of procrastinating and taking detours, Momoshiro finally arrives on Kaidoh's street. His fingers are blue and have turned into icicles, but it barely even registers on his busy mind. He pries them free from the handles as he comes to a standstill in front of Kaidoh's house. The light is still on, and it still looks exactly like it was those six years ago.

Momoshiro swallows, and rubs his hands, trying to regain some feeling in them. He locks his bike and takes out the bag from the basket.

He's never been more nervous in his life. His legs are shaking. From the cold, and from his nerves.

Is Kaidoh going to be home? Momoshiro knows he's obsessed with running, and in fact, knows for sure that Kaidoh runs on Christmas Eve, so he wonders if Kaidoh is even home.

There's a tiny part in him that hopes he's not, because he's too much of a chicken to speak to him after not seeing each other for a week.

But if not now, then when? It's all too easy to ignore each other, and to let this escalate into ignoring each other for years. Momoshiro doesn't want to be separated from Kaidoh like that. Not anymore. So he smacks his own face—which is cherry red—with his hands to wake himself up, and walks up to the front door, despite his legs feeling like jelly.

Oh god, please let him be able to ring the doorbell.

Momoshiro's shaky and frozen stiff finger lifts up to the doorbell. He hesitates. He's getting palpitation. His heart is beating a thousand miles per minute. He's feeling nausea, and is completely petrified at seeing Kaidoh again. He suddenly hears a door slam inside of the house, and it shakes him out of his daze, but does nothing to settle the turmoil inside of him. He bites his purple looking lips, shivering all over, and moves his finger closer to the doorbell.

_Don't be home, don't be home._

Momoshiro closes his eyes and counts to three.

Kaidoh hasn't really felt like things have returned to normal either. His parents have spent every waking moment since their return smothering him and Hazue, fussing over them both, checking up on them, and his mother has been feeding Kaidoh relentlessly even though he's insisted countless times that he _wasn't_ starving on the island.

He hasn't even really had time to return to a normal running schedule. His mother gives him worried looks whenever he heads for the front door with his sneakers and towel, like she thinks it's going to be the last time she'll see him, even if he's just going to run around the neighborhood. When she _does_ let him go out, she insists he put on a hat and gloves and puffy down jacket.

It makes Kaidoh feel guilty, even though getting stuck on the island for so long was something totally out of his or Hazue's control, but he feels horrible that his parents were so worried. He can see it in the way they look at him and his brother over breakfast or dinner. They still haven't let go of that worry, and Kaidoh doesn't really know what to do or say to set their mind at ease.

In the few moments he gets to himself, his mind is still racing, doing all the running that his body isn't. Just mere days ago, he was waking up in a hut on a beach next to Momoshiro, of all people, but he hasn't talked to Momoshiro since they got back to Japan. Even though his house isn't that far off, it feels like a world away suddenly. It feels terrifying. Part of Kaidoh wishes he could somehow rewind time back to those moments where it was just the two of them and the rest of the world didn't matter, because now there's too much of the rest of the world surrounding him. It feels suffocating.

When his parents brought him home, his mother squeezed his hand and told him, "We kept your room just as you left it, and we'll do our best to help your life get back to the way you left it, too," but the life Kaidoh had in Japan didn't include Momoshiro at all, so how is Kaidoh supposed to return to that and act like everything's fine and normal, when there's an incessant pounding in his chest that says, _No, it isn't_.

But he's kept himself busy to distract himself from that. He's working to reapply to his college for the spring term, and he's been looking for part time jobs again, since he feels a renewed responsibility to help out his family. The winter season isn't the best time to be looking though, he quickly discovered, but he isn't one to get discouraged so soon. And his parents keep assuring him not to put pressure on himself, to just relax and enjoy his time, for as long as he needs—he's pretty sure they've convinced themselves that he and his brother were starving and wasting away on that island with the way they're treating them.

It's Christmas Eve now, and his family is all together, his parents smiling and his mother plying Kaidoh and Hazue with plates and bowls of food, but Kaidoh feels like he's in a weird daze, like he's just sleepwalking through reality. It feels so strange to be home, he wonders when—if—he'll get used to it. Having Hazue there, knowing he's in the same position, should be more reassuring than it is, but it's hard for Kaidoh to talk to his brother about what he's feeling, because that would mean explaining it—all of it—and that's not something Kaidoh ever wants to do. It's not something he can even really explain to himself.

But Hazue seems to understand, at least in some small part. He's told Kaidoh he should try and call Momoshiro, but the thought of that leaves Kaidoh feeling embarrassed and frozen in his tracks and he's dismissed the suggestion each and every time. He can't just … Can he? No, that seems impossible. He doesn't even really know if Momoshiro would want to hear from him now. The way things were on the island … it all feels like a dream now. With each passing day, Kaidoh wonders if maybe that's all it ever will be.

He's staring dazedly at the flickering candles on their Christmas cake in the center of the table when a jarring ring of the doorbell jolts him out of his trance. His mother starts to stand up to answer it, but Kaidoh politely stops her, and tells her he'll get it instead, assuming that it's probably just some door-to-door salesman or pamphleteer.

He certainly isn't expecting to open the door and see a very cold-looking Momoshiro standing before him, and he can't hide the surprise that washes over his face. There might be a flicker of something like relief or happiness there too, but it's completely overshadowed by his shock.

Momoshiro's teeth chatter and his fingers finally give way to the plastic bag he was holding, dropping it on his feet. "Crap," he mutters, and then feels embarrassed for making such a huge fool out of himself. He quickly tries to pick the bag back up, but leaves his eyes staring at the floor.

He hadn't expected Kaidoh to open, and now Momoshiro has no idea what to say or do. But he has to, he's taken that first step, and he's the one who got himself into this situation.

"_Me … merri ... c-chrismasu,_ " he says in broken English, stuttering the other half. He can't tell if it's because he can't feel his lips anymore, or if it's because seeing Kaidoh in front of him after that long, long week. It felt like the longest week in the history of the earth.

Momoshiro tries to stuff one hand into his pocket for warmth as he stands there awkwardly, waiting for Kaidoh to respond, or do anything at all. Perhaps if he blushes even more, he can warm himself up, like a self-sustaining power plant.

Kaidoh keeps staring like a deer caught in the headlights, like if he blinks Momoshiro will disappear like some weird figment of his imagination. But he seems pretty real, and doesn't seem to be going anywhere either, so finally Kaidoh gets a grip on himself and parts his lips to say, "Yeah," which sounds like an idiotic and inadequate thing to say, but he's kind of having a little trouble with words right now.

From back inside the house, he hears his mother calling out his name, probably wondering what's taking him so long, or why the door's still open and letting in the cold winter air. He can't just stand here in the doorway forever or she'll get worried and come to fuss over him again. Kaidoh doesn't want to stand here forever either, because it's making his insides tie themselves in knots.

He looks at Momoshiro, who is shivering, and his face looks red from the cold. How long has he been outside anyway? He was never great at tolerating cold in the first place.

"Do you, um …" Kaidoh starts, feeling his own cheeks going a little pink. "Do you want to come inside?"

Momoshiro's legs feel like popsicles, so moving doesn't really seem an option right now. Even talking seems like a hard chore, because his teeth won't stop chattering, and he won't stop shaking. And he can't tell if it's because of the cold, or the fact that Kaidoh is talking to him, and making him feel all sorts of shivers.

"Y-yeah," Momoshiro huffs out in a cold breath of air. He doesn't know what else to say. He wasn't planning on getting inside either. All he wanted to do was … well, he hadn't thought that far yet. But he was definitely entertaining the thought of dropping the present in front of Kaidoh's feet, and bolting out of there like lightning.

Kaidoh steps aside to let Momoshiro in, and Momoshiro tries to thaw out his stone cold legs to get them to move. He feels like a robot when he finally does walk through the door, passing Kaidoh, and feeling aware of everything he's doing. He still can't look Kaidoh in the eye either. He might just burst into flames if he does. Then again, that doesn't sound so bad right now, not when he's feeling so cold. He sets the plastic bag on the ground, still avoiding Kaidoh who closes the door. Momoshiro first tries to take his coat off—after standing there awkwardly at the entryway—but his fingers are too frozen and stiff to be able to take his zipper down. He fumbles around like an idiot, unable to get a grip on the tab of the zipper. The longer he stands there like this, with Kaidoh waiting for him, the more nervous he gets and the longer he fumbles around with his zipper.

Wordlessly, Kaidoh grabs an extra set of slippers from the shelf and sets them on the floor for Momoshiro and then he steals a glance at him. He feels like he hasn't seen Momoshiro in a very long time even though it's only really been a matter of days. Well, the last time he saw Momoshiro they were at the airport and that day was such a blur that it feels like some weird hallucination now.

Right now things don't seem quite so blurry. In fact, Kaidoh's mind is pretty clear right now. A bit frantic and buzzing, but clear.

He isn't sure what he's going to tell his parents when Momoshiro walks in. Well, it's not like he knows what the hell Momoshiro is doing at his house on Christmas Eve. Under normal circumstances, he'd just let Momoshiro do the talking but at the moment he seems just as tongue-tied as Kaidoh feels, which isn't really helping to set Kaidoh's mind at ease.

And standing here in silence _really_ isn't helping, especially when Momoshiro seems to be taking forever just to take off his stupid jacket. The seconds seem to creep by, and Kaidoh watches him fumbling with the zipper and eventually gets impatient and agitated enough that he just hisses and reaches his hand out to yank the tab down for him.

It felt like a simple enough action—not something he'd even have questioned a week ago—but midway through the motion, Kaidoh suddenly feels awkward about doing it, about the proximity, about touching Momoshiro at all. Once the jacket is unzipped, Kaidoh pulls his hand back again and looks down at the neat rows of shoes on the floor, unable to meet Momoshiro's gaze.

"Well, come on," he mumbles.

Momoshiro is glad his cheeks are already red from the cold, because he's sure he's blushing by now. He wishes he had a scarf he could bury his face in, he wants to hide himself from Kaidoh, or from anyone threatening to walk in on them. What if someone saw? But it's just a simple gesture, it's not like they were doing … other things.

Could they do other things?

The thought makes Momoshiro dizzy, so he decides not to think about it. Instead he focuses his energy on slipping off his jacket, feeling cold and naked without it, like it was some sort of armour protecting him from Kaidoh or something. He hangs it next to the other set of coats, and tries to kick off his shoes, looking like a dumbass as he almost trips as he stands on his sock. He makes himself as small as possible as he nudges his shoes next to the other ones, and slips his feet into the slippers Kaidoh prepared for him. They're too big, but whatever.

Momoshiro grabs the plastic bag and finally steps on the wooden floor. He's not looking forward to see Kaidoh's family—he came to see Kaidoh after all, and that is still so scary that he keeps looking back at the front door, and wondering if he could still make a run for it. But he's here now, with Kaidoh, and it still feels like a dream.

When Kaidoh starts walking, Momoshiro opens his mouth to stop him. "Wait …" he calls out weakly. He curses his tongue for being so hesitant. He lifts the bag up and offers it to Kaidoh without another word. The floorboards are very interesting.

Kaidoh looks at the bag and then takes it in his hands and pulls it open to take a skeptical peek at its contents. Inside is what must be the most terribly wrapped present Kaidoh's ever seen. There's tape all over it and even the paper is pretty wrinkled. It kind of makes Kaidoh want to smile though.

But … "I didn't buy you anything," he says quietly, sounding a little guilty.

Well, that's because neither of them probably thought they were going to see each other anytime soon. Or ever. But Momoshiro bought it because Kaidoh was on his mind, and it was sitting in the store window, screaming for his attention.

"Doesn't matter …" Momoshiro says. He scratches the back of his head, feeling shy of all things. "Think of it as a return gift … for, you know." Momoshiro might not be wearing the medal Kaidoh made for him, but he still has it at home, sitting underneath his pillow. That medal is the only thing that feels real to him when everything else still seems like a dream.

"Oh." Kaidoh's fingers curl around the handles on the bag until they're crumpling against the palm of his hand. "Thanks …" he says, a bit hesitantly. Should he open it right now? Would that be weird? It's already weird enough that they're here standing in the entrance to Kaidoh's home on Christmas Eve.

"You can open it inside," says Momoshiro, noticing Kaidoh hesitating. Though he also looks like he doesn't know what to do with this chain of events. Momoshiro doesn't either. "It's not anything embarrassing …"

Momoshiro scratches his nose, and shifts his weight from one foot to the other. He looks over at the hallway, where the sounds are coming from. "Did I … did I come at a bad time?" he asks. Maybe he interrupted their private family time, and that makes Momoshiro feel bad. "I can go back home …"

"No," Kaidoh says, startled by how assertive he sounds in saying that. "I mean no, it's fine. It's just dinner."

He looks down at the bag still in his hands and then back up at Momoshiro. "You could …" He trails off, because it feels like a very weighty thing to suggest. So he glances away before continuing, like he can either talk, or look at Momoshiro, but not both at the same time. "You could come join us if you want. My mother made more than enough food."

"Yeah ... okay, sounds good." Momoshiro smiles a little, feeling a bit less awkward about the whole thing. "Sure they won't mind? I am a big eater after all," he jokes to lighten up the mood between them.

Kaidoh rolls his eyes. He's pretty sure his mother would be happy to give Momoshiro as much food as he likes; she'd probably think he was starving all this time as well. Actually … Kaidoh doesn't know what she'd think, about this, about Momoshiro just randomly stopping by for a visit. Since, well, Kaidoh never gets visitors.

He suddenly gets a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach as he imagines his parents asking Momoshiro about their time on the island, about Kaidoh, about anything at all. What would he say? Just the thought of that is mortifying. Hopefully they'll be too preoccupied with food to want to talk.

"It … should be okay," Kaidoh says, although now he's not so sure himself.

"Okay," Momoshiro echoes. Suddenly this weird urge washes over him, his skin finally starting to get warm again, and he thinks—no, he _wants_—it'd be nice if he could touch Kaidoh right now. To hold him, because it's been something he's been wanting for this entire week. He's missed him. He's missed his warmth, his presence, the things they do. But now they're back in the real world, and Momoshiro doesn't know if it's still allowed. Especially since other people might notice, and that's the last thing he wants.

He starts to follow Kaidoh as he walks to the living room, his steps careful and precise. He still feels nervous, still has a million unanswered questions clouding his head, and he can't help but stare at the back of Kaidoh's ankles. It's weird to see him wear pants, as the only thing he's worn on the island were shorts. At least one thing didn't change; still no socks. It's weird nonetheless, seeing Kaidoh in different clothes. He's not even wearing a bandana. Kaidoh looks so strikingly normal, it doesn't look like Kaidoh anymore. It annoys Momoshiro much more than it should; everything is so different. He just wants to go back to the time where it was just them, together, without anyone else, and without looking different or acting different.

Momoshiro sighs; this is not helping him calm down. He finally enters the living room, seeing a table decorated with food. Hazue who is sitting on one end is the first to spot him and Kaidoh, his eyes growing large and a happy smile etching his face. Kaidoh's parents notice him second, probably wondering what the hell he's doing there.

"Uhm, hello …" Momoshiro awkwardly bows at the parents. "I am uhh, Momoshiro Takeshi, I'm Kaidoh's …" _What_ exactly? Momoshiro can't even finish the sentence himself. Friends is not the right word, not with what they did. Rivals seems stupid to say to his parents. And he certainly isn't anything else.

He warily glances over at Kaidoh; what's he supposed to say?

Kaidoh steadfastly wills himself to maintain some kind of composure, because it would be really embarrassing to start blushing right now, but … how the hell is he supposed to think of a word for what they are? In front of his parents, no less! He remembers in middle school when he'd tell his mother that Momoshiro was just his classmate and teammate from tennis club. Well, he's neither of those things anymore.

"He was, uh, on the island too," Kaidoh says finally, since that is vague and noncommittal and doesn't imply anything.

Although for some reason that also makes it feel horribly inadequate, like Momoshiro is nothing more than some acquaintance, when both he and Kaidoh know that's far from the truth.

Momoshiro forces a smile. "Yeah, we were stranded together." He waves at Hazue who happily waves back. "I was also his teammate when he was in Seigaku." Which makes it seem like a weird coincidence that they know each other at all, when it's not like that. Momoshiro can never manage to describe in a word what they are to each other. Certainly not acquaintances.

"Oh my, Momoshiro-kun, you certainly look cold. Kaoru, find him an extra seat, okay? He can warm himself up now," says Kaidoh's mother. She smiles warmly at Momoshiro, and Momoshiro can't help but smile back, despite feeling weird still. "Don't you have family to go to, Momoshiro-kun?"

"Ah, well, I mean, I do, but …" He wanted to see Kaidoh more? He can't say that. "I just …" He hangs his head down since he doesn't know what else to say.

Luckily, Hazue jumps in for him. "Momo-nii-chan just wanted to see if we were alright, right?" he pipes up. "He took very good care of us on the island," he tells his parents.

"Oh, is this the Momoshiro-kun we've heard so much about?" asks their dad. Hazue nods excitedly. "Then why didn't you say so, come join us boy, anyone who helped our sons out is a friend of ours."

Momoshiro is glad they seem very friendly, but is also a tiny bit insulted they don't seem to remember him from the first time he came over. Granted, that was well over six years ago, but still, it makes Momoshiro feel insignificant. If his parents could easily forget him, could Kaidoh as well?

Kaidoh grabs another chair for Momoshiro and sets it at the table, next to his own … but not too close.

He feels like protesting that Momoshiro didn't really _take care_ of them—it's not like he and his brother were helpless or something. And he wants to tell Momoshiro pointedly that he certainly wasn't the one going around saying he did either—that was all Hazue. But he's never been one to argue in front of his parents, and it would be weird to argue with Momoshiro right now in the first place, since he doesn't know how that would go anymore. Too many variables seem to have changed.

Instead he just takes his seat with a huff and waits for Momoshiro to do the same.

Momoshiro feels like everything is going in slowmotion, which makes everything even more awkward and weird. He sits down on the chair, being careful not to touch Kaidoh—he thinks his face will catch on fire if he does—and awkwardly looks down at the table.

"Hazue, go get an extra plate," his mother tells him. Hazue obeys and gets up from his own seat and disappears into the kitchen. "My, what do you have there, Kaoru?" she asks, seeing the bag sitting next to Kaidoh's chair.

Kaidoh has the immediate impulse to try and hide the bag, since it feels like some kind of secret, but it's too late for that now.

He glances over at Momoshiro and then back at his mother. "It's a present from Momoshiro," he mumbles, and knows he's blushing a little as he says it. He hopes his mother will just brush that off as modesty or politeness or something. She's well-acquainted with his shyness after all. Although she's less well-acquainted with Kaidoh receiving gifts from, well, anyone outside their family.

"Oh, how sweet of you!" his mom gushes at Momoshiro.

Momoshiro feels put on the spot and tries to shrink into his shoulders on the chair. At least it truly isn't anything embarrassing what he bought … He can't imagine handing Kaidoh a pillow with cat doodles on it, now _that_ would be mortifying.

"It was no big deal," he says quietly. Well no, it actually is. It's his excuse to come and see Kaidoh.

"Well Kaoru, open it up, and be sure to thank Momoshiro-kun for his generosity," says his mom.

Hazue walks back into the living room at that moment and places an empty plate and bowl in front of Momoshiro, as well as some chopsticks, before sauntering back to his own seat. He looks curious as to what kind of gift Momoshiro has bought for his brother. He knows the kind of weird things they had made for each other on the island, so he wonders what it is this time. Carefully, he scoops up some rice for Momoshiro's bowl; there's still plenty left in the pot.

Kaidoh reluctantly gets the bag up off the floor and pulls it into his lap, lifting the box out from inside it. He feels kind of like he's on display, and hopes his emotions aren't written all over his face. Even so, he takes his time unwrapping the gift, in part because it's covered in a stupid amount of tape, and in part because Momoshiro is the one who wrapped it and somehow, to Kaidoh, that's important and he can't just tear through it.

Finally he does get the paper off and opens what turns out to be a shoebox. Inside he sees a pair of brand new blue and black sneakers. Really nice ones, too, and surprisingly, they're a style Kaidoh would probably even pick out for himself. It's like Momoshiro knew what Kaidoh wanted. Well, to be fair, anyone who knows Kaidoh knows how he likes to run, and they'd talked about how his shoes were falling apart, but Kaidoh didn't expect Momoshiro to _actually_ go out and buy new ones for him.

He looks over at Momoshiro, too stunned to know what to say. "Thanks," he finally manages, for the second time this evening. "I really … They're really cool." He can't tell if he's being nice to Momoshiro because his parents are here, or if it's because it just feels natural to be this way.

Momoshiro smiles, for the first time in what seems like forever, a genuine smile that doesn't feel forced or like it'll fall off his face from too many bundles of nerves zapping him.

It was something he promised after all; buying Kaidoh a new pair of shoes after getting off the island. Though back then, when he said it, he didn't expect the getting off the island part to happen so soon. It still feels like a huge whirlwind to him, but when he sees Kaidoh next to him, his face not grumpy at all, Momoshiro feels a lot more at ease. That's what's been missing this entire week, the feeling that everything is okay, that he belongs here. That fuzzy feeling that feels like home. It's crazy how he only just now feels like this when he sees Kaidoh.

Momoshiro hopes it isn't written on his face, and he quickly bows at Kaidoh in a polite way—something which he wouldn't do if they were alone—to hide his red cheeks. Well, they were already red from the cold, but if this continues, they won't ever return to their normal colour.

"But don't run too much," says Momoshiro as he looks over at Kaidoh. When he thinks the parents aren't looking, he mouths out 'running freak' with his lips. Kaidoh shoots him a glare, which Momoshiro ignores as he picks up the chopsticks Hazue gave him, and starts picking at his rice.

"Well isn't that … great," says Kaidoh's mother, looking as if she's forcing herself to smile. She turns to Momoshiro with a smile. "So how are you adjusting back to your old life, Momoshiro-kun?"

Momoshiro coughs as he tries to swallow his rice, feeling even more weird. This is not exactly a question he'd like to answer. "Very slowly," he answers. His eyes glance over at Kaidoh, then back at his bowl of rice. "I lost my apartment, so I'm living with my parents at the moment."

"Oh dear, that sounds awful. Your parents are nice folk to take you back in, as parents should." She smiles at her sons as she says this.

Momoshiro wonders how well Kaidoh has adjusted to his old life.

"So have you made any plans for the future? Going to college perhaps?" asks the mother, attempting to keep small talk going.

"Uhh …" His future. He can barely think about what he's doing next week, let alone the next year. "I don't know …" he admits shamefully. He once wanted to become a tennis coach, but now, everything's all messed up, and he doesn't know what he wants. He doesn't even know if he wants to be here or not, but anything is better than not seeing Kaidoh at all.

"Ah well, he's probably still shaken up from coming back home, you should take all the time you need, Momoshiro-kun," says Kaidoh's father.

"I have to redo my last year of high school," pitches in Hazue with a frown. He sighs. "I missed too much school."

"And whose fault is that, exactly?" says his mother in a stern voice. Hazue lowers his head down in shame.

"And you?" Momoshiro asks, looking over at Kaidoh, who'd been keeping quiet. Momoshiro feels a little overwhelmed at these questions, and takes comfort in the fact that he and Kaidoh are in the same situation.

Kaidoh grimaces and looks over at his parents. "I'm going to try to start back at my college again," he says, sounding a bit robotic, like this is something he's been repeating to neighbors and relatives a lot for the past few days. In truth, Kaidoh doesn't really know what he has planned for his future. His parents are happy enough with him continuing his education and maybe finding a job in the meantime, but Kaidoh feels kind of listless now, and hopes that's just residual jet lag or something.

"I think I have to wait until April though," he adds. "I guess I'll be looking for work until then." He looks at his father who gives an approving nod, as if to suggest that this is more his plan than Kaidoh's own. Well, Kaidoh's not about to argue with it. Anything that gets him out of the house and doing something is better than nothing.

"I see …" Momoshiro stares at his plate full of food (courtesy of Kaidoh's dad who shoved it all on there), wondering how his future is going to pan out.

Kaidoh's plans are definitely more streamlined than Momoshiro's. Momoshiro still doesn't know what to do, he needs some time to think and adjust to being back to his old life. Even the entire thing with Kaidoh needs to be figured out still, and that is pretty much taking all of his effort right now. He settles on stuffing himself full of food to prevent himself from talking. Kaidoh's mother seems to have cooked a very fine christmas meal, and there truly is enough for Momoshiro as well.

The rest of dinner time is spent talking about what happened on the island, with Momoshiro getting squeamish on questions involving him and Kaidoh living in the same hut. When he looks over at Kaidoh, he can see him grip the fabric of his pants; his palms sweaty. At least he's not the only one who is awkwardly dodging these questions. Hazue doesn't seem to be helping though, in fact he makes matters worse by mentioning how often they spent time together, and how many times Momoshiro has asked for presents from Kaidoh. When Hazue tells his parents about the rainbow roses, Momoshiro's head is as red as a crab. Kaidoh is looking down at his lap, head turned away, and just as red as Momoshiro is.

The more they talk about their island life, the more Momoshiro realizes just how _weird_ everything sounds. What exactly would his parents think if they knew Momoshiro gave a pillow to Kaidoh with cat doodles on it? Or how Kaidoh made him a medal—that he still wears—for how awesome Momoshiro is? Everything sounds so wrong, as if they were treating island life like a …. like a … honeymoon getaway. Momoshiro feels sick to his stomach.

That's not what it was … that's not what it means …

Momoshiro nervously looks over at Kaidoh and catches his eye; he looks as uncomfortable as Momoshiro himself. He wants to get some time alone between the two of them, because _something_ needs to be done. Momoshiro doesn't like hanging in limbo, not knowing what to do with Kaidoh, not knowing what's allowed anymore and what isn't.

Coming back home really messed everything up. They were getting in this routine, this groove, but now it's all fallen to shambles. What's Kaidoh to him now? They're not playing tennis anymore, so he's not a teammate. They're not fighting with each other anymore, so he's not a rival. They've spent everyday together for several months, so they're definitely not strangers or acquaintances. But friends definitely do not do the things they've done with each other, so they're not friends either.

Momoshiro looks at Kaidoh again, seeing nothing but a twentyone year old man sitting at the table with his family, wearing a lousy knitted sweater that really doesn't suit him at all.

He wants to ask him, what they are, but is afraid. Deathly afraid. Because talking means putting it into words, and words are real, words can change things. But things have already changed, so maybe now's the time to do it. Not right now though, not when they're in front of other people, Momoshiro will kill himself before that ever happens. He just needs to be alone with Kaidoh and then … and then he'll figure something out. Maybe.

Momoshiro hasn't been alone with Kaidoh since the day they were rescued, and god he really wants to be alone with him right now.

After they've finished eating, the conversation changes to reminiscing about the past, mostly about Kaidoh's and Hazue's past. Which is nice and all, Momoshiro loves getting dirt on Kaidoh such as knowing when he last peed his own bed, but this is all just filling up his time, and he's growing more fidgety by the second. Momoshiro thinks he can just fake a stomach bug, and get the hell out of there with Kaidoh, but his family seems to insist on shoving photo albums of the Kaidoh family in his face.

They're sitting on the couch now, Momoshiro next to Kaidoh's mother, and Kaidoh sitting in the chair in front of him, looking uncomfortable and like this is the last place he wants to be.

"Oh, and here's Kaoru playing house," says Kaidoh's mother as she turns the page of the photo album. One of the pictures shows little Kaidoh, wearing a pink dress, holding a baby doll and shoving a milk bottle in its mouth. He looks like a girl, especially with longer hair.

So he was right. Kaidoh _did_ wear dresses when he was young. Momoshiro would feel like rubbing this in Kaidoh's face, if it weren't for the fact he was surrounded by his other family members, and has to act polite.

Momoshiro snorts, which he quickly covers up with a laugh. "You look like this girl I knew, Kaidoh," he says, his eyes flickering up at Kaidoh, who is looking even grumpier. But that's more like Kaidoh, so it makes Momoshiro feel more at ease.

"I don't look like any girl," Kaidoh protests futilely, although a lot more politely than he would if they were alone. The photos are doing nothing to help his case. Can't his mother see how embarrassing they are? She always insists on pulling that album out whenever they have guests over, and they coo over the pictures like they're adorable while Kaidoh sits there feeling increasingly mortified.

And that's exactly how he feels right now. Although since it's Momoshiro, the feeling is even more intensified. And he kind of wants to punch him in the face for getting to see that stuff at all. He's annoyed that he can't do anything to stop this parade of embarrassing memories.

He's thought about hiding or even destroying the photos, but he's a good kid at heart, and would never do anything disobedient like that, so he just silently tolerates it. Besides, he had been just a kid—most of the pictures are from kindergarten—and he didn't know any better. His mother had picked out all of his clothes. It wasn't Kaidoh's fault she'd been nuts over frilly dresses and skirts instead of t-shirts and jeans like the rest of the boys wore. It's not really something Kaidoh likes to dwell on now, because in retrospect, it was a really weird upbringing, but it's not something he can go back and change. And it's all in the past; he's definitely not going to put on a dress again anytime soon. Gross.

He crosses his arms over his chest and kicks his slippers against the flooring. "I _really_ don't think he needs to see all of those," he mumbles grouchily through gritted teeth and gives his mother a pointed look. It isn't very effective though; she just brushes it off with a smile and continues flipping through the album. Kaidoh thinks about finding some excuse to leave, because sitting here watching Momoshiro look through those old photos is like torture. Kaidoh doesn't want him thinking weird things. Although he probably already is. Asshole.

But it would be awkward to just get up and leave Momoshiro alone with his family. Since he's sort of Kaidoh's guest. Which is weird in and of itself. It's certainly not something Kaidoh could have foreseen when this day began.

Hazue's been lingering in the kitchen, doing dishes, but when he's done, he goes over to Kaidoh's side, pitying him a bit that he has to endure someone looking through embarrassing photos of him. He sits on the arm of the couch next to Kaidoh, and leans in closer to him.

"Look, Kaoru-nii-chan, isn't this great? Momo-nii-chan came to see you," he says in a very low voice so Momoshiro can't hear him. "I knew he'd come by sooner or later."

Kaidoh feels his face growing a little warmer, and he grimaces to try and hide it. He hadn't thought about it like that—Momoshiro hadn't said as much, and Kaidoh certainly hadn't asked, and he'd been too startled by the whole situation to really begin to process it—but the moment Hazue points it out, it's all Kaidoh can think about: Momoshiro came here to see _him_.

He steals a glance over at Momoshiro, who's still looking, engrossed, at the photo album, and feels his heart beat faster. He's here because of Kaidoh … So what does that mean exactly?

"You knew he would?" Kaidoh asks his brother, voice equally low, and a little surprised. Because Kaidoh definitely didn't. He thought maybe when they parted ways at the airport that might actually be the end of things between them. And each day after that only solidified that fearful thought. He certainly didn't think Momoshiro would just show up out of the blue at his front door.

But he won't deny that a small part of him hoped that maybe he would.

Hazue smiles at Kaidoh. "Well I didn't _know_ for sure, but isn't it a given?" He slumps back against the couch and looks at Momoshiro happily browsing through the album. "He must have been lonely, having no one to talk to that experienced the same thing as him. I mean, we're brothers, so it helps—but he was alone. And hey, you two have been together for so long, why _wouldn't_ he come by?" Hazue is actually surprised it has taken him so long, but he's glad Momoshiro is much more assertive than his brother.

Meanwhile, Momoshiro continues to flip through the pages, each seeing a more embarrassing picture of Kaidoh than the previous page. If Momoshiro didn't know any better, he'd have thought Kaidoh was in fact, a real girl. He looks so much like one! It doesn't help he also reminds him of this girl he once knew. He looks up from the pages, his eyes sneakily stealing a glance at Kaidoh sitting in front of him. It's still weird, seeing him. He's talking about something with Hazue, looking uncomfortable. Then again, it's not like Momoshiro feels comfortable here.

He'd rather they be alone together, without his family watching their every move. And besides, Momoshiro can't stay for long, his own family expects him to be back.

"You should ask him out on a date or something. It is Christmas after all," Hazue suggests softly.

"I can't do that!" Kaidoh sputters, a bit too loudly. Suddenly feeling paranoid, his gaze flicks over to Momoshiro, but he doesn't seem to have taken much notice, so hopefully he didn't hear what Hazue said either. Because otherwise that would be totally mortifying and Kaidoh would have to go die.

He looks at his brother as though he's somehow betrayed him by bringing up that taboo subject, with his parents and Momoshiro right there. "Don't say such embarrassing things …" he hisses, his voice sounding low and a little desperate.

"But you have to do something," Hazue urges on. "What if Momo-nii-chan won't visit you anymore after this, thinking you don't want to see him? What then?"

"I …" Kaidoh definitely doesn't want that to happen. He doesn't want to stop seeing Momoshiro; this past week has been tough enough. But saying that outright seems impossible. He can't just tell Momoshiro, can he? That would be totally weird. And totally embarrassing. And that's not how things work between them. Talking about … this … it's just not what they do.

He wishes he could make his brother understand that, but at the same time is very, very glad his brother doesn't. Because he'd be horrified if his brother knew what was going on between him and Momoshiro. Which is … what exactly? Kaidoh still isn't sure.

"I guess maybe you're right," he concedes quietly. Maybe something has to be done. "But I can't just … I don't know how. What am I supposed to say?"

Hazue nudges Kaidoh softly in his side. "Ask him to stay over for the night."

Kaidoh's cheeks burn and something in his stomach does a funny flip. "E-excuse me?" That feels like the _last_ thing Kaidoh can say to Momoshiro.

"Mom—can Momo-nii-chan stay the night?" Hazue asks out loud.

Their mother looks up from the album, as well as Momoshiro. She nods with a pleasant smile. "I'd be delighted."

Kaidoh grimaces at his mother like she's somehow conspiring with Hazue now. Then he looks at Momoshiro, feeling guilty even though this wasn't his idea. He's worried Momoshiro might think it is, and then he'll think Kaidoh's a freak for wanting him to stay over, and that's not the truth at all. Well, not that Kaidoh _doesn't_ want that, but he isn't the one who asked for it.

For a small speck in time, Momoshiro feels happy. He's about to start smiling, happily agreeing to staying over—he did want to be alone with Kaidoh, and staying the night would be perfect—but then he remembers. His parents want him to come back home, and to not stay out for too long (they're getting paranoid they'd lose him again if he stays away for too long). So his smile turns into a grimace.

"Sorry …" he says meekly, ashamed at having to reject the offer. "I can't stay. My family wants me to come back home soon." He avoids Kaidoh's eyes, as if he's somehow saying he doesn't want to stay in Kaidoh's house. But he does. Well, mostly he just wants to be with Kaidoh a little while longer. They still need to figure things out. Whatever those things are. He wonders if Kaidoh wanted him to stay over, since it was Hazue who asked. That'd be even worse, to reject Kaidoh's offer directly. Momoshiro feels bad.

Kaidoh should feel relieved at that, but he finds himself feeling disappointed instead. So Momoshiro has to leave after all. Kaidoh doesn't know why the idea of that bothers him so much, especially since he hadn't been planning to see Momoshiro at all tonight. But now that he's here, as awkward as the circumstances are, Kaidoh doesn't want him to go.

He huffs, pulling at the sleeves of his sweater, and looks at Hazue, then back to Momoshiro. "Maybe …" he starts to say, "some other time," to which he quickly adds, "Or whatever." Because he doesn't want to sound like he cares too much one way or the other.

"Oh, yeah, uh," Momoshiro fumbles, kind of happy Kaidoh suggested a different day. "I'll have to check with my parents though, the limitations of not living alone anymore," says Momoshiro with a small laugh.

Then, Momoshiro takes out his cellphone. It's cheap, it's brand new—his parents gave it to him, but it works. And he's been wanting Kaidoh's phone number ever since he got it. He flips it open (it's made out of plastic), and then looks up at Kaidoh. "Can I uhh … have your number then? So we can agree on a date." He doesn't know why asking this question makes goose bumps appear on his arms. Luckily he's wearing a sweater to hide it.

Kaidoh blushes again. The way his mother and Hazue are looking between them both makes him feel a bit like he's under a microscope and being studied. Things were simply easier without other people around.

He tries to focus his attention on Momoshiro, who seems just as nervous as he is, which he finds to actually be a relief, and he somehow manages to recite out his number, all in one breath, without stuttering. It's kind of a feat given how jittery his insides feel.

Then, in a somewhat stilted voice, Kaidoh says, "I guess I should, um, get your number too."

Just as Kaidoh says that, his phone beeps with an incoming message. Momoshiro smiles at him. "Now you've got it too," he says.

Suddenly, it feels as if there's a weight lifted from Momoshiro's shoulders. For this entire week, he didn't know Kaidoh's number, and contacting his home would be embarrassing (not that sitting here looking at pictures of girly Kaidoh is any better), so the only real way to get in contact with Kaidoh, would be to physically drop by. And _that_ was already an insufferable task, Momoshiro feels like he's climbed Mount Fuji all on his own, and he's out of energy. But now, having his number, being able to call him on the fly, or bother him incessantly with text messages, like the good old times.

Yeah, he can call Kaidoh now, and knowing that Kaidoh asked for his too (well, not directly), makes him feel a lot more at ease. Kaidoh doesn't want to stop talking to him after coming home, after being rescued. That's one big relief. And maybe, if Kaidoh doesn't want to stop that … maybe he doesn't want to stop other things either.

But seriously, they just need to get alone already.

"I'll let you know," says Momoshiro, gesturing at his phone before he pockets it away.

"Yeah," Kaidoh replies, "Cool." As though he's just casually agreeing to hang out with Momoshiro again, even though inside he's feeling anything but casual. But it's something. If nothing else it's a step, like Hazue was urging him to take. And Kaidoh feels something swell in his chest at the knowledge that he'll get to see Momoshiro again, definitively, and that maybe he'll get a stupid phone call from him, or some dumb demanding text message. Because he'd like that.

He'd also like if he could stop feeling so damn terrified to just be in the same room with Momoshiro, for fear that he's going to say or do something to give himself away. Talking about anything right now is making his face heat up. He's surprised his mother hasn't asked him if he has a fever. If only his parents and brother would leave them alone … then maybe things wouldn't feel so strained.

It's kind of hard though when it's Christmas Eve and Kaidoh can't think of a good excuse to get some privacy. He's pretty sure his parents wouldn't buy it if he said he and Momoshiro had to go out for a run at this hour. And Momoshiro would probably protest that idea anyway.

Kaidoh's mother immediately pulls Momoshiro's attention back to the photo albums.

"And look, this is him on his fifth birthday, with his very first friend," she coos, feeling proud. She turns the page to show the picture.

Momoshiro snorts softly; Kaidoh and a friend? Never. Kaidoh barely had anyone who would talk to him in middle school, much less someone who'd be his friend. But then he thinks about it more, and wonders about how Kaidoh's earlier life was like. Because, to be honest, he did at one point—albeit very briefly—consider being Kaidoh's friend. That was when they first met, and Momoshiro was happy to make friends with anyone, including Kaidoh. Obviously, this didn't work out.

What if it worked out with someone else, before he met Momoshiro? The thought kind of makes him feel uneasy, like Kaidoh has some other secret friend in his life that Momoshiro knows nothing about.

Then again, he should really stop thinking about that, because Kaidoh was _five years old and wearing dresses_, it would hardly matter now.

Momoshiro peers over at the album, looking at the glossy picture. The first thing he sees is Kaidoh in blue overalls. He wants to tease him and ask why he's not wearing a blue dress instead, but his throat kind of dries up when he sees the other boy with Kaidoh. An average looking Japanese boy, pressing his lips against Kaidoh's cheek. Kaidoh looks like a deer caught in headlights, his eyes wide in surprise.

Stupid boy, touching Kaidoh like that.

Wait, where did that thought come from?

Momoshiro frowns, annoyed at suddenly feeling irritated at this picture, at this moment, at this boy. Who is this boy, and who does he think he is? Kaidoh doesn't like being touched! And he certainly wouldn't have allowed anyone to give him a kiss on the cheek.

He's the only exception.

Right?

Wait—why is he so fixated on this. It's just some stupid boy, he was probably bribed by Kaidoh's mother to be friends with him, and told him to kiss his cheek for his birthday. Yeah, that's probably what happened. No way would Kaidoh allow this, nor would anyone be sane enough to kiss someone as grumpy as that.

Even if Kaidoh doesn't look grumpy in the picture at all, but still looks like a girl.

Momoshiro entertains himself with the thought that the boy mistook Kaidoh for a girl, and that's why he kissed him. Hah, take that! Well too bad; Kaidoh's a man with a dick. And he's seen it to confirm this. Definitely not a girl. Stupid long hair. Stupid boy. Stop touching him.

"_Friend_, huh?" Momoshiro grits out. He sounds almost strained. Friend his ass.

Kaidoh crosses his arms defensively. "Yeah," he mumbles, but sounds a little guilty as he says it. He knows, without needing to look, what picture Momoshiro is looking at. Because there's only one. But it's pretty embarrassing, and Momoshiro looks kind of grossed out by it too, which in turn makes Kaidoh feel annoyed, like he needs to explain himself. Because he doesn't want Momoshiro to think that was what his whole childhood was like.

Because it wasn't. It wasn't like he wore dresses all through elementary school. Nor did he let guys kiss him—or get anywhere near him really. No, he'd started to toughen up after that.

"Well, I didn't know him for very long," he explains. "He moved away." He tries to sound indifferent about it, because why shouldn't he be? It was so long ago he shouldn't really care anymore, even though at the time it felt like the worst thing in the world. Well, he'd been five-years-old. He hadn't had much to compare it to.

"Ah yes, Kaoru was devastated to know Takkun was leaving, heartbroken, really," explains his mother in a sad voice. "His first friend, just gone. Took him a while to get over it." She leans in closer to Momoshiro with a small smile. "But I'm glad he's got other friends now," she says so Kaidoh can't hear.

Momoshiro clams up.

Kaidoh really wishes he had something to hide his face behind right about now. He settles for his hand, and cups it over his mouth, grumbling, "We can stop talking about this now …" in a mortified-sounding voice. The last thing he needs is his mother telling Momoshiro all about it like it's some charming anecdote. He glares at the photo album like he's trying to will it to slam shut through powers of telekinesis.

"Takkun?" Momoshiro asks in a cracked voice.

Kaidoh looks at the floor. "Yeah, that was his nickname," he says quietly. He glances back up again, but Momoshiro's expression is unreadable.

Actually, he looks kind of shell-shocked.

_Oh_, Kaidoh thinks, and suddenly very much wants to lock himself in his room and never come out. But unfortunately that doesn't seem to be an option at the moment, so he remains frozen in his chair.

Momoshiro is just as frozen, his eyes glued to the picture now. He doesn't remember it as clearly as he should, but he does remember that day, and he does remember that orange peach hairclip stuck in Kaidoh's hair. That was his present, because it was his signature, a peach after all, and he had given it to K-chan, the first girl he ever had a crush on. It was her birthday, and Momoshiro went to visit her, and they had lots and lots of fun. Yes, he remembers that.

He doesn't remember the girl being a boy, and that boy being Kaidoh.

Yet the evidence is staring straight back in his face, as clear as day—his vague memory couldn't compare by a long shot.

That average looking Japanese boy, is him, Momoshiro, when he was four or five years old. And what should have been cute K-chan standing next to him—being kissed—is Kaidoh Kaoru.

Momoshiro puts his hands away as they start to shake, he can feel sweat breaking out on his forehead, and his entire mind is running in overdrive, trying to collect all the memories of K-chan that he stored away. His eyes flicker at Kaidoh, nervous, fidgety, feeling kind of nauseous, and they look back down again at the picture. Where a four year old Takkun, and a five year old K-chan should be standing, instead are Momoshiro and Kaidoh. It's them. It's really them. Momoshiro really is the one to be puckering out his lips and happily smacking them on Kaidoh's cheek. And Kaidoh is really the one with the peach hairclip in his long and girly hair.

This is not right. That's not what happened …

… So K-chan never existed? Was she a figment of Momoshiro's mind, or had it been Kaidoh all along?

The thought makes cold spikes run up his back, and he digs his fingers into the upholstery of the couch.

Forget about thinking what will happen in the future between them—he has to know what the hell happened between them in the past.

He can't meet Kaidoh's eyes anymore, he doesn't know what will happen—perhaps an atomic bomb will go off, that's how this tension feels like—so he keeps them on the corner of the album, the mother still blissfully unaware of the atmosphere. He opens his mouth, wanting to speak. Words aren't coming out though, instead he keeps flashing back to memories of K-chan. How she played around with fake cakes, how she liked blue flowers, how she got bullied, how Momoshiro bravely stood up for her and kicked their asses, how they spend her birthday together, and how they parted. It had been such a stereotypical childhood crush, and Momoshiro would look back on it fondly, but now … these memories are contaminated. They were wrong, it was a fantasy.

There was never any K-chan …

"... So you're K-chan," Momoshiro breathes out in a low and shaky voice.

It was only ever Kaidoh.

A shiver creeps up the back of Kaidoh's neck hearing Momoshiro call him that. It sounds surreal, like a name Momoshiro shouldn't be using, like a name Kaidoh shouldn't be hearing anymore—that was over fifteen years ago, and feels like a different time. But seeing Momoshiro sitting there is making all the pieces slowly fall into place and now that he knows, Kaidoh can't seem to make himself forget that he does. That boy, Takkun, that was Momoshiro all along. The knowledge jabs Kaidoh in his chest like the stick of a drum pounding away beneath his ribcage.

He somehow squeaks out a "Yes," in a voice that sounds foreign and faraway, and half like a question, like he doesn't know what to say. "I mean … I … That was a long time ago."

Right now, it feels like yesterday, to Momoshiro. Or more like today, given the intense and suffocating atmosphere suddenly looming over them. His heartbeat is racing like mad, he can feel it jump against his chest, so damn nervous. Kaidoh's mom seems fine though, it's only him and Kaidoh that are like this, everyone is blissfully unaware, even Hazue doesn't seem to have caught on. How would he? If Momoshiro just found out, it means no one else could have known.

"Ah yes, Momo-nii-chan, don't worry about it. I've never seen Takkun return after that. Not that I was really … aware of it at that time, but he hasn't had eyes for him—err I mean, he hasn't seen him since. Yeah." Hazue coughs in his hands.

"_Hazue_," Kaidoh hisses, and hides his face behind his hand again. He peeks through his fingers at Momoshiro who still hasn't said anything else. Kaidoh can't tell if he's angry, and almost wishes that maybe he was, because at least that's something familiar to Kaidoh and he'd know how to react. Right now though, he doesn't. He has no precedent for this. There's no normal way to handle this. This _isn't_ normal.

"That's right, we haven't heard of Takkun since, I wonder what became of him," his mother muses.

Momoshiro leans forwards a little bit, resting his hands on his knees, and hanging his head down, staring straight at the floor. He feels like a tornado knocked the wind out of him, he's out of breath and he can't stop shaking now. He feels …

"I'm gonna be sick," says Momoshiro in half a mumble, and half a yelp. No, he doesn't feel good at all. This is the opposite of feeling good and happy and perfect. This feels like knives are stabbing him in his brain, then rubs salt in the wounds as well.

"That's not good—did the food not agree with you, Momoshiro-kun?" asks Kaidoh's mother in a worried voice. He claps the album closed and scoots closer to Momoshiro to check his temperature. "You do look rather clammy."

"No it's just …" His stomach is swirling with nausea? "I just need to …" Get out of here? Because staying here will probably make him throw up. This is not good, this is really not good.

"Kaoru, why don't you take him upstairs and let him rest on your bed till he feels better? We can't let Momoshiro-kun go home in this state." She starts rubbing his back, which only serves to make Momoshiro feel more awkward.

And _what?_ Rest on Kaidoh's bed? No chance in hell. Momoshiro needs an escape from this madness. He quickly stands up from the couch, which had proved to be a mistake, as he feels even more lightheaded, until he grows weak at his knees and faintly collapses back onto the couch. His brain isn't running right, and his knees won't let him leave. This is torture. He can't just endure this, he's not built for something like this. He can't process this sudden information, it's too much on his puny tiny brain.

"Take him quickly!" she urges Kaidoh on in a much more stern voice.

What, no, don't take him quickly! There is no taking to be involved today! Momoshiro tries to glare at Kaidoh, but just feels more nauseous as he realizes that's K-chan, and he was his first crush—_oh god he did not just think that out loud._ Okay, he does really need to lie down, but he also really needs to leave! He grits his teeth, as if he's preparing himself to bite Kaidoh's arm if he touches him, since his legs aren't listening to him and walking away.

Kaidoh pulls himself up from his chair, like he's moving automatically, and goes to grab Momoshiro by the arm to pull him up too, but Momoshiro shrugs him off. It takes several tries for Kaidoh to actually pull him to his feet because Momoshiro is being stubborn and skittish, like some kind of scared animal. Kaidoh's just glad Momoshiro doesn't punch him right in front of his parents. That would be hard to explain.

Eventually though, Momoshiro seems too dizzy to protest and Kaidoh manages to get him up the stairs to his room. Momoshiro doesn't say anything, doesn't touch Kaidoh and flinches away at Kaidoh's touch as well, and it makes Kaidoh feel nervous and embarrassed, and he feels like punching Momoshiro, because none of this is his fault. But he doesn't, because he also doesn't really understand.

Finally they reach Kaidoh's room, and Kaidoh sits Momoshiro down on his bed. He's about to say something when Momoshiro looks around frantically, breathing hard and fast, and tries to stand up again like he's going to make a run for the door, but doesn't quite make it all the way up and instead faints back against Kaidoh's pillow.

Well, at least he waited until they were up the stairs to do that.

Kaidoh, exasperated, embarrassed, and overwhelmingly confused by the whole turn of events, huffs and sits down in the chair at his desk, a little wary to get too close to Momoshiro, since he doesn't know when Momoshiro's going to come around, and he doesn't want him to try and take a swing at Kaidoh the second he wakes up.

So instead he just sits there, facing his bed, watching Momoshiro lie there passed out and looking helpless, and finds himself wondering how he never noticed before. Well, so many years had passed, and they'd both changed so much. It wasn't something he could have known. But now that he does know, he feels like all the clues were there, he just didn't know how to see them before. Now he can't help but see how Takkun grew up to be Momoshiro, how similar they are, how much sense it makes.

It's strange that Kaidoh doesn't feel afraid, not like Momoshiro seems to be. It's like solving some mystery, but the solution is kind of comforting in a weird way. Kaidoh's glad to know. It settles something inside of him. But at the same time, it's tearing open a new flurry of anxiety, because, in contrast, Momoshiro _doesn't_ seem okay with this at all. Hell, it made him physically ill! Kaidoh doesn't know what to do with that. He doesn't know how to make it okay, since he doesn't even know if _they_ are okay in the first place. It's like the awkwardness he felt upon seeing Momoshiro on his doorstep earlier has been magnified, exponentially multiplied, and he can't see any easy way out of it.

He frowns and swivels in his chair, wanting to fix it, but not really understanding what's wrong in the first place. It's a shocking coincidence—bizarre, even—but he's still the same person he was yesterday, and so is Momoshiro. That was a long time ago, so long neither of them even really remembered it until just now. Kaidoh's put that chapter of his life behind him. It doesn't need to become a part of their present. Just the thought of that makes Kaidoh want to die of embarrassment.

Momoshiro's breathing is even, steady, unlike his previous hysterical rhythm, that caused him to pass out from sheer anxiety. It's never happened before, never once in his life has Momoshiro felt so much like a rat trapped in a corner with no way out.

After several more minutes pass, Momoshiro finally stirs in his sleep, and opens his eyes, meeting an unfamiliar ceiling.

The first thing he thinks is that this is not his room. The second thing he thinks is that this is Kaidoh's room, and it looks exactly the same the last time he was in there, and that was over five years ago.

Kaidoh's room, he's in Kaidoh's room. An hour ago, he'd probably have been thrilled to be in this place for some privacy, but it only serves to make Momoshiro feel trapped with Kaidoh in a room right now. And he's there, sitting on his chair, staring at him, and that makes Momoshiro feel all kinds of weird things. The nausea starts making him dizzy again; he just can't believe it. He doesn't want to believe what he'd just found out.

All his memories, his fond childhood, they're gone. The first girl he ever had a crush on turned out to be a boy, and that simply weirds him out. He likes _girls_, not _boys_. And of all people, why did it have to be Kaidoh?

Momoshiro covers his face with his hands, hiding away his embarrassment as much as he can. Why is he here with Kaidoh. Why isn't he home. Why did he have to find out about that picture. He groans out loud; he can't make sense of it at all. He just wants to go home now and stay away from Kaidoh. Thinking of doing anything with Kaidoh right now scares the hell out of him. Which is stupid because he came here with the intention of doing something with Kaidoh today!

He still can't face the truth; that he was Takkun and that Kaidoh was K-chan. It can't be the truth. K-chan was a girl, and a very cute and nice one at that. She was so shy, but still very enthusiastic about anything Momoshiro had to say. She smiled all the time, and he really couldn't see her punching anyone in the future. She'd have become a cute obedient girl with long black hair, wearing a peach hairclip. That's how he imagined her as if the memory would ever surge back up. A nice girl, yeah, that's what she would have been.

But this, this awful reality is far from the truth.

Because Kaidoh isn't nice, he rarely smiles, he punches Momoshiro all the time, and he's certainly not obedient. They are two completely different people, and Momoshiro's mind still refuses to accept the fact that K-chan was Kaidoh.

And K-chan was a girl! Not some stupid grumpy guy who hisses all the time. Momoshiro didn't have a crush on a guy, he likes girls. He's not gay!

How could he have known? K-chan looked like a girl, acted like a girl, had a girly nickname, liked girly stuff like cakes and flowers, and well—Momoshiro never suspected otherwise.

Momoshiro doesn't know what to do anymore. He was winging it when he came here, but he did not expect to find out about this, this weird piece of information that changes everything. After all, K-chan was his very first kiss, and now it just means his first kiss was with Kaidoh. And he's a guy. He's not a girl. And Momoshiro is not gay. But wait, Kaidoh is, isn't he. That's why he was never bothered by Momoshiro hanging all over him when he was pretending to be K-chan. Yes, pretending, because Momoshiro refuses to believe Kaidoh was like that for real. He was just tricking Momoshiro, yes. He acted like a girl on purpose to get Momoshiro to like him. Well guess what; it worked.

"Asshole," Momoshiro grumbles through his hands. Yes, Kaidoh is a big asshole. The biggest he knows.

Newly aggravated, Kaidoh curls his fingers into fists at his sides. "How the hell am I an asshole, asshole?" he demands. He wasn't the one who agreed to sit with his mother and pore through old, embarrassing photos. Kaidoh figures that whatever came from that, Momoshiro brought on himself.

And why is it such a terrible thing anyway? Why is Momoshiro looking so nauseated by the discovery? It's kind of … insulting. So they knew each other when they were in kindergarten and neither realized it until now. It's not the end of the world. At least, not to Kaidoh anyway.

He starts to stand up from the chair, but stops himself the second he sees Momoshiro flinch, like he thinks Kaidoh's going to attack him or something. He's suddenly really jumpy, and it's unfamiliar territory for Kaidoh. He doesn't know how to handle Momoshiro like this. He isn't used to him being uncomfortable around him, and it's making Kaidoh feel like he should feel uncomfortable too. And the longer he stays here like this, the more he starts to.

Momoshiro hastily sits up straight, cursing his body for making him feel dizzy as he does, but he pulls through it, and backs up against Kaidoh's wall. His back presses into the cold stone wall, and now he can face Kaidoh, not that he really wants to. He just doesn't want him to come near him right now. It's all too weird and awkward.

But he's always got anger to fall back on. "You're the asshole," he fires back. Yes, Kaidoh is the asshole for seducing him as a five year old kid, and then keeping it a secret all these years. "Liar," he calls out too.

Kaidoh's confusion turns into annoyance and he glares at Momoshiro, eyes narrowed to slits. "I didn't lie about anything, you dumbass!" What is Momoshiro even talking about? That Kaidoh lied about his childhood? Lied about knowing Momoshiro when they were kids? He didn't know that himself until a few minutes ago!

"You did! Lied about everything! God—why do you keep fucking up my memories." Momoshiro buries his face into his hands, remembering the time he found out Kaidoh had liked him during middle school. How awkward it was between them then, and how tainted his memories had became. And now it's like that all over again, but even more embarrassing, because Momoshiro liked him too!

No, no, he didn't like Kaidoh. He liked K-chan. There's no way they are the same person.

"I bet you thought it was funny all this time huh, pretending not to know," Momoshiro says with disdain in his tone. "Pretending you were a girl in front of me, what the hell."

"I _didn't_ know!" Kaidoh sputters exasperatedly. "And I never pretended to be a girl!" He stops and raises both eyebrows at Momoshiro. "Wait. You … What? You thought I was a girl?" He can't really comprehend it. He never saw it as that at all. He was a boy, same as he is now. He hasn't changed. He hasn't pretended. Just because his mother made him wear some wacky clothes back then doesn't change who he was. And he didn't think Takkun thought he was anything but a boy either … at the time anyway.

In retrospect—and with all that photographic evidence of just how girly he used to look—he guesses he can kind of see how someone might get that idea. And that makes his whole face flush red. He didn't mean to trick Momoshiro. He'd never pretended to be anything but who he was. He'd just been a kid after all. How was he supposed to know?

"I didn't _think_ you were a girl—you acted like one and even spoke like one! What the hell man, I'm not like you—I'm not _gay_, so of course I wasn't going to do that sort of thing with boys. You were supposed to be a girl!" He's angry, he's angry for knowing about this information. Angry at Kaidoh for deluding him, for making him think his hetereosexuality was still in check when he was that young, for throwing that whole idea upside down in the future.

It doesn't count.

Yes, it doesn't count. Obviously if Momoshiro knew K-chan was a boy, he wouldn't have liked her. Obviously.

This time Kaidoh does get out of his chair, rising so fast the whole thing rattles, nearly knocking over.

"Shut up!" he growls. He's shaking now, and sounding equal parts hurt and angry. "Don't tell me what I was supposed to be. I was five fucking years old, asshole. I was acting like a _kid_, nothing else."

"But you knew!" Momoshiro cries out. "You knew … did you really think that's how two boys should act together? You had long hair, wore dresses, and referred to yourself with the female pronoun—you had to have known!"

Kaidoh takes in a sharp, hitched breath, like he can't seem to get air in fast enough. Then it shudders out of him again as he says, "I didn't … I didn't know. My mother cut my hair and bought my clothes. And she always told me to speak politely and gently. It was just … it was all I knew to do. I didn't know any better. I wasn't trying to … I didn't think …" He huffs. His mind feels all muddled. "It was a really long time ago, moron."

And how was he supposed to know how two boys should act together? It wasn't like he'd had any friends before Takkun.

Okay _fine_ ; Kaidoh didn't seduce him on purpose. But there was definitely some seducing involved. Momoshiro trails his fingers from his eyes down to his jaw, looking completely bewildered.

"So that's why they always said K-chan was such a girl … it was an insult," he mumbles to himself. He knew K-chan was getting bullied, and they always called her a baby girl, but he didn't know it was because K-chan was actually a boy.

Momoshiro looks back up at Kaidoh. "But … then … how …" How come Kaidoh is the polar opposite of girl-Kaidoh he met all these years ago then? "Ugh fuck," he curses, not really knowing what else to say. "You're messing me up man."

"But I'm not doing anything," Kaidoh replies, scowling. And he isn't. Despite all his instincts to the contrary—instincts to pummel Momoshiro with his fists, mostly—he's just standing there at the foot of his bed, barely moving. But if he isn't doing anything then why does he feel guilty? This isn't his fault.

He looks down at the floor and his forehead creases. "I'm sorry," he mumbles weakly, for lack of better words.

Momoshiro takes this chance to take in a deep and shaky breath, trying to calm himself down. He needs to be objective about this, getting angry at Kaidoh won't help because it had already happened in the past. That doesn't mean he still doesn't feel fleeting bursts of anger though. Mostly he's just confused, and well, shocked really. His memories turned out to be false, completely and utterly false.

But Kaidoh doesn't seem to have been doing it on purpose, even going as far as to say sorry—which the snake rarely does.

Momoshiro leans his head into his hands again, it's impossible to keep looking at Kaidoh directly without anything covering up his flushed cheeks. "So you really didn't know … that it was me?" he asks in a tiny voice.

"No, stupid," Kaidoh says. If he had, he wonders how differently he would have acted around Momoshiro, seeing him again. That's a thought that makes his head spin a little. Would Momoshiro have freaked out like this, if back at Seigaku he'd found out they used to know each other in kindergarten? Would things be different now? Would everything have changed?

Kaidoh takes a small and tentative step forward, still looking down at the floor. Is everything going to change?

"I had no idea," says Momoshiro. He stares down at the blanket on Kaidoh's bed, still unable to look at him directly without feeling like he should hide under the covers. "You … K-chan … they're two completely different people. Hell, you used to smile and laugh around me, and I can't even manage that anymore nowadays, always acting like a grump. I can't believe you're her …" He doesn't want to believe it either.

Because if he does, then he has to admit that his very first crush had been Kaidoh, and he had also been his very first kiss. And Momoshiro is fairly certain he's not gay.

"It was always me," Kaidoh replies quietly, and now he's kind of embarrassed too, thinking about all those times he cried back then, knowing now that it was Momoshiro who was there to witness all of those weak moments. Momoshiro is right, he has changed a lot since then. He's gotten stronger.

He hazards another small step forward, like Momoshiro's a dangerous animal and he has to approach with caution. He hasn't really thought ahead enough to what he'd do if he reaches him. "I just … grew up," he continues. "Everyone does. No one still acts the way they did when they were five-years-old."

"Are you saying I'm still like a five year old then," says Momoshiro with a loud huff. He side eyes the tentative steps Kaidoh's taking.

Kaidoh rolls his eyes. "I didn't say that, dumbass. But I guess you haven't changed all that much." It sounds weird to say that out loud. To talk about their shared past. To even _have_ a shared past that goes back that far. It still doesn't quite feel real to Kaidoh.

No, Momoshiro doesn't seem to have changed much. He was kissing Kaidoh when he was five, and he's still kissing him when he's in his twenties. Great. Just terrific.

"Seems you haven't either," Momoshiro says in a bitter voice. "Liked me then, liked me now. What a fucking fairy tale."

"_Asshole_," Kaidoh growls, feeling his cheeks burn and his pulse leap in his neck. He stomps over to Momoshiro and before he can get a word out, punches him in the face. It doesn't give him the kind of satisfying feeling he's used to, but it makes his knuckles sting just the same.

Momoshiro grimaces on impact, feeling it vibrate through his entire body—Kaidoh hit him _hard_. He turns the other cheek to Kaidoh, silent, his cheek hurting like hell, and then he opens his mouth.

"Did that make you feel better?" he asks in a monotone voice.

"No," Kaidoh admits sourly, his lip trembling a little when he speaks. His hand is shaking and his face is still red. And no, he really doesn't feel better at all, just more frustrated.

Momoshiro slowly turns his face back to Kaidoh again, finally looking him in the eye, even if it does make his entire skin crawl with something creepy. "K-chan was the one who got beat up before, so why are you the one beating me up now?" he asks. It's a nonsensical question, it has nothing to do with anything, but Momoshiro is really at a loss of what to do, how to act. How to fix things ... if anything can be fixed at all.

"Because you're being a dumbass, dumbass," Kaidoh replies, his voice clipped and still on edge. But he lowers his fist and lets his arm hang lamely at his side before adding, "And that's totally not the same thing."

"You're a dumbass 24/7, can I punch you too then?" Momoshiro asks sarcastically.

Kaidoh glares at him. "I'll just hit you back if you do."

"Well that isn't fair, you got me first."

"That doesn't mean I'm not allowed to punch you again."

"You're an asshole," says Momoshiro, glaring. "Stop thinking violence solves everything between us." And for once, that sounds like something very wise.

Kaidoh glares right back at him. "Well what do you want me to do then?" he demands.

Momoshiro clicks his tongue at Kaidoh. "How about giving me back my childhood? Or better yet, my first kiss! That was supposed to be for a girl!"

"Fuck you," Kaidoh grumbles, his chest clenching up bitterly. "You did that all on your own."

"No I didn't," Momoshiro dejects. "You tricked me into doing it. Made me like you, think you were a girl—I wouldn't have done it if I knew you were, well, you. Dumbass."

Kaidoh punches him again, this time in his arm. "I didn't _make_ you do anything, you asshole." His insides are tying themselves up in knots.

So what, if Momoshiro hadn't thought Kaidoh was a girl then he would never have wanted to be friends with him at all? He would never have given him flowers or walked home with him or come to his birthday party? Then there would be nothing to argue about, because nothing would ever have happened between them.

Then what about now? Why is Momoshiro here now? He knows Kaidoh's not a girl but he's still here. What the fuck. Kaidoh feels really confused. And angry. And hurt. And he can only punch Momoshiro so many times before it really does feel like he's just beating him up.

Momoshiro growls at Kaidoh and defensively hugs his arm as if it hurt a lot harder than it looked like. "You definitely did something though," he says. And it's true. Kaidoh acted like a girl, and little Momoshiro fell head over heels for such a cute girl. "This is really stupid, I can't believe I didn't notice—and _you_ never noticed. Ugh. This wouldn't have happened if you just acted uncute from the start."

"I wasn't trying to act like … like … anything," Kaidoh protests, feeling embarrassed. He definitely wasn't trying to act cute. That's disgusting.

"Hah, what, so you're naturally a girl at heart?" Momoshiro mocks.

"Shut _up_!" Kaidoh growls. "I wasn't acting like a girl!" And honestly, he'd never thought that he was. Sure, his hobbies hadn't been all rough and tough like most boys his age, but he'd never seen them as particularly girly either. He wasn't a girly kid. Well, apart from the dresses. But that wasn't his fault. "I'm a guy and I was acting like a guy. Moron."

"No you weren't. You are now, but not back then," Momoshiro points out. Adult Momoshiro certainly is not head over heels for this Kaidoh. That would be stupid, and frankly impossible.

Because Momoshiro likes girls, and has since he was a wee little kid. It's not because he liked _Kaidoh_ that he formed a crush on K-chan, it's because she was a girl. Yeah. Any girl would have made him feel the same. Then again, that was the past, and now in the present, he's doing weird and questionable things with Kaidoh as well. And that's freaking him out; he's tried to suppress those issues for as long as he could, but being faced with the cold hearted fact that his first crush was Kaidoh is opening up that can of worms, and it's spreading like wildfire.

The issue that Kaidoh is undeniably a man, and yet Momoshiro went ahead and did all those things with him on the island anyway. Things you don't do to another man.

"Now you're definitely a guy," Momoshiro says in a tired voice. He's confused, scared and still angry. This is not what he signed up for when he decided to visit Kaidoh. And knowing what he _did_ expect to happen when he'd see Kaidoh makes his face heat up, because that's disgusting now. It's wrong all of the sudden.

Kaidoh was supposed to be a girl.

"Obviously," Kaidoh says flatly and sits down on the corner of the bed furthest from Momoshiro. He quietly adds, "I wasn't _ever_ a girl." He doesn't know how he can make that any clearer, since Momoshiro still seems in denial about the whole thing, and it's starting to mess with Kaidoh too now. How many other people thought he was a girl when he was younger? How many other people would have treated him differently if they knew he wasn't? That's so … wrong. He feels angry at his mother of all people, like she somehow had a hand in making this happen, in stirring up all these weird and confusing feelings.

But the one thing Kaidoh isn't confused about is how he feels about Momoshiro. Both then and now, he doesn't see how anything changed. He didn't care that Momoshiro was a girl or a boy back then. He just saw a nice kid who actually wanted to spend time with him when no one else would, who seemed funny and interesting and kind. He didn't care that they were two boys. Sure, he'd thought it was a little weird when Takkun was so affectionate with him, when he'd kissed him, when he'd said they should get married, but they were kids. Kids say weird things.

Thinking back on it all now, he wonders if Momoshiro would never have said or done those things if he knew who Kaidoh really was. And that's kind of … well, Kaidoh doesn't want to feel upset by it, since it was years and years ago, but he can't help but feel a little hurt. When he was five-years-old, he'd met a nice boy and he'd liked him and the boy had liked him back and finding out that maybe he never would have liked him at all kind of stings.

And makes Kaidoh angry, too. He wants to shake Momoshiro by the shoulders, because he's being an idiot spending so much time arguing over a kiss that happened over fifteen years ago, when he'd kissed Kaidoh just last week and that had been … totally okay. At least, Kaidoh thought it was. Now he's not so sure. Now he can't look Momoshiro in the eye and see anything but a weird wash of betrayal.

But Kaidoh didn't do anything …

"Whatever," he says with a huff. This is stupid. This whole thing is stupid.

Momoshiro growls at Kaidoh, huddled up far in the corner, away from the snake. Touching is out the question, that's the last thing he wants to do right now. This is not just a _whatever_, Momoshiro can't handwave this colossal change to his past. It makes everything different now, what happened to him when he was so young does matter. He'd liked girls from the start, he was hetereosexual from the beginning. He liked K-chan, and even kissed her. Now that she's not a girl anymore, it messes with his perception; that means the first person he liked and kissed was a _boy_.

And it was Kaidoh of all people too. The guy who was crushing on him during middle school, the same guy who was fooling around with him a week ago—and now also happened to be the boy, or girl, or whatever, that crushed on him as well when they were kindergarteners.

Maybe Kaidoh is just a huge stalker or something. Always stalking Momoshiro, and meeting up at different stages of his life, and then fucking him over.

This is all just way too confusing. Then, how many girls in his life had Momoshiro crushed on for real? He can only remember Tachibana An, whom he had dated for a few months before they broke up. Was she the only one then? But no … Momoshiro jerked off at watching porn magazines of girls with big breasts (though he usually thought they were too fake looking, and kind of funny too) … he's definitely never seen any gay porn! That's gross!

Momoshiro nudges away from Kaidoh, suddenly super aware of the fact that he has XY chromosomes, and that's kind of scaring him right now. So he might not have seen any gay porn … but he has definitely done all those things with Kaidoh. He's done a very good job at not thinking about it too much, and it helps it felt good at the time, but that was the island. They were alone, they had privacy, and no one knew.

Well, they're back in Tokyo now. They have no such privacy, and he's pretty sure his life will be over if anyone of his family knew. Two guys doing those things together, it's just wrong, his family thinks so too, and Momoshiro thinks so as well. The time on the island … it's over now. They can't keep doing those things now that they're home. What was Momoshiro thinking, coming over at Kaidoh's place? They can't, it's wrong and gross, and not right at all. Maybe on the island they were just really lonely and craving for company, and that's why it happened.

But Momoshiro is definitely not into guys, and he doesn't like Kaidoh, and he has always liked girls. They can't ever do this again, or speak of again. That was the island life, but that is over now.

For the longest time, Momoshiro stays quiet as he battles with his inner thoughts, until he finally speaks.

"I need to leave," he says. Yeah, he needs to go, they can't stay together like this.

_Fine_, Kaidoh thinks, and shudders out a shaky breath of air. If he's going to be an asshole about this, then Kaidoh doesn't really want him here either.

Explaining himself didn't help, punching Momoshiro didn't help, and now Kaidoh simply feels exhausted from glaring and blushing and shaking. He can't even figure out if he's angry or just frustrated. It doesn't help that he can't stop his heart from beating faster just from being in the same room as Momoshiro, as though it hasn't caught on to the situation yet.

Maybe he should have just told Momoshiro to go home when he'd first come to the door. Maybe he should have gone running tonight so he wouldn't have had to see Momoshiro at all.

Kaidoh scowls at the floor, unable to look at him. "Then leave," he says bitterly.

And that stings more than it should have. Actually, it shouldn't sting at all, Momoshiro should be glad Kaidoh wants him gone, then this entire thing would be easier to ignore, easier to pretend it never happened. But instead he just feels ambiguous, undecided, and still really angry and frustrated. Stupid Kaidoh, it's all his fault for making him feel like this, he fucked everything up for him since the beginning.

"I will," Momoshiro bites out. He slides off of the bed, ignoring the slippers on the ground, and stands up, albeit shaking all over. He takes in a deep breath, but it doesn't do much to keep him grounded, or make him feel better at all.

Momoshiro doesn't look back at Kaidoh still sitting on the bed, he ignores him completely as he briskly walks out of the bedroom. He harshly closes the door behind him, and feels jittery all over, and his heart is racing once more. He's out of breath, completely out of energy. Everything feels wrong, everything feels irritating. It really is all Kaidoh's fault. This never should have happened. The island, their time together, should be forgotten. It'll be easier that way. Then maybe he won't feel like this anymore, if he can just push those memories out of his mind.

Kaidoh's parents see Momoshiro come down the stairs and ask him if he's feeling better now. Momoshiro manages to say a few words that he's fine—the complete opposite of what he's feeling—and then bids them goodbye. He quickly puts his shoes back on, ignoring the way his fingers are shaking as he tries to tie his shoelaces, and then slips into his jacket, unable to zip that one up as well, stupid fucking fingers. Fine, he'll leave it open then! He takes in another shaky breath and reaches for the handle of the front door.

Kaidoh listens to Momoshiro's footsteps down the stairs and out towards the entryway, and once he thinks he's out of earshot, and probably even out the door—a thought that leaves a bitter knot in Kaidoh's stomach—he stands up, lets out a frustrated growl, and kicks his chair over so it lands on the floor with a thud.

That doesn't make him feel any better either. He growls and kicks at it again, but only succeeds in making his toes ache. He probably shouldn't be doing this barefoot. He probably shouldn't be doing this at all. His parents will worry.

He huffs, feeling deflated and unsettled, and sits back on his bed, lying down against the pillow. Then he gets annoyed and flings that across the room as well.

He should go for a run. Running will make him feel better. And it's cold and crisp outside, so maybe he can numb himself up enough to stop feeling like his whole body is burning. Because this feeling sucks and he hates Momoshiro for that, but, annoyingly, not as much as he feels like he should. Not as much as he wants to. It would make things a lot less complicated if he did.

Momoshiro is already out in the night, feeling the cold cool his warm body down. He tries to think of nothing as he rides back home, but ends up thinking about everything, and it's not good. It's suffocating. He just needs some time alone. Maybe then he can think straight, maybe then he can stop thinking that leaving Kaidoh was a mistake.

It wasn't it, was it?


	41. The Shrine

**Washed Up**

**A/N:** first log of the year.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo, Hazue) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** K+

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Momo and Kaidoh haven't spoken since the last log (though Momo did send a text message apologizing)  
- Momo gets sick with the common cold and is kind of feverish this log  
- Both Kaidoh and Momo visit the shrine with their families on January 1st

**Date:** January 1, 2013

* * *

Momoshiro feels like crap.

That doesn't deter his family from dragging him out of his bed, and forcing him to go visit the shrine on new year.

He doesn't want to. He's sick, has got a stuffy nose, body is burning up with a fever, and he's pretty much depressed and confused. He wants to stay in bed all day long and sleep it off, sleep off all his problems and worries, so he doesn't have to think about them, doesn't have to think about how much he fucked things up with Kaidoh.

But it's not like he knows how to fix it. It's not like Momoshiro knows anything at all anymore. He's simply confused, and angry about being confused, and angry at Kaidoh for making him feel like this, but mostly just angry at himself for being unable to deal with it all. He's the one that made it go this far, he's the one that walked out with his tail between his legs.

And it's not like Momoshiro knows what he wants either. He's just confused, terribly confused. He spent most days trying to forget about Kaidoh, about that day, and convince himself that he should forget about their time on the island as well. Because they're back in Tokyo now, and things aren't supposed to be that way. Two guys like that, it's just not … it's just not the same … But boy, who knew forgetting something could be so hard. He can't forget, not when he's thinking about it every day, which just makes him even more confused about what he wants. It also doesn't help his head feels like it will explode; being sick while dealing with these problems is not a good combination.

He'd sent Kaidoh a text message that day, containing the simple word 'sorry', because he knew he was being a childish ass storming out of there. Then again, it's not like Kaidoh ever replied, and Momoshiro thought it was a good idea not to contact him anymore either. It had to end, they couldn't continue this charade.

At least, that's what he thought a week ago, when he was still so angry his heart was racing a thousand miles in his chest, and his whole world felt like it was turned upside down. Now that he's calmed down a bit, he can look back over his past actions, and realize he's done a pretty good job of getting himself into this mess. He wanted to forget about all the things he's done with Kaidoh, whether it was sixteen years ago, or two weeks ago—he didn't want to remember. Remembering makes him confront the issue, that he's got some serious identity problems. That maybe, Momoshiro was wrong about his own sexuality all this time.

And that's just too much to think about.

Momoshiro tried to sleep it off most of the time, but when he's awake, he thinks of Kaidoh, and how wrong this should be, and that he shouldn't—but he can't stop. He wonders what Kaidoh is doing, and what he thinks of this situation, and maybe if he even misses him. No, how could he? Not after he stormed out of there as if Kaidoh was some kind of disgusting virus.

Maybe things would be easier if he _did_ think of Kaidoh like a disgusting virus. After all, Kaidoh did something to him, something to make him question everything about himself, and think that maybe, the things that are wrong, aren't so wrong after all. He's been infected alright. He doesn't know how to get rid of that conflicting feeling within himself.

He's thought about it, what his family would think if they ever found out what he and Kaidoh did on the island. He can already see their disgusted faces, and it breaks his heart. He's already caused them enough trouble—so much that his mother and father's marriage is falling apart. He doesn't want to cause more trouble, because who would want a son that messes around with other guys?

Not that Momoshiro himself wants to mess around with other guys, the thought seems revolting. But when he thinks of Kaidoh (not matter how hard he tries not to), and the things they did … they felt the opposite of revolting. It's confusing how he misses it, yet knows that he shouldn't miss it.

Momoshiro sneezes right into his medical mask. Ew, gross. He crinkles up his nose and almost runs into his sister, who was in front of him.

"Watch it, nii-san," his sister, Yuki, says with a roll of her eyes.

Momoshiro feels like dumping her in a lake full of sharks. He doesn't know why he's here in this crowd, being bumped into by strangers all the time, not to mention it's freezing. His parents seem to be guiding them towards the temple to pray, and all Momoshiro wants to do is crawl back under the covers and never come out. He sighs loudly and keeps his eyes cast down towards the ground. He hopes he doesn't run into anyone he knows, he doesn't feel like talking to anyone.

Kaidoh doesn't really feel much like going to visit the shrine today either, but it's New Year's Day and it's tradition, and at least that's something Kaidoh's always had to rely on. He's spent the past week throwing himself into traditions, in fact, into his routines; running a double schedule of training, folding laundry and doing dishes for the whole household just to keep himself busy, applying to extra jobs. He got a pretty promising response from a convenience store in his neighborhood for the late night shift, and Kaidoh is seriously thinking about it since it sounds better than lying in his bed all night trying to sleep.

His parents don't look like they can decide whether to be proud of his behavior or worried for him, since he hasn't really stopped to catch his breath since that night on Christmas Eve, just powering through routine after routine. When his mother tells him to relax, it's like a weird sting in his stomach, because relaxing, not doing _something_, means he'd have to sit there and think about things, and that's just about the last thing he wants to do.

Not that he doesn't spend the majority of his runs thinking anyway. He tries to clear his head, but it doesn't help. His heart feels like it's been wound tight, pounding in his chest like there's not enough room in there to contain it. Sitting at the dinner table with his family is awkward, especially when a couple nights ago his father wondered out loud whether Momoshiro would be dropping by again anytime soon, like his family was quite taken with his charm or something. It's obnoxious, and Kaidoh hadn't known what to say, because no, he doesn't think that will happen again anytime soon, if ever.

And being alone in his room is the worst, since now Kaidoh's got an embarrassing shrine of sorts to Momoshiro. Old gifts in his closet that he's still never given to Momoshiro, nor gotten rid of, that stupid pillow from the island, the bag of still unworn sneakers Momoshiro had bought him for Christmas. Opening his closet door is mortifying. Even though Kaidoh shoved all those things to the back, behind his old school uniform and tennis bag, he still knows they're there. He'd thought about tearing the pillow apart, but only managed to get in a couple frustrated punches to that dumb kitty face Momoshiro had doodled on the front before he'd stopped, feeling like it was pointless and unsatisfying.

He hasn't opened the drawers in his desk because he knows there are photos of Momoshiro still in there. There's probably that stupid hairclip somewhere too, since yeah, Kaidoh had saved it. He'd saved everything. That's one routine he'd never been able to break, and it feels like it's come back to bite him.

So he avoids his room, choosing to spend most of his time outside, running along the river. His mother won't let him go out without first covering him in uncomfortable layers of wool and fleece, so he ends up sweating more than usual, his face all red from overheating. But at least she lets him go out. The first time, when he'd gone out for four hours after dinner, she'd asked him about it, a nervous look in her eyes, but she doesn't ask anymore. Maybe she gets it. Maybe she doesn't and just doesn't really know how to deal with him. It's been so long since he's been home that his parents both don't seem to know whether to smother him and Hazue, or walk on eggshells around them.

But it's still winter, and the holidays are important, and Kaidoh certainly hasn't forgotten that, so for today anyway, he's spending his time with his family without complaint or protest. At least the shrine isn't going to dredge up awkward or unpleasant feelings for him. It's not the same one he'd gone to with Momoshiro years ago, after all. Instead it's a small one closer to home, near one of the main train stations. The day is crisp and sunny, but his mother has still wrapped Kaidoh in a scarf, and made him put on a heavy winter coat over his shirt. She won't let him out in just his tank top, arguing that he probably isn't acclimated to this weather anymore. Kaidoh didn't protest, even though he thinks he'd be just fine. He's always been fine.

At least she's not making him wear socks.

The shrine is crowded with people, a throng of families shuffling their way up to the main temple to pray. The movement should be more orderly than it is, but there are children running around, and Kaidoh keeps getting shoved. He manages not to growl or glare, because it's New Year's, and he has to be polite. His father says something about getting something to eat before they go up to the temple, and so they start to make their way across the crowd toward the line of food stalls at the gate entrance. Kaidoh feels like he's caught up in a wave of people. He hasn't been around this many people since that day at the airport when they were all surrounded by reporters. That was just as suffocating as it is now.

Kaidoh tries not to look anyone in the eye, just meanders through the crowd like it's an obstacle course. He's doing well until someone behind him loses their footing on an uneven cobblestone and trips forward against his back and Kaidoh falls forward too, hitting someone hard in the shoulder.

Automatically, he mumbles what he must have said a dozen times already this morning, "S-sorry, excuse me," and looks up to make sure the other person is all right.

Only, it isn't just some random person he's run into. He's just as bundled up as Kaidoh is, and he's got a face mask covering half his face, but Kaidoh still recognizes him easily and it probably shows in his eyes. Immediately his gaze drops again and he repeats, "Excuse me," although this time his voice cracks as he says it.

Momoshiro, who had been looking at the ground this whole time, was about to look up and say it was his fault, probably, but then his eyes lock with Kaidoh's, and he feels his blood turn cold. Oh crap—that was the last person he wanted to run into today.

Quick, maybe he didn't recognize him—he is wearing a stupid mask anyway. Maybe Momoshiro can bow out and pretend they didn't see each other. So he slowly bows his head, while turning on his heel, his back facing Kaidoh now. Just _slowly_ walk away. Slowly.

"Ah, Momo-nii-chan!"

Ah crap, really?

Momoshiro groans and slumps his shoulder as he turns around to face Kaidoh's little brother, Hazue.

"I didn't know you were coming to this shrine too, you should have told us," says Hazue.

Well of course he didn't tell them, idiot. He's avoiding Kaidoh. Which is really hard to do when now there's a blinking beacon of light stuck on his back, signaling to everyone he is Momoshiro and he is here.

"H-hi …" Momoshiro manages to say slowly. He doesn't turn around in fear of being punched, or well, looking at Kaidoh is pretty scary right now. Maybe he can still get away and go back to his own family, who seemed to have left without him.

"Kaoru-nii-chan is here too, oh, there he is," says Hazue with excitement as he spots his brother looming behind Momoshiro's back. "Great! Now we can all pray together, isn't this fun?"

Kaidoh hisses, his breath puffing out into the cold winter air. That sounds like the last thing he'd like to be doing right now, but his brother looks so enthusiastic about the prospect that he can't exactly tell him that no, he and Momoshiro don't want to do anything together, let alone pray at the shrine on New Year's Day.

So instead he just takes a step forward, careful not to bump into Momoshiro again this time, and bows slightly, saying, "Happy New Year." It sounds stilted and formal, almost like they're strangers, but that's all he knows how to be with Momoshiro right now. Or rather, that's all he feels he's allowed to be. Friendly is out of the question. Luckily, Kaidoh's not really a friendly person to begin with, so maybe Hazue won't notice just how weird this is, or how Kaidoh's shaking a little, just from standing there.

Momoshiro doesn't know what to do, he feels his heart has stilled, and yet at the same time he's getting palpitation. Seeing Kaidoh again is seriously terrifying, it's not like they can happily wish each other happy new year, and happily pray together at the shrine. Sometime ago, the thought of doing this with the stupid coldblooded snake, actually sounded sort of fun. But now? After last week? It feels like he's entering a minefield, and has to tiptoe around the mines in fear of him getting blown to smithereens. That's what it's like being with Kaidoh right now, like a ticking timebomb, and at any moment's notice, things can go bad, like really bad.

"Yeah, same," Momoshiro quickly mumbles, still not facing Kaidoh, but looking at Hazue instead.

How can Momoshiro get himself out of his mess, and where the hell did his own family go? His sister was just in front of him!

"I uhh, I can't," he tells Hazue. "I need to find my own family and do spiritual stuff, and the like, so I can't go with you." Momoshiro is amazed he's able to talk like this, what with his throat hurting from the stupid cold he's gotten, and the fact that Kaidoh is standing behind him, and it's giving him goosebumps. Can't he just make a run for it?

Hazue whips his head back and forth. "Where is your family then, Momo-nii-chan?" he asks.

"Well … I seem to have lost them," Momoshiro admits begrudgingly. "They were just here." He needs to get the hell out of here, he can't stay around Kaidoh for a second longer. That timebomb is ticking. He's still shying away from Kaidoh, his body subconsciously nudging away from him.

"Oh, then we'll have to find them for you, won't we, Kaoru-nii-chan?" Hazue asks his brother with a big smile on his face. This way, Momoshiro and Kaidoh can spend time together on new year!

"I think he'll be fine without our help …" Kaidoh grumbles, directing his words at Hazue so he doesn't have to speak to Momoshiro again. In fact, he's trying his best to avoid looking anywhere in his general direction, because doing so is sure to send his pulse into a frenzy.

He may be pretty awful at social situations, but even he can read how icy the atmosphere is, and it isn't just the weather. Can't his brother see how uncomfortable he and Momoshiro both are? Does he really need to spell it out for him? He flushes at the thought of that. No, there's no explaining this to anyone. It's like some horrible silent secret he and Momoshiro have weighing on their shoulders.

"He doesn't look very fine, are you alright, Momo-nii-chan?" asks Hazue, inspecting the mask.

"Ahh I'm just … sick." All kinds of sick, sick to his stomach for example. "And yeah, I'll be fine, I just need to find them."

"Since Momo-nii-chan is sick, I think he needs your help navigating this tough crowd, Kaoru-nii-chan," says Hazue, ignoring Momoshiro's silent plea to leave him alone. "So why don't you help him find his family? Who knows what will happen if he gets pushed to the ground while he's already so weak from being sick!"

What, he's not weak! Or will be pushed around by people! Momoshiro tries to glare at Hazue, but it's very ineffective when he seems to be speaking to his brother. Why can't the little bugger just leave him alone already. Can't he see he's desperately not trying to make eye-contact with Kaidoh, and he's trying to find a way out?

"I doubt that will happen," Kaidoh replies flatly. Unless Kaidoh's pushing him to the ground himself. He's cooled down a little over the past week but seeing Momoshiro again is dredging up a lot of annoyed and frustrated feelings, and if he has to play nice and wander around the shrine looking for Momoshiro's family, it might just push him to his limit.

Especially if Momoshiro's not going to say anything to him.

Not that Kaidoh is planning on saying anything to Momoshiro either, but it's the principle of the thing.

He huffs and gives Hazue a long look like he's trying to communicate his frustration with his eyes, because he doesn't want to have to say it out loud right in front of Momoshiro: _I can't do this_.

Hazue simply stares back; _this is your chance!_ Why would his brother not take this opportunity to be alone with Momoshiro? He's been trying to convince his brother to contact him, but he's just very shy and doesn't have the courage, but especially this week it has been rough. He's avoided the topic of Momoshiro ever since christmas. Maybe something happened between them, maybe a fight or something. They did fight a lot on the island.

Hazue yanks on Kaidoh's scarf to pull him closer for a more private conversation. "If you and Momo-nii-chan had a fight, don't you think now's a good time to make up?" he whispers to him.

Momoshiro awkwardly stands around, wondering if now's a good time to blend in with the crowd and disappear. They'll never know. He shuffles off to the side, looking shifty with his eyes still not daring to look at Kaidoh—not even his jacket, and he backs up away from them. It would have been the perfect plan to disappear, had there not been another jackass behind him who shoved him so hard, he falls right into Kaidoh this time. His face immediately heats up and he tries to pull himself away from this awkward mess. Within a second, he's away from Kaidoh, as much as the crowd around him will allow him, and coughs a few times in his mask. Fucking damnit. This day sucks like hell.

"Sorry," he says in a gruff voice, without looking at Kaidoh still. "I need to go find my family," he says, as an excuse to get away from them already.

"You should go do that then," Kaidoh replies, in a tone that says he really doesn't care what Momoshiro needs to do. He's surprised by how convincing he manages to sound, given the way his face is all warm and an insistent pounding in his chest seems to be protesting his words.

But he doesn't regret saying them. Momoshiro needs to leave. They can't stay together like this, not when there's tension between them so thick it could be cut with a knife and they can't even look at each other when they speak.

He's sure his brother's intentions are good, but this isn't really a fight they can easily make up from. Actually, Kaidoh isn't sure if this is even a fight to begin with. He doesn't know _what_ it is. But he's sure his nerves will calm down again once Momoshiro's gone. At least, he hopes they will.

"I will," Momoshiro bites back, sounding irritated. He can't help it, he doesn't want to be around Kaidoh right now, not after last week. It's awkward and stiff, and Momoshiro has no idea if it will ever get better or not. But now is certainly not the time. Maybe it never will be the right time, a thought that leaves Momoshiro feeling even sicker—but he's the one that started this after all. Or well, it wasn't really _his_ fault, finding out that Kaidoh was K-chan was no one's fault, but it happened either way. He hopes no one else knows either, Kaidoh better keep his mouth shut. About everything. Even the things they've done on the island.

"Happy new year," Momoshiro says bitterly, before he lets himself get swallowed up by the crowd, eager to get away from Kaidoh and take a breather. He really does feel sick to his stomach. He'd rather be home right now.

Hazue watches Momoshiro disappear, feeling powerless. He looks back over at Kaidoh, a little bit annoyed that he didn't even seem to try, instead he was pushing Momoshiro away.

"He's going to think you don't like him anymore if you act like that," Hazue says, scolding his brother.

Kaidoh scowls. "I don't care what he thinks," he says grumpily, stuffing his hands into the deep pockets of his coat and kicking at the ground.

"That's a lie," Hazue says. Why is his brother acting like this? What _happened_ between them on that day? Perhaps … oh! Suddenly he feels ashamed at not having seen it sooner. He looks down at the ground, kind of embarrassed he hadn't picked up the hints. It seems obvious now; Kaidoh doesn't want to be around Momoshiro and can't even stand to look at him. Even Momoshiro seemed eager to leave the scene.

"Oh, I'm sorry … I didn't realize you had already confessed. Is that why you don't want to see Momo-nii-chan anymore? Did you get rejected?"

Well, Kaidoh certainly feels like he's been rejected. But.

"N-no," he sputters, horrified by how bluntly Hazue is able to ask that. "I mean … Ugh, I don't want to talk about it." He tries to hide his face by burrowing it into his scarf. This is not the conversation he wants to be having. Now, or ever. Talking about Momoshiro seems impossible right now, and talking about confessing, or getting rejected, or any of that other stupid mushy crap is always totally mortifying to Kaidoh.

Hazue smiles sadly. "Alright, I won't ask anymore." He tugs on Kaidoh's sleeve so they can start moving again. "But you can't keep avoiding him forever, for whatever reason you are."

Kaidoh feels a nervous knot in his throat and he tries to swallow it down. No, he doesn't want to avoid Momoshiro forever. That sounds horrible. But he also doesn't know how to fix things, or if they even can be fixed.

"It's his fault," Kaidoh mumbles grouchily. He's the one who left, although Kaidoh didn't try very hard to stop him. Well, how could he have? Momoshiro's mind seemed made up. If he doesn't want to be around Kaidoh, then there's nothing Kaidoh can do. No amount of advice from Hazue can change that.

Hazue keeps quiet for a little bit, simply walking along towards the shrine with their parents a little way behind them (they would never let them out of their sight). He ponders whether or not to ask Kaidoh what exactly Momoshiro's fault was, but he doesn't want to push his brother. He seems to be conflicted about it enough already. But he has to help his brother out!

"... What's his fault?" Hazue asks quietly.

"Nothing," Kaidoh replies evasively. "He's just …" He shakes his head, his fingers balling into fists in his pockets. "An idiot. He's an idiot."

"Well that isn't anything new," Hazue jokes. "Doesn't seem to have influenced you before, so what's so different now?"

Kaidoh hunches forward a little so his voice is muffled in his scarf. "I don't know," he says bitterly. "Ask _him_."

Hazue shrugs. "Okay then, let me go find him." He starts to walk a little bit faster so he can push himself through the crowd.

Kaidoh groans exasperatedly—he hadn't meant literally!—and takes several long strides to catch up with his brother and grab his coat to get him to stop. "Don't …" he pleads. "You'll only make it worse."

"Worse than you two not talking right now?" Hazue says with a frown. He stops walking. "I think anything's better than that. Why won't you tell me? I already know … most of it, so, just let me help you."

The little Kaidoh sighs, then shakes his head a bit. "I'm sorry, I know you don't really want to talk about it … Maybe we can when we get back home? I'm sure we can figure something out."

"Yeah," Kaidoh says distantly. "But it's … complicated." And annoyingly, that's kind of the truth. Somehow things between them have become messy and insurmountable in a way that seems impossible to resolve. This isn't something they can just "figure out"—and, stubbornly, Kaidoh doesn't see why _he's_ the one who needs to figure anything out in the first place. He's not the one acting like a moron over things that happened over a decade ago.

Things with Momoshiro were supposed to stay simple. At least, that's how it felt up until now, with them both acting on instinct and not wanting or needing to talk about what they were doing. Now that they're avoiding each other though, that same silence is beyond frustrating and Kaidoh doesn't know what to do.

"No matter what, I'm sure things can become okay between the both of you again. I mean, no offense Kaoru-nii-chan, but you two are pretty simpleminded." Hazue tries to stifle his laughter. "I guess that makes you two perfect for each other, hehe."

Kaidoh winces and huffs out a breath. "Don't say things like that," he hisses. Because it's embarrassing, and makes his heartbeat do a weird skip. And anyway, it's not true.

"Alright, alright—let's save that for later. Now it's time to go pray!" Hazue starts tugging on his brother's arm to get him to the front of the mass and enter the shrine.

Momoshiro is nowhere to be spotted, but Hazue does notice Kaidoh is eyeing everyone with a medical mask, as if it's someone to be wary of. It makes him wonder what kind of fight they had. If Kaidoh didn't spill his guts and profess his undying love for Momoshiro and got rejected—then what else happened for Momoshiro to treat him so coldly? Well, he'll just have to wait until they're home, and alone, and not anywhere near said subject they're going to discuss. Though Hazue feels kind of bad for Momoshiro, he really did look sick.

They pay their respects at the shrine, ring the bell, clap their hands, and pray. It's the most normal thing Hazue has done in forever. He's happy to be back in the civilized world though. After the shrine, they eat some food on their way back home (Kaidoh seems relieved to not have bumped into Momoshiro again), and all in all, they were gone for about two hours. New years day is pretty busy, and Hazue got some cool snake souvenirs from some stalls.

At home, Hazue makes some small talk with his parents, but when he sees Kaidoh slipping away as if suddenly he's got some place to be (or someplace to run to), he excuses himself and quickly follows Kaidoh up the stairs.

"Kaoru-nii-chan, don't tell me you're preparing to run right now," he says with a grimace. He stops right in front of Kaidoh's door as he sees him go in. They were supposed to talk—no running allowed! And he certainly won't be talking and running with Kaidoh, that would be the death of him.

Kaidoh shrugs. "I was going to, yeah," he says flatly. After that awkward encounter, he wants to do something to take his mind off things, and running has always been his escape.

Hazue stubbornly puts his hands on his hips and blocks the doorway. "Not until you've told me what's up with you and Momo-nii-chan."

"There isn't much to tell," Kaidoh lies, feeling his face heat up under his brother's scrutinizing gaze. More accurately, there isn't much he _wants_ to tell.

Hazue ushers Kaidoh back into his room, and makes sure to close the door behind him. "If you don't want to tell me the details, that's fine, but I have to understand why you two won't speak to each other. It's kind of jarring, you were really close to each other on the island … so what happened?"

Kaidoh sits down on the bed and digs his fingers into his palms. "I don't … I don't know really," he says. "Things are just different now." That and Momoshiro seems to think Kaidoh destroyed his childhood.

Hazue slowly sits down next to Kaidoh as well, at least this is a start. Kaidoh's not running out for one, so that's good.

"Different how? You mean being back home? Yeah … that's different alright."

"Yeah," Kaidoh replies. His whole body feels tense. He doesn't want to talk about this, and wonders how much he'll have to say to get Hazue off his back. "I think maybe too much has changed," he says vaguely. Getting off the island was enough of a shock for them both, but discovering they've known each other for much longer than they thought, and the way Momoshiro reacted to that … well, that turned everything upside down and what was previously only precarious now feels shattered, and Kaidoh doesn't even know what to say to Momoshiro now.

"I guess so …" Hazue trails off, thinking about all the changes in his own life. Luckily they're not as drastic or bad as some of the people who had been stuck on the island for almost a year, but he still has to repeat a year to graduate high school. And he's back to living at home again. "Yeah, you're not living with Momo-nii-chan anymore, for one. I bet you miss that, huh."

Kaidoh looks away, trying to hide his face. "I … yeah," he admits quietly. "A little. I mean, whatever."

"It's okay to admit you miss it, Kaoru-nii-chan," says Hazue with a small chuckle. His big brother can be so bashful sometimes. "Even I miss some parts of the island life! I actually miss Echizen-san too." But he's getting off track here … "Anyways, if you feel like that, missing your time together, then what's stopping you from seeing him right now?"

Kaidoh's mouth pulls into a frown. "I don't think he wants me to see him," he says, bitterness creeping into his voice. And Kaidoh doesn't really want to see Momoshiro either if it means having the same uncomfortable non-conversation they did at the shrine. That's not really something he wants to go through again.

Hazue kicks his feet off the ground, leaning back into the bed some more. "Why, did he tell you that?"

"No," Kaidoh grumbles, "but he didn't need to."

"Hmm, did you say something to make him not want to see you anymore then? Like insulted him or something, which I find hard to imagine, all the slurs you tossed at each other on a daily basis, I'm still surprised you find that 'normal'." Hazue still can't wrap his head around their 'fighting' together, it's a side of his brother he's never seen before, but one that only Momoshiro draws out. So maybe is a good thing? Maybe.

Kaidoh sighs. "I didn't do anything," he says exasperatedly. "But he …" He tries to think of how to explain it without actually _explaining_ it, because telling Hazue that Momoshiro kissed him when they were in kindergarten is really hard to say out loud. "He wants me to be … someone else." Namely, a girl.

"Uhh," Hazue isn't _that_ smart. "What do you mean? Like, does he want you to change your habits or something? Oh! You mean running? He's always complaining about your running. But then again, he did buy you those new shoes, hm …"

"Not running," Kaidoh says, sounding frustrated with himself for still being stuck in this conversation and not outside by now. Because now that Hazue's mentioned running, Kaidoh really wishes he was doing that instead. "More like … things … aren't the way he wanted them to be." He hisses and his forehead pulls into a bewildered look. "It's just complicated now."

"I see … so what does he want you to be? Has he said that? Seems odd for him to say." After all, he and Kaidoh—aside from their frequent bantering—seemed to get along just fine. In fact, Momoshiro is probably the only person who can get along with his brother so well. They really are perfect for each other, which is why Hazue is so stumped what went wrong to made them so serious about avoiding each other.

Maybe Momoshiro wanted Kaidoh to be more happy. He knows his brother can be quite a grump, and is reluctant to go along with anything (even getting him to talk about this is a chore!). That seems like a plausible reason.

Kaidoh fidgets with the blanket on his bed. "He didn't need to say anything," he mutters.

"I'm confused—then what _did_ he say?" Hazue thinks Kaidoh might just be misunderstanding, or misinterpreting something Momoshiro said or did.

Kaidoh tries to remember. Momoshiro had accused Kaidoh of tricking him, of making him think he was a girl, of making him _like_ him back when they were kids. He'd adamantly declared that he never would have done any of those things if he'd known who Kaidoh really was. That he'd never have liked Kaidoh if he thought he was a guy all along.

But Kaidoh doesn't know what that means for them _now_. Momoshiro had been so worked up about their past that they didn't even talk about their present. Does that mean Momoshiro won't like him now either, knowing what he knows? Maybe he already doesn't anymore. Maybe he never really did and Kaidoh was just coasting along on wishful thinking all this time.

He looks back at his brother, his brow furrowed in thought. "He didn't say much, actually," he admits. He'd gotten out of Kaidoh's room pretty quickly, but to Kaidoh, anyway, the message had seemed pretty clear. That being, that Momoshiro didn't want anything to do with him. "But you saw him today," he continues, his mouth settling into a thin, despondent line. "He couldn't seem to get away fast enough."

"To be fair, you didn't seem to want to be around him either, but yeah, I saw it." Hazue sighs, wondering what kind of mess they had gotten into. "Then what suddenly changed though, he was fine with you before, and he came to visit you on Christmas … he even bought you a present! That has to mean something, right? He can't suddenly stop wanting to be around you unless something happened." But then again, Kaidoh doesn't want to tell him any details.

Hazue sighs again and looks down at his hands. "Do you think if, whatever had happened that day, didn't happen, that he'd still want to see you?" he asks, sounding gentle and comforting.

Kaidoh looks down at his hands. "I don't know …" he says. Everything seemed up in the air and uncertain even before that. He doesn't know what Momoshiro would have wanted, and knows even less what he wants now. Everything shifted so suddenly that he pessimistically wonders if maybe Momoshiro would have taken any excuse to cut things off between them. Like this was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Because to Kaidoh, it doesn't seem like such a monumental game changer. But then, that's because Kaidoh has known all his life that Takkun had been a boy, so he can't really understand Momoshiro's reaction.

But if that hadn't happened, if his mother hadn't been so damn pushy with the photo album, then maybe, just maybe things would still be fine. Or maybe, like some ticking time bomb, it would have come to the surface either way, and they'd be in this same mess again, just a little further down the road. The past can't stay buried forever, and to be honest, Kaidoh's glad he knows. Yeah, some part of him is kind of glad it was Momoshiro all along, but he can't really let himself dwell on those feelings because each time he thinks about it, all he can see is Momoshiro's face, looking confused and repulsed and angry about the whole thing. And that makes Kaidoh wish he'd never found out at all.

"I don't know what he'd want," Kaidoh says honestly. He's having trouble figure out what _he_ wants now. Because he hated seeing Momoshiro earlier today. It was uncomfortable, and awkward, and made him want to run away, or punch things, or both, but at the same time, he feels this dull ache in the pit of his stomach that he recognizes as the feeling of him missing Momoshiro. Because he does. And he can't figure out if it will be easier to try and just forget about him and get over it, or try and figure out how to get Momoshiro to talk to him again and fix this mess. Because both seem like very difficult tasks.

"I guess the only way to find out would be to ask him, no?" Before Kaidoh can complain and protest, Hazue puts a hand on his shoulder. "It has to happen, you know … otherwise nothing is going to change if you both sulk and ignore each other. I think a good talk would be nice. About whatever it was that made Momo-nii-chan avoid you. Hmm, do you think you're prepared to go see him?" If he needs to, Hazue will come along and talk to Momoshiro himself!

"Oh, he's sick—you should drop by and give him some healthy food to get better."

Kaidoh grimaces. "I'm not so sure that would be a good idea …" he grumbles. His tried and true philosophy has always been simply avoid-avoid-avoid. And that has served him pretty well up until now.

"Would you rather not see him ever again?" Hazue asks back. He just needs to convince his brother to be more assertive, to take the initiative, because for once he can't rely on Momoshiro to do it, if what Kaidoh says is true. Making amends starts with small steps, so the first step would be to contact one another. Speaking of contact, does Kaidoh even know where Momoshiro lives?

"By the way, do you know where he lives?" asks Hazue. Maybe they can look it up on the internet or something.

"Uh … No," Kaidoh replies blankly. He has no idea. He's never been to Momoshiro's new house, and thinks it would be kind of weird, maybe even rude, to just show up, especially under these circumstances. When Momoshiro does dumb, impulsive stuff like dropping by randomly at someone's house, Kaidoh doesn't even question it. If Kaidoh did it, it would just be embarrassing. He can't just go see Momoshiro, can he? Just the thought of that makes him nervous and he doesn't even have Momoshiro's address yet.

"Uhh, maybe he has it on his Facebook profile then. I remember he had one, so it has to be there. Wait, let me go get my laptop. I'm so glad mom and dad didn't throw that one away," says Hazue with a sigh of relief. They sort of didn't throw anything away, and turned everything into some weird shrine, which was kind of creepy when he first saw it.

Hazue smiles at Kaidoh before he slips off the bed and quickly leaves the bedroom to retrieve his laptop, but right before closing the door he says, "Don't go running, stay," as if Kaidoh is some kind of dog that doesn't listen and always wants to run off.

Kaidoh huffs and leans forward, propping his crossed arms on his legs. This still sounds like a bad idea to him. He doesn't want to do anything to make things worse between him and Momoshiro. Then again, he doesn't really know what could be worse than nothing, which is what's between them right now. So maybe he can go ahead and continue to humor Hazue a little.

Going as fast as he can (he's eager to help), Hazue retrieves his laptop and walks back to his brother's room. He sits down on the bed next to Kaidoh and props the laptop on his lap. Good thing it works still. He opens it up and starts up his browser, quickly going to Facebook and searching up Momoshiro Takeshi.

"Uhh," he says, as a list of thirty Momoshiro Takeshi flash by. He looks at Kaidoh. "Well, you know him best, pick him out," he says. He pushes the laptop onto Kaidoh's lap instead. "I guess whichever one is a resident of Tokyo would be him. Unless there's more people with the same name living there. Kind of weird."

Kaidoh looks at the names. Momoshiros in Sendai and Osaka and Yokohama. He picks out the first one listed in Tokyo, and the profile pops up with a picture he recognizes and suddenly he feels like a sixteen-year-old stalker again. This is embarrassing. Why is he even doing this?

He thrusts the computer back at Hazue. "There," he says flatly, his cheeks feeling warm and red.

"Oh," says Hazue as he scans the screen.

_Our beloved Momoshiro Takeshi, we will never forget._

"Well this is ... awkward."

Kaidoh looks over his brother's shoulder at the screen. "What the hell?" he sputters.

Where Momoshiro's profile page once was is now a weird virtual memorial. There's even comments of condolences from people—some of the names Kaidoh recognizes as old classmates. Some people have posted links to their own photos of Momoshiro, or recounted their memories of him in short anecdotes.

Hazue is right, it's awkward as hell. And kind of creepy, even though Kaidoh knows that Momoshiro is alive and well. Well, maybe not entirely well, since he was coughing and sneezing earlier, but he's not going to die from the common cold. He wonders if Momoshiro even knows this exists. He can't, right? If he did, the dumbass would have taken it down.

Kaidoh's suddenly really glad his own parents aren't the type to go browsing around the internet. He'd be mortified if there was a site like this floating around with his name on the top instead.

"I guess he hasn't checked this in a while," Kaidoh says.

"I guess not … well, it hasn't been that very long either. You should tell him that when you see him next time," he jokes.

"Yeah …" Kaidoh isn't really sure how telling Momoshiro, _Hey, did you know you're dead on Facebook?_ would go over right now. It might just get him punched in the face.

"It'd be a great icebreaker!" Hazue says with a laugh.

Kaidoh laughs weakly. "I guess so," he says. But then he would have to admit that he was looking up Momoshiro on the internet in the first place. Well, technically _he_ wasn't the one to do the search, but he's pretty sure Momoshiro wouldn't see the distinction, and Kaidoh doesn't want to do anything to make Momoshiro more wary of him than he already seems to be.

"Alright, let's see if he has his address listed somewhere …" Hazue awkwardly dodges around the many, many messages posted on his wall (he was quite popular, wasn't he?), mostly consisting of 'he's alive!' and 'fake!' and 'R.I.P.'.

Hazue navigates his facebook and sees that his address is set to private. Well shoot. He'd need to friend him to see it.

"Ehh, you wouldn't mind if I did …" says Hazue slowly as he logs onto Kaidoh's facebook. "If I …" The mouse hovers onto the 'friend' button. "Added him as your friend." _Click._ "Right?"

"_Hazue_," Kaidoh hisses, his eyes wide and horrified. He doesn't want Momoshiro to know he was looking!

"It's okay, he doesn't even know he's dead, he's not going to see. Someone else must be managing his facebook now." Hazue shrugs and sits back. No big deal.

Kaidoh eyes his brother warily. "You're sure he won't find out …" he says in a nervous voice.

"Not unless he looks ... and I don't think he will. I mean, he hasn't figured out he's dead yet, so." Hazue tries to convince Kaidoh that it's not a big deal.

RIght after he says that, he sees a notification pop up on Facebook. He clicks it and sees Momoshiro accepted him back. "Look, now you're friends!" he says excitedly.

"Great …" Kaidoh replies, not sounding terribly enthusiastic. It's kind of weird to think about him and Momoshiro being friends. Even if it is just Facebook and even if Hazue is probably right about someone else managing Momoshiro's account now.

"Let's see … his address, hmm." Hazue clicks around a bit, going to his full profile information, and sees his address. "There, write it down. Oh hey—that's pretty close! I didn't realize he lived so closeby."

"Yeah, that's … weird," Kaidoh says, and then his face flushes as he realizes that now he's going to have to change one of his running routes because it goes right through Momoshiro's neighborhood.

Hazue smiles though. "At least it means you don't have to go far." Then again, Kaidoh likes running. "So uhm, you should … go … sometime. Bring him some oranges, or some miso soup, or even rice porridge. Anything to make him feel better. And then, well, try to talk. Get some answers." Hazue gives his brother two thumbs up. "Do your best!"

Kaidoh sighs. Well, Momoshiro _does_ like food, so maybe it's not a terrible idea. "I'll think about it," he says, still sounding reluctant.

"Just do it before he gets better, because that would be weird bringing him food without a reason." Hazue smiles at him apologetically. "So within this week, okay? You just need to get him to talk, it's better than nothing."

"Okay," Kaidoh concedes, "I'll do it." He's agreeing in part because he hopes it will get Hazue to leave him alone about this, since it's not exactly the easiest topic of conversation for him. And because he hopes that maybe there's some grain of truth to what Hazue says. That it'll be better than nothing. And that he won't regret it.

"Great! So let's say, tomorrow? Or the day after tomorrow, which one would you like; sooner or later?"

Kaidoh feels put on the spot. "Uh … Would it be weird if I go tomorrow?" he asks, like he's trying to stall the inevitable. "Since I just saw him, I mean." He doesn't know much about what's socially acceptable when it comes to things like this. Actually he doesn't know if things like this even have socially acceptable terms or not, since it's probably not a very common problem for the rest of the world. But he doesn't want to seem like he's hunting Momoshiro down right after their awkward run-in.

"I wouldn't think so, I would think it's very thoughtful of you to visit him when you found out he was sick," Hazue notes. If anyone came to visit him the next day if he was sick, he'd appreciate it. Then again, he doesn't really have any problems with anyone, so that might not count here. Momoshiro might not want him to come when he's sick, hmm.

"Which one feels scarier, tomorrow, or in two days?" Hazue decides to ask.

"Neither one sounds too great to me," Kaidoh admits grumpily. He refuses to use the word scary when pertaining to Momoshiro though. Because that would be stupid.

"Perhaps the sooner the better, no? Then it would seem more legit that you're visiting him because he's sick, and not because you know—you want to go straight into talking things out with him. That might scare him off."

Kaidoh huffs. "Fine. I guess I might as well get it over with." Then he'll have less time to freak himself out about it.

"Great!" Hazue pats Kaidoh on his back. "Now write his address down on some kind of paper."

"Yeah okay." Kaidoh fetches some scrap paper from his desk—the back of an old envelope mailing from his college—and writes down the address carefully. He'll probably have it memorized by the end of the day, since despite his best efforts, he knows he won't be able to focus on much else now. Which has always been the annoying thing about Momoshiro; even when Kaidoh is trying his hardest to ignore him and not think about him at all, he still does.

"Okay, so go tomorrow. Send him a text message saying you're coming over, so he knows." Hazue doesn't want his brother to go—after gathering up all his courage—and be left standing in front of an empty house.

Kaidoh grimaces. "I guess …" he says, feebly. He can't think of the last time he's sent Momoshiro a text message, completely unprompted. Actually, he probably never has, and it's kind of a terrifying prospect. But Hazue might have a point. And texting would be less weird than just showing up at Momoshiro's house unannounced.

Hazue takes the laptop from Kaidoh's lap and closes it. He stands up and bows at his brother.

"Do your best, Kaoru-nii-chan, don't leave until you guys sort it out. I know you two will, you're best friends," he says with a smile.

Kaidoh gives his brother an incredulous look. _Best friends?_ "Uh … Yeah. Whatever." That's the last thing he'd think they are.

"Great, go tomorrow then, but don't go too early, he might be asleep, you know, because he's sick and needs lots of rest." Hazue bows his head again, then skitters out of the bedroom.

He really hopes his brother and Momoshiro can solve whatever fight they had gotten in, and work things out. He'd hate for Momoshiro to stop talking to Kaidoh—they were getting along so well! He quietly sends his prayers to his brother, and hopes it'll go well tomorrow.


	42. Home Visit

**Washed Up**

**A/N:** forgot to update this! For the latest updates, go to the community Sea Scribbles on LiveJournal.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- Kaidoh sends Momo a text message that he's coming over with food.

**Date:** January 2, 2013

* * *

For once, Kaidoh isn't running.

No, he's walking along the sidewalk at a turtle's pace, like he's trying to drag this journey out for as long as possible rather than just face the inevitable. But he can't back out now. That text message to Momoshiro basically sealed it for him, and he can't just not show up now that Momoshiro knows he'd planned to come over. Which is both a good and bad thing. Kaidoh wishes he could still back out, but at the same time the feeling of obligation and responsibility is helping him to muster up the courage to get this over with and not be a total chicken.

He's really annoyed that the thought of seeing Momoshiro has twisted into something scary for him. Almost on the same level as being trapped in a tank with zombie fish ghosts.

It's ridiculous. Momoshiro is stupid, not scary, and so is this whole situation.

If this had happened back when Kaidoh was in middle school, if he'd learned then that his rival was actually this sweet little kid who gave him blue flowers every day out on the playground, then he would probably have been shocked too. So he's tried to see it from Momoshiro's perspective. But it's hard when Kaidoh honestly never felt like he was acting like anything other than himself. Sure, he's not the same person he was then, but was the disconnect really that jarring? Maybe it's just hard for him to perceive the change since he was the one doing the changing.

But Kaidoh's sure of one thing: He was never a girl. And it's not his fault if Momoshiro didn't know that. And it's not his fault if Momoshiro can't deal with that either.

Well, maybe this _is_ his way of dealing with it. Just ignoring Kaidoh forever. When this happened before, when Momoshiro stopped contacting Kaidoh, it had been easier to brush it off and move on. Kaidoh hadn't wanted to seem like a stalker. He didn't want to chase after Momoshiro if he didn't want to talk to Kaidoh anymore. He'd accepted it and gotten over it.

Well, as much as he could be expected to get over it.

But now, that feels too much like giving up, and it's hard for Kaidoh to forget about all those months spent on the island together, even if now they feel more like fantasy than reality. Kaidoh has always been good at fighting, so he figures he'll try to fight for this too. He can't continue to brush it off with indifference and act like he doesn't care, that it's not important, because he does, and it is. And he thought it was to Momoshiro, too.

At each intersection, Kaidoh hesitates, thinking how simple it would be to just turn around and go home. But he'd made an agreement, he'd set out to do something and he has to see it through. Even if it feels impossible and his feet feel like lead dragging along the pavement. He hasn't even walked ten blocks but it seems like forever.

Actually, the next block is Momoshiro's; Kaidoh has been keeping track of the numbers on the buildings. Why do their houses have to be so close? It makes his pulse jerk under his skin, like it's trying to break free, because this really is terrifying.

He has no idea what Momoshiro will say or do. He doesn't even know if he'll be home. He didn't respond to Kaidoh's message, so maybe he didn't even receive it. A lump forms in Kaidoh's throat as he thinks about all the ways this could go wrong. Well, Hazue is right, it can't get much worse than it is now.

It had taken him an hour just to send the message. He'd tried writing it a dozen different ways. Angrily, apologetically, in the form of a question. He settled for being simple and direct. And mentioning the food since that, at least, would hopefully keep Momoshiro from saying no.

He wishes it weren't so complicated, that he could just walk up to Momoshiro and punch him and Momoshiro would punch him back and they'd be okay again, back to themselves. Because the Momoshiro that Kaidoh encountered yesterday felt like a stranger and he'd acted like he thought Kaidoh was a stranger too. Or, more accurately, he'd acted like Kaidoh had some rare strain of plague and he had to avoid him at all costs. Not that Kaidoh had acted much better.

But now he's gathered all the boldness he could scrape together within himself and is going to just go up to Momoshiro's house and face him head on. He just hopes he can keep his feet from running off and taking him with them, at least not until something gets said.

He looks up and sees Momoshiro's house up ahead, and immediately hunches into his shoulders. He's thankful his mother shoved a scarf around him before he left so he has something to hide behind, and he has a bandana on his head because it felt comforting and familiar in the face of a very unfamiliar and intimidating situation.

He grips the bag of oranges and the bag of soup and steels himself to march up to Momoshiro's front door. But he doesn't end up marching so much as shuffling timidly. Each time he sees movement across the windows of the house he feels watched, like Momoshiro is readying the battlements and is going to fire arrows down on him if he gets too close.

But he reaches the door, and no one's attacked him, and, miraculously, he's still standing. He hits the doorbell with a tentative finger, half hoping it's broken and no one will hear him and he'll have yet another chance to escape.

But instead he hears it chime inside the house. He hisses nervously, waiting.

Momoshiro is having a crisis of sorts.

The moment Kaidoh had sent that text message—which had woken Momoshiro up from his sleep, he felt as hell had just frozen over.

_Kaidoh_ texted _him_ that he was coming over. A feat so rare, it had never occurred before. Like, ever. Kaidoh nevers texts him, and he certainly doesn't drop by Momoshiro's house either. For a brief moment, Momoshiro wonders if aliens had stolen Kaidoh's phone, and are playing pranks on him by sending text messages to his contacts. And since Momoshiro is pretty sure he's Kaidoh's only contact, that means he's the butt of the joke. Or maybe his imagination is going a bit wacky here. He blames his fever.

So yeah, Momoshiro is already quite panicked because this is something Kaidoh would never do, and also because this entire situation is just so crazy, and new, and he has no idea what to do. Aside from panic, that is. He's been having a really high fever since last night, and that certainly does not make matters better, it just makes it hard to think. And breathe.

In fact, it's hard to do anything at all. Even sending Kaidoh a message back seems like an insufferable task. Maybe if he doesn't send anything to confirm he got it, Kaidoh will assume he didn't get it, and stay home. It's both a relief and a disappointing thought. It's not like he doesn't want him to come over … or well, he's just scared, and jarred, and a bit messed up—but he does know he could never say no to Kaidoh. Not when he's finally coming over, regardless of how terrifying that really is.

After their run-in at the shrine, Momoshiro had bolted straight out of there. Mostly because he was confused, and kind of scared, and still needed to sort things out with himself before he could face Kaidoh. He's been trying, after coming home, trying to get his thoughts in order, willing himself to calm down and to stop thinking of Kaidoh, and how he probably thinks he's an asshole for the very brief meeting at the shrine.

It's still hard to imagine, that the sweet girl K-chan had been Kaidoh all this time. But as time went by, Momoshiro's been gradually accepting that fact, noticing that there are indeed similarities between the two. Shyness for one. K-chan had been huddled in the corner when he met her, and the day he met Kaidoh, he'd been kind of shy too. Then there's the fact they both like blue, and have a thing for cats—and they have the same dark blue eyes. They _are_ one and the same person, and it simply makes Momoshiro more confused.

He was under the impression K-chan was a girl, and therefor he liked girls … but knowing that it was Kaidoh all along, doesn't that mean he likes boys? The idea of Momoshiro liking boys feels foreign, weird, and kind of wrong, so he doesn't dwell too long on that idea.

Momoshiro has tried to picture the grown-up Kaidoh as a girl, and instead got into a nervous fit of laughter, since the image was just too weird and funny. No, Kaidoh definitely does not have a feminine face. He's got hard angles, a defined jaw, and scary looking eyes. Even his eyebrows are scary, or that might just be because he's always scowling at everything. Kaidoh looks quite normal when he's not feeling annoyed. Either way, imagining Kaidoh as a girl right now seems … wrong. Like it doesn't fit. And Momoshiro doesn't know why he's even imagining things like that.

Would it honestly make him feel better if Kaidoh was a girl? Would that make things feel right? Would they have been boyfriend and girlfriend if they had known who they were when they met again in middle school?

It's weird.

Momoshiro can't imagine not getting into physical fights with Kaidoh. He wouldn't do that if Kaidoh were a girl. They wouldn't keep each other on their toes, always competing with each other—it would be very mundane, and actually kind of boring.

So yes, in a way, Momoshiro is glad Kaidoh is not a girl. But that also means he's been doing perverted stuff like kissing and jerking off with a _boy_.

It's so frustrating for Momoshiro, to feel like this. On one hand—even if he won't admit this to himself—he liked all of those things. But on the other hand, he knows he shouldn't. Right? They're guys … and he likes girls … and this is really conflicting.

Momoshiro figures he should try to get out of his slump tomorrow, and perhaps re-evaluate his own life (which frankly, is sort of a mess right now). And what that would mean for Kaidoh. What that would mean for their futures and their pasts. It was a noble plan, that is, until he woke up with that stupid text message that notified him that Kaidoh was coming over.

And that snake didn't even mention a time!

Momoshiro's been busy panicking in his room, wondering when Kaidoh would be coming over, and feeling his heart stop beating whenever he thinks there's someone at the door. He tries to do a quick and dirty clean-up of his room (tissues everywhere), since it's a pig stall, and he can't exactly let Kaidoh know he's been a huge mess. From being sick, of course, not because of other reasons.

And because of other reasons, which he won't ever admit out loud. Or maybe that's the root of the problem anyway; that he can't admit anything out loud. Stupid logic.

But mostly, Momoshiro is extremely scared of what Kaidoh is going to do when he comes over. He must have a reason, a really good one if he's never done anything like this in his entire life before. Visiting Momoshiro's house just … isn't what Kaidoh does. Or well, did. He never seemed to come over to his house during those five long years that they lost contact (though to be fair, Momoshiro did move). So why the change of heart all of the sudden? Is it because of their 'thing'? Their fight? Or is Kaidoh coming over to tell Momoshiro how much of an asshole he is, and never wants to see him again. The thought makes Momoshiro's body shiver with something unpleasant; he doesn't want Kaidoh to say that … that'd be … that'd be … Just not right. But what if that's why he's coming over?

If that's the reason, Momoshiro won't open the door. He'd rather not hear it then. He's already a mess, he doesn't want to be kicked while he's already down.

This is stupid, why is he freaking out so much just because Kaidoh is coming over? He should be _happy!_ This is something he had imagined countless of other times before, and he thought it'd be awesome if Kaidoh would drop by, because he wanted to hang out with Momoshiro as if they were pals. Not that he'll ever tell Kaidoh this. Anyways, it was once a very nice thought, but now, now he's just scared what Kaidoh has to tell him. He knows he's been a douchebag, and he really needs to sort things out for himself, but he hopes Kaidoh isn't dropping by with bad news …

With a strangled cry, Momoshiro flops back down on his bed, feeling exhausted from his cold, and from fussing over Kaidoh coming over. His heart is racing from anticipation.

Some long ten minutes pass by, and it feels like an eternity. Momoshiro is still lying in his bed, staring at his clock, and wondering if perhaps Kaidoh is not coming over after all.

When he hears the doorbell chime, that thought turns into an uncomfortable weight in the pit of his stomach.

_He's here._

Oh crap Kaidoh is here.

Momoshiro doesn't know what to do. Open up the door? Leave him there? Wait for his mom to open? Send him a text message that he lives at a different address? Hide under the covers and pretend he isn't home?

While Momoshiro is busy fretting in his room, his mother opens up the door downstairs. Momoshiro's thoughts grow silent. _He's in the house._ For a few minutes, Momoshiro's eyes are strained at his own door, and he waits, waits for Kaidoh to come up the stairs. He hears it, faintly, the footsteps of someone heavy, taking hesitant steps up the stairs. Quick Momoshiro, think of what to say when he gets here. Hello? Yo? Asshole? Why are you here?

Momoshiro swallows this lump in his throat and pulls the covers over his body, backing up against the end of his bed so he sits up straight.

Another minute passes, and Momoshiro doesn't know if Kaidoh is standing at his door, or if he's still walking up the stairs. Either way, it's terrifying, and Momoshiro actually starts to tremble a little bit. Then he hears it, a faint knock.

"C-c-c-come in," Momoshiro speaks in a broken and squeaky voice. He clears his throat, embarrassed at that failed attempt, and tries again. "Come in …"

Kaidoh opens the door cautiously, like it's the entrance to a haunted house rather than Momoshiro's bedroom. Then he winces a little like he's expecting to get punched. But he doesn't, because Momoshiro isn't waiting on the other side with fists raised. Instead he's sitting over on the bed, looking just as sick as he did the day before, if not worse. Which makes Kaidoh relax a little in relief. Hopefully Momoshiro is too sick to feel like punching anyone right now

"H-hey," he stammers, finding words to be more difficult than he thought they'd be. His hands are shaking slightly. They feel as though they're holding weights instead of oranges and soup, and it takes considerable effort to hold up the bags like some pathetic peace offering.

He determinedly holds Momoshiro's gaze, even though doing so makes him more nervous, and asks, "How are you feeling?" He doesn't just mean physically. He wants to know how Momoshiro feels about Kaidoh coming over, about Kaidoh in general, about whatever is going on between them, but he doesn't know how to ask that. It seems too embarrassing to say outright.

Momoshiro is feeling like his insides are tying themselves into huge knots, and that's nauseating, and he almost feels like throwing up right on his bed. But he holds Kaidoh's gaze—if he won't look away, neither will Momoshiro—thinking it will prevent him from puking his guts out.

"Like crap," Momoshiro answers honestly. His fever is making his entire body feel hot, and the embarrassment that washes over him from Kaidoh being here simply makes matters worse.

It makes Momoshiro feel a little bit more relieved when Kaidoh isn't looking that great either. Not sick-wise, but, he clearly feels uncomfortable being in Momoshiro's room. Then again, he probably has a good reason, seeing as both of them have this … _thing_ going on.

Momoshiro looks around his room for a bit, wondering what the best route for escape is. Not that he can get away from here. Kaidoh seems to be having the same sentiments though, and Momoshiro—for a small inkling of time—feels a little bit proud that Kaidoh came over at his house all on his own. It's also very scary, because then they both know Kaidoh is here for Momoshiro. And that makes him feel nauseous yet fluttery.

"Uhm, sit, or something," says Momoshiro reluctantly. He's cleaned off the floors from his tissues, but with all his other clothes still thrown around, there isn't much space to sit anywhere. Great. "There," he ends up saying, nodding his head towards the end of his bed. He pulls his legs up to make room.

Kaidoh sits down on the edge of the mattress, and tries to make his body relax. The way he's sitting makes it look like he's poised to bolt from the room at a moment's notice, and that's not really the best way to start things off.

So he passes the bags of food to Momoshiro, and then says, "These are for you, to make you feel better." It sounds really stupid to say it like that. Like Kaidoh's planning on nursing Momoshiro back to health with oranges and miso soup.

In an effort to distract from that embarrassing thought, Kaidoh keeps talking, adding, "My mother helped me make the soup. There's some potatoes and carrots in it. It should still be warm." He's a bit relieved that his vocal cords are producing words at all right now, but he's not supposed to be talking about soup. That's not why he's here. Well, its a reason. But it's not _the_ reason.

He still doesn't know if Momoshiro even wants him here. He looks just as nervous as Kaidoh feels, and Kaidoh can't figure out if that's good or bad. He looks down at his now empty hands, then, uncertainly, back up at Momoshiro. "If you want me to, uh, leave …" he starts to say.

Momoshiro looks down at the bag, his eyes suddenly chickening out of looking directly at Kaidoh. No, he doesn't want Kaidoh to leave … it's just really weird to have him here.

So he decides to bite down the bullet. "N-no … it's okay." And it is, but … more importantly … "Just … why are you here?" Momoshiro knows Kaidoh didn't drop by to give him—he checks the bag—oranges and soup, he had to have an ulterior motive. And he certainly hopes it's not telling him he's an asshole and doesn't want to see him anymore.

Kaidoh's mouth twists nervously and he digs his fingers into the sleeves of his jacket, pulling them over his palms.

"I wanted to, um." He doesn't know what to say. Fix things? Make things right? Make things _normal_? "See you," he finishes. Oh god. Did he really just say that? Quick, say something else. "Errr," he stammers, trying to come up with something less embarrassing-sounding. "I mean, to talk about … stuff." That's why Hazue told him to come over here, right? To talk things out? Whatever that means. Kaidoh isn't used to talking about things like this. To be honest, he's not really that used to talking at all.

Momoshiro can feel his cheeks burn even hotter. At least his sickness masks his stupid embarrassment.

Yeah, he knew that's the reason Kaidoh's here. Why else? This is just one giant mess, and for once, Kaidoh is coming forward and wants to fix it. It's sort of admirable, and any other time, Momoshiro would have given Kaidoh a pat on his head and tell him he's a good boy. But that was then, this is now, and Momoshiro still feels uncomfortable now. His head is a mess. However, he knows this has to happen, sometime. Talking that is. Talking is scary. They've never talked before, their fists did all the talking.

Though if Kaidoh would punch a sick person right now, that would make him a pretty big asshole. Maybe even a bigger one than himself.

Momoshiro cups his hands around the cold steel of the thermos, buying more time before he has to answer, before the silence becomes too uncomfortable. He unscrews the top, and sees steam rise from it. He doesn't smell a thing, what with both his nostrils plugged up (which is why he's talking so nasally), and he doesn't have much of an appetite either. He should probably thank Kaidoh's mom though. And maybe Kaidoh himself, too.

But first …

"Yeah … I figured," Momoshiro says very slowly and hesitantly. He's afraid of what's to come, how this conversation will go. Kaidoh was always easy to understand, since he didn't talk much, but Momoshiro understood his actions. Now? They have barely looked each other in the eye, much less use actions to convey their thoughts. Using words … it's different, it's scary. Even Momoshiro, the guy who always has something to say, can't find the words to start.

So he figures he'll start off by apologizing for being an asshole, in case Kaidoh was going to call him one and then punch his face after all. "Listen I uhh …" he looks down at the soup again, afraid of looking at Kaidoh. "It was stupid to just … leave." He feels his heart beat even louder now. He hopes he won't have a heart attack. "At the shrine too … sorry for being such a jerk."

"Yeah …" Kaidoh says, still fiddling with his sleeves. It's like he hasn't quite gotten used to having them on shirts, but at least it gives him something to occupy his hands. He glances up and then back down again at his lap and feels like he should say something in return. "And I … Uh. Sorry for punching you." Even though he still thinks Momoshiro deserved it. But when it's not really a fight, and the other person isn't hitting back, it's harder to justify.

Just don't punch him now. "It's ok …" This is awkward, with them both apologizing. It's making Momoshiro feel like there's nothing else to say, when there's so many things in his head he _needs_ to say.

But how? How can he make Kaidoh understand when Momoshiro is frazzled himself? There's still some confusion stuck in his head, and there's some pressing matters he needs to deal with, but when Kaidoh's sitting next to him, his mind goes kind of blank. It doesn't help he also feels a little excited, memories from the island floating up. Treacherous memories; he shouldn't be thinking of that now. Instead, he sips some of the warm soup, feeling it relax his throat a little bit.

Maybe he should start with what happened on Christmas. Since that seems to be one of the reasons why Kaidoh is here, and the only reason why this entire thing started.

But what does Momoshiro say? What _can_ he say? Yes, he freaked out finding out about this, but in hindsight, it's not as frightening as he initially thought it was. It's not about Kaidoh being K-chan, it's about the complications that arise from Momoshiro being faced with the fact he's liked a boy. Which also happened to be Kaidoh, the person he's been doing ... stuff ... with.

It's all really complicated, and a bit too much to handle for Momoshiro's puny brain.

"Uhm, I want to say …" Momoshiro starts, not knowing at all what he wants to say. "That uhh … I'm not like angry at you or anything. For being K-chan I mean. It's just … well, confusing. For me." Everything is confusing to Momoshiro. From feeling conflicted about the things he's done with Kaidoh, and feeling ashamed at wanting to do those kind of things as well. He can't even explain _how_ confusing it is.

Momoshiro fiddles around with the thermos, rocking it back and forth very gently to see the soup swirl around. "I don't hate it or anything, k-knowing it was you," he mumbles bashfully. This is really awkward to say out loud.

The knot of tension Kaidoh had been holding in his shoulders loosens a bit and he relaxes, relieved to hear that Momoshiro isn't mad, and doesn't hate him. It's not the kind of conversation he's ever imagined them having—going this long without insults is not something he's used to—and he's glad Momoshiro sounds nervous about it too.

And Kaidoh kind of … gets it. Well, not entirely. But he's avoided and ignored things before, because he was confused by them. Or, rather, scared by them. Hell, Kaidoh is a little confused now too, namely by how he has the courage to be here in the first place. Getting here and _staying_ here is a feat for him and he's trying not to let his anxiety get the best of him.

"Is it … confusing for me to be here now?" he asks hesitantly. Is this making things worse? Is this weird? It certainly feels weird to Kaidoh, but strangely, he also feels better than he did the whole previous week of not seeing Momoshiro at all.

"A little," Momoshiro admits. He starts playing around with his blanket, gripping it and releasing it as if he's still nervous. He never imagined having to talk about things like this with Kaidoh. "It's a first," he says. "You … uh, being here." And well, everything else.

"I remember you gave me that notebook back in middle school. Heh, you said I was lazy, and sloppy too. When I looked through it again, you had all my notes corrected—with a red marker!" In this weird and nerve wracking situation, Momoshiro takes a small moment to himself to reminisce in his past memories. He smiles a little before looking down at his blanket again. "That's the only time I remember you coming over, without me telling you to."

And Momoshiro has told Kaidoh to do lots of things, so when he does it on his own, it just makes it … more important? It definitely creates an impression on Momoshiro, that's for sure. Something must have changed for Kaidoh to do this, and Momoshiro knows it's because of him. Because of them both. Kaidoh's come to look for answers, hasn't he? Well, Momoshiro would like some answers as well, but everything is still too … fuzzy. Yeah, fuzzy. Like it's on the tip of his tongue, but just can't find the right words to describe it. It's highly irritating.

"But I guess this time …" Momoshiro sips on the soup again, just to stall a little bit more time. He releases the cold steel from his lips, and his eyes finally dart back over to Kaidoh again, this time a bit more confident. "You came for some answers, huh."

Kaidoh huffs. "Something like that, yeah," he says weakly. It's weird to admit out loud, because Kaidoh doesn't usually ask Momoshiro for anything, and coming over to his house to ask why everything's changed seems like an especially tall order. Mostly because doing so means he has to first acknowledge that there is something going on between them at all, and he's been trying to avoid doing that since he hasn't had to for so long and now it feels embarrassing.

"I mean," he continues, "I didn't really know what to think when you just left like that." He still isn't sure what to think.

"If it's any consolation, me neither," Momoshiro says with a nervous chuckle. Okay, now's not a good time to joke though. "Err, sorry." It's pretty obvious to the both of them (or the entire world) that Momoshiro had not been thinking at all, and was clearly confused, so he high-tailed out of there.

But what can he say? Momoshiro barely knows how to put his weird mess of emotions into thoughts, let alone actual words.

"Let's just say you sort of forced me to … confront things," Momoshiro mumbles. Yes, namely having to deal with the fact he's had a crush on a boy. And he's been doing really weird things that he shouldn't be doing with boys. And all of that had been locked away pretty nicely, ignorance was a bliss—until that fateful Christmas night. He eats some more of the soup, despite not being hungry at all, but it gives him something to do aside from sit in silence with a flushed red head.

"Oh," Kaidoh says, not really knowing how else to respond to that. He doesn't see how he forced Momoshiro to do anything, when all Momoshiro did was look at some old—and embarrassing—picture. But he's not so dense to not realize that whatever this is must be bigger than just that.

He looks over at Momoshiro, a slightly wary look on his face. "And that's … um. Good? Or … is it bad." He isn't sure. Does confrontation always have to make things this uncomfortable?

"Uhh—I don't know. Bad?" Momoshiro sure doesn't feel like he's been sleeping in a bed of roses, that's for sure. This week's been generally confusing and tormenting to him, especially since he still can't shake the feeling of wanting to see Kaidoh again. He wants to blame this on the fact that they've been on the island together for so long, that it's natural to miss it, but he knows this is not the case.

Kaidoh hisses. Well how does he un-confront it then? If it's a bad thing, then how do they fix it? Kaidoh's used to dealing with everything through running, or fighting, but he can't really suggest either of those things to Momoshiro right now.

"Was it better when you didn't see me?" he asks, because he's pretty good at avoidance himself. If he doesn't acknowledge something, then it doesn't exist. Or at least, that's how it's supposed to work in theory. And if he's part of the problem, then maybe Momoshiro's doing the same thing.

Momoshiro looks up, feeling offended all of the sudden that Kaidoh would think like that. "No—I mean. I wanted to ... that's why I came over in the first place. Ugh, things have changed, that's all there is to it … and I don't know." Momoshiro doesn't know a lot of things. For example, what he should do with himself, and what he should do with Kaidoh.

"I don't want to wash up on another abandoned island just to see you again," says Momoshiro with a huff.

"Me either," Kaidoh agrees quietly. But at the same time he feels like there's some kind of invisible hurdle they have to leap over in order to go back to normal, and running into each other on the island, no matter how improbable and jarring, still felt easier than this. "So then …" He clears his throat, even though there's nothing trapped there but a bundle of awkward nerves. "What do you …" He doesn't know how to finish the sentence. He wants to ask Momoshiro what he wants from him. What he needs Kaidoh to do to make this okay. But any way he puts that thought into words sounds stupid.

"I …" Momoshiro takes in a shaky breath. "I ... don't know," he says again, feeling like this is the only thing he can answer with. It's frustrating, really frustrating he feels like he doesn't know anything anymore. Can't even give Kaidoh any concrete answers.

He sighs defeatedly and finally puts away the soup, setting it on top of his night stand. "Sorry, I'm not really answering anything like this … it's just I don't know myself." And he's been _trying_ to make any sense of this whole ordeal, but hasn't had much luck. "We're home now … what was on the island, it's different. We …" Momoshiro's voice gets stuck in his throat and he doesn't know how to finish that sentence.

We can't go back to that time on the island anymore? Such a frightening, but very real thought. It's true they can't go back to a time where they enjoyed all the privacy in the world, where Momoshiro could continue to live in blissful ignorance and denial. But now that world has been taken away from him, and he's thrown into the real world. Where he doesn't have any sort of privacy anymore. Where people will watch him, judge him, and if anyone knew what he did with Kaidoh … he doesn't even want to think about what would happen then.

And accepting the fact that he _did_ do those things with Kaidoh, and _liked_ it, is really taking a toll on his mind. For a guy who's always liked girls, suddenly being confronted with his very real actions (definitely not a fantasy), he just doesn't know what to do. What does Kaidoh want him to do anyway?

"What do you want me to do?" Momoshiro decides to ask in the end. He feels sick still, like none of this talking has made him feel any better. But he is happy to see Kaidoh came over.

Kaidoh lets out a frustrated hiss of air. "I don't want you to _do_ anything!" he protests, because it's too hard to say, _I just want you to act normal again_. He doesn't even know what that would mean. Maybe this _is_ normal. Maybe before was just … well, Kaidoh isn't sure what it was now.

He shrugs, looking down at his lap and feeling a little defeated. He doesn't have a course of action, he doesn't have a plan, he doesn't know what to tell Momoshiro to do. He doesn't know what to do himself.

"Yeah, things are different now," he concedes, and then adds stubbornly, "But … I'm not. And you're not. Or at least, you don't have to be." He knows it's not that easy. Their whole lives have turned upside-down since they came back. Instead of living in a vacuum—a secret world of just the two of them, where they could do as they please—they're both surrounded by their families now, by the world in general, by real life. It's weird, and for Momoshiro, maybe it's much weirder than Kaidoh realized.

And Kaidoh knows it's selfish, but he's irritated with Momoshiro for being so weird about it, because things aren't supposed to be uncomfortable with him of all people. When everything else around them is changing, Kaidoh had hoped that this, at least, could stay the same. But even this feels off, like pieces of a puzzle that don't quite fit together and just jamming them into place isn't going to work. He doesn't know what _will_ work. Talking doesn't seem to be getting them anywhere, probably because talking to each other about anything serious is not really one of their strengths.

Of course he's different now, Momoshiro thinks bitterly. After all, he disappeared for nine months, and during those months, he came out with a heavy secret, the secret of fooling around with Kaidoh Kaoru, a _man._

Momoshiro knows what Kaidoh means though, even if he isn't putting it into words all that great. He's saying he doesn't want things to be different between them now. He had probably been hoping for the same thing as Momoshiro; to continue what they had on the island. Well, that was before Momoshiro was confronted with actually doing those kind of things with another member of the same sex. And well, what would their families think? Momoshiro doesn't even know what to think himself, he's mostly just confused, and he's definitely not accepting it himself. There's just no way …

"No, I'm definitely different right now," Momoshiro says begrudgingly as he looks away to his left, to the soup. "Do you really think I'm still the same Momoshiro you met on the island in the beginning?" he asks. Because after that, everything did change for him.

After five years of not seeing each other, Momoshiro miraculously came upon Kaidoh, and he's been changing little by little ever since. He slipped into his old ways of bothering Kaidoh, picking fights with him, insulting him. And then there was some new stuff, like asking Kaidoh to give him presents—stupid presents. Complaining about his running even more than normal, and in general, he was unable to leave Kaidoh alone. Not a day passed where Momoshiro didn't seek Kaidoh out, where he didn't talk to him (fat lie, he did in fact, not talk to Kaidoh after _that_ had happened), where they didn't do things together. Then even more things started happening, from extremely embarrassing, to extremely pleasurable events. And now that Momoshiro thinks about it, it becomes really clear to him now; he _is_ different, and nothing can change that.

Kaidoh's the one to blame, it's all because of him. It's easier to think like that, than to think that perhaps, maybe, Momoshiro … that maybe he … and he doesn't! Does he? No! He can't, even if his entire body protests against that idea, even if he seems to long for that same warm touch still, feeling the need to crawl up against Kaidoh and lie his head down in his lap and let his hair get stroked.

Why does it have to be so hard now? Why does the real world have to be like this? Momoshiro feels guilty and ashamed for having these kind of urges, for indulging them too. They just grew inside of him, blossoming until he couldn't ignore it, and acted on them. Oh he's acted upon them plenty of times, but right now—despite still feeling the same—it seems like the scariest thing on earth.

What if someone knew? What if someone saw them? This isn't right, or is it? He's not allowed to do those things, is he? He never thought he'd be doing them himself, but the entire time spent on the island proved him otherwise. Those things happened, he had really been the first one to kiss Kaidoh, and made a really embarrassing scene about it afterwards. God, he had felt so dirty back then, but that didn't mean the urges disappeared. They still haven't, even sitting here with Kaidoh on his bed, he still feels his heart thump in that meaningful way, how the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight, and it's downright confusing because he knows he _shouldn't_.

Doesn't Kaidoh know he shouldn't as well?

Or is he here because he _doesn't_ know? Or perhaps even disagrees with it entirely.

"Kaidoh, I …" Momoshiro stops, the words not coming out as it should. What does he want to say? What does he want to know? "Maybe it's easier for you … but I, I don't know. I had been pretty involved in my own life, and everything was pretty normal, until I took that stupid cruise ship and got stranded on the island. It was fairly normal still, but then you showed up out of the blue. Hadn't seen you in years, didn't even know what you were doing, if you even played tennis still. Knew nothing, really. It was kind of annoying to not know. And even more annoying when the reason those five years had gone by in silence is because of a really stupid mistake. I had still wanted to hang out with you, but yeah, we just stopped. But then you were there again, I felt like I was fifteen years old all over again, heh. We kind of fell into our old routine again, didn't we? Lots of fighting, lots of bickering, stupid competitions … Up till then I was still pretty much the same, I guess."

Momoshiro fiddles around with his thumbs, his throat feels like it's burning from talking too much, and it's preventing him from getting out the next set of sentences. "Yeah … up till then." But both he and Kaidoh know something changed alright, and with it, Momoshiro became different as well.

Never once had he thought about smashing his mouth into Kaidoh's before, but after that day, it was all he could think of.

Kaidoh frowns. So … what? Does Momoshiro wish he was still like that? Is he annoyed that Kaidoh's the reason he isn't? Fuck that, if Momoshiro changed, it's not Kaidoh's fault! It's not like Kaidoh made him different. Does he want to go back to the way he used to be? The way _they_ used to be? Maybe Kaidoh doesn't really fit into Momoshiro's life in the real world the way he did on the island. That's kind of a scary possibility to think about … it's also kind of scary for Kaidoh to admit to himself just how badly he doesn't want that to be true.

"Well, people change …" he says slowly, and glances over at Momoshiro with a look on his face like he's trying to reassure him, but the expression sits awkwardly on his mouth, because he isn't really used to doing something other than scowling. "But I don't think it's such a bad thing." He doesn't think any of the ways Momoshiro changed are bad at all. Yeah, even the stupid cheek-pinching.

How badly Momoshiro wants to hear those words, that it's not such a bad thing to be like this, yet he knows it is. The world thinks it is.

Momoshiro hides his face behind his hand, staring hard at his stupid bedsheets. "Other people think so," he grumbles.

"Other people are stupid," Kaidoh says grumpily, because it's been his opinion that they generally are, and he's pretty sure _that_, if nothing else, isn't going to change.

Momoshiro chuckles at that, feeling a little tension evaporate into thin air. Life would be so much easier if he could simply say people are stupid, and do whatever he wants. And for a few months, that was his life—the island opened him up to the possibility of not caring what other people think. To keep secrets. To share things with Kaidoh that he knows he couldn't do in public. Momoshiro has this feeling that Kaidoh doesn't realize this. Or perhaps he's come to terms with it? He's known for a long time after all … he'd known Takkun was a boy from the start.

"What about family then? Are they stupid too?" Momoshiro asks. He doesn't want his family to know, to find out. He'd be shunned forever.

"No, of course not," Kaidoh replies matter-of-factly. That should go without saying; obviously there are exceptions. "They're fine. I mean, well, you've met them so you know that."

Momoshiro shakes his head with an exasperated sigh. "No Kaidoh, not like that. What if both of our families … _knew?_" he stresses the last word, despite feeling nervous saying it out loud. It's probably the closest word he can muster up to describe what they've been doing instead of outright admitting it. That's too embarrassing, not to mention frightening.

"Oh," Kaidoh says, his voice sounding weird, like it's been temporarily displaced. His face flushes with understanding and he looks down at the floor since it seems safer than looking at Momoshiro. "Um. I don't … I don't know."

"Yeah …" Finally he gets it. Momoshiro doesn't seem to feel any better about it though, that he finally brought up the subject, that Kaidoh finally seems to be understanding what he means with 'I don't know'. Because now what? What do they do? What shouldn't they do?

"I don't know what … what they'd do. People are stupid, so if anyone knew … It's just, ugh—frustrating. I don't know what to do. I don't even know what's okay!" Momoshiro says with a desperate sounding voice. He coughs a few times since his voice went too high and forced him to calm down a little bit. He pulls his blanket up to his chest, wishing he could hide underneath it. Wishing he could hide from the world.

Kaidoh grimaces. "Well, it's not like I want anyone to find out either," he says lowly, in a tone like he's annoyed to even be talking about this right now. Which he is, as it's kind of mortifying to mention it out loud. That's supposed to be off-limits.

Then, does Kaidoh understand? Understand Momoshiro's inner turmoil about whether this is wrong or right? "Then you must … realize it, right? That it … this I mean—" why is it so hard to find different words to talk about the thing they're not supposed to be talking about!? "—isn't … right?" His voice comes out coarse, it hurts, and his entire body shivers for a few seconds.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Kaidoh grumbles, sounding defensive. It's not like he has any frame of reference to compare it to. For Kaidoh, this is it. He doesn't know how things are _supposed_ to be, just that, for him anyway, this way fits. It's neither right nor wrong, it just is what it is. And sometimes it's weird and even scary, and definitely embarrassing—because Kaidoh doesn't do these things with other people—but that doesn't mean he wants it to stop. That doesn't make it wrong, does it? He isn't sure. After all, he's embarrassed by a lot of stuff.

Momoshiro throws his hands up in the air. "Well! I mean, you knew!" he says defensively. "I mean, you knew I, as Takkun, was a boy from the start … yet you, did all that. And even in middle school, then too." He looks at Kaidoh, a bemused expression on his face, like he doesn't know if it's alright to ask this. "Didn't you ever stop to think about it?"

Kaidoh glares at him, his face feeling far too warm. "What good was that going to do?" he demands. "It wouldn't have made it stop."

Back then, thinking about it definitely only made things worse, because then it became all Kaidoh could focus on. It had been better to just run and train and run some more and try not to think about all the weird feelings he had messing about inside of him. And now … now Kaidoh's spent so many years trying to ignore it that it's just become some kind of unconscious part of himself. He doesn't need to think about it, because that's not going to change anything.

Momoshiro has to question just how long Kaidoh has been 'ignoring' this problem, in favour of being completely ignorant to it. Then again, not like he can talk, he was doing the same thing on the island. Where everything was a fantasy, and everything was okay and fun, and he and Kaidoh didn't need to have stupid talks. Momoshiro could punch Kaidoh in the face, and Kaidoh would knee him in the gut, and then perhaps they'd kiss and make up.

Then he realizes what else Kaidoh was saying. _It wouldn't have stopped?_ He's talking about … _that_, isn't he? About liking him. Momoshiro feels his face flush with blood again, despite knowing that this is old news. He already knows Kaidoh liked him, back then. And well, K-chan was a given too then … but it still makes him feel like he's lying around on cotton clouds, bathing in the warm sun. It was in the past though, so Momoshiro shouldn't be acting so shy all of the sudden, it's not like Kaidoh still—wait.

Ah crap, no, he does. Doesn't he? That's the entire reason why they're doing this in the first place. Momoshiro feels even more adrenaline rush through his body. This is bad, he might just pass out from clogging up his head with too much blood.

"S-so … what does that mean?" Momoshiro asks quietly. "You've already like, accepted it then?" He blushes even more at the word 'like'.

Kaidoh looks down at his hands, his fingers curling into fists. "Uh … Yeah," he says, although he sounds far from certain. Well, it's not like he's given much thought to it, and now Momoshiro's awkwardly putting him on the spot with all these questions he never wanted to or thought he'd have to answer. "I mean … I guess. I don't know."

Okay good, that means Kaidoh's still confused as well, and he's not leaving Momoshiro behind in this mess. But that also means they're both two idiots who don't know what they're doing, and Momoshiro doesn't know which one of the two is better.

He'll settle for them being idiots, because that's what they've always been. Two simpleminded idiots.

"Well that's helpful," Momoshiro says with a puff of air. Before Kaidoh can even look indignant, Momoshiro already opens his loud mouth to speak his next words. "Well, I mean, that just means we're both ... confused." And that's not really an ideal situation to be in. "I don't know how to un-confuse it. Especially after all _that_."

"You're the one making it confusing," Kaidoh mutters. He'd been content to try and not think about it at all. Which, admittedly, was probably not ideal, but it certainly felt less weird than this conversation does. He wishes they could go back to not talking about it, although that probably would also mean going back to them not talking period, and that isn't something Kaidoh wants to repeat.

It's not like Momoshiro can help it. It's like he's been hit in the face with reality, knowing that certain things are not acceptable in real life. It had been a wake-up call from their time on the island.

"So what … you're okay with everything then?" Momoshiro asks. Kaidoh has no issues or problems whatsoever? It's just him who is slightly freaking out about it?

"I didn't say that …" Kaidoh protests, because he doesn't know if he is or isn't. Of course it's embarrassing and awkward for him, but maybe not for exactly the same reasons it is for Momoshiro. Actually, Kaidoh is probably more okay with it than he is with most things—he's here talking about it after all—but given how he is with most things, that still might not be saying much.

He sighs. "I don't know about _everything_, but I guess I'm okay with you at least." Immediately he grimaces at how idiotic that sounds, and, in an attempt to dismiss it, quickly adds, "Or whatever."

Momoshiro feels his face heat up and he immediately looks down at the hands in his lap to avoid Kaidoh seeing him like this. That's probably the most blunt thing Kaidoh's ever said, and Momoshiro's heart feels like it's spinning and skipping around in his chest; it's happy. He doesn't know how to respond to that though. Isn't Kaidoh saying that he's okay with Momoshiro, and that means he's okay with doing those things with Momoshiro? Now Momoshiro feels even more pressured to come up with an answer, to untangle this horrible mess of feelings. But where to even start?

Momoshiro's hands clasp together; they're clammy from sweat. He can't tell if it's because he's already feverish, or because he's anxious. Either one could probably work. He can't believe he's going to ask this …

"Does that mean … you uhh … w-want to? With me." Momoshiro still can't spit out any specific details about their 'thing', as that is mortifying, and he'd probably die on the spot from a heart attack.

"I-idiot," Kaidoh stammers, the word stumbling out of his mouth like a knee-jerk response. And for a moment he can't seem to make himself say anything else. Momoshiro's question has rendered him temporarily mute, not because he doesn't know his answer, but because he's terrified of saying it out loud. Especially since right now he doesn't know if it's even what Momoshiro would want to hear.

But somehow he finds his voice again, and looks over at Momoshiro, looking in spite of the fact that he knows he's blushing, and can see that Momoshiro is too, and he answers very quietly, "Yeah." His voice cracks a little as he says it, but amazingly the rest of him remains intact.

Momoshiro's heart just about died on the spot, refusing to beat in a regular pattern, and instead going so fast, even his breathing is speeding up. His entire arms and even legs are covered in goosebumps, and he makes an attempt to hide them underneath his blanket. He wants to pull it up all over his head as well, because damn, he can't stop blushing, and this is really embarrassing.

But it also feels like a good kind of embarrassment, it's not entirely unpleasant. No, far from it, it feels like this hopeful adrenaline rushing through him, and the urge to just throw himself at Kaidoh is nagging him incessantly.

However, the good feeling doesn't last, as Momoshiro remembers why they're like this in the first place. Why he has seconds thoughts, why he has doubts. If anyone found out … their entire lives could be ruined. Their families could shun them, and if he had a job, he might even get fired, too. So just like that, the goosebumps disappear and there's this wretched feeling settling in his stomach, this awful dread, and it's a knot Momoshiro can't untie—he doesn't know how to make it right. It truly is confusing. But Momoshiro knows he needs to make a decision. One that Kaidoh has already made, _he's okay with it._ He wants to continue, with him. A small flutter of hope enters his heart again, but is crushed by the reality of their actions.

Time. He needs time. Momoshiro can't decide on the spot, his throat is burning and it feels completely dry, unable to form words. And his head feels like it's going to explode, both from the fever and all that stupid girly blushing he's doing.

A decision does need to be made though. There's only two possible options: quit doing whatever it is he had been doing with Kaidoh before (which he doesn't want). Or continue doing it with Kaidoh, but risk everything. It's a lot to think about.

"I …" Momoshiro cast his eyes downwards once more. It's hard to look at Kaidoh right now. It makes him feel like a hundred different emotions at once. "I ... Need to think about it," he finally concedes.

Kaidoh's mouth curls into a slight frown, his first instinct being to feel irritated by that. Like Momoshiro managed to drag an answer out of him but now isn't offering one himself. Like it isn't a fair fight somehow, and Kaidoh feels exposed and vulnerable, wishing he'd kept his defenses up and not said anything at all.

But that feeling passes, because it's kind of irrational to be upset with Momoshiro for not knowing what he wants, since it took a very long time for Kaidoh to let go of his own avoidance and denial and come to terms with it himself. And he still isn't all the way there.

"Okay …" he says, sounding a little uncertain. If Momoshiro needs to think about it, then Kaidoh will let him think about it. He's okay with waiting. If he's learned anything from his stupidly ongoing fixation on Momoshiro from middle school until now, it's patience. And the best ways to keep his mind distracted, of course.

Momoshiro grabs his blanket tightly, feeling like he's offending Kaidoh or something, or pissing him off by saying that.

"Uhm, I mean I just … need to sort things out, yeah." He looks up at Kaidoh, and one thing he does know for sure; he doesn't want to stop seeing him. "But I do know that I ehh … can't seem to leave you alone, so whatever happens, I still want to hang out with you." Momoshiro swallows; that took a lot to admit out loud.

Kaidoh nearly smiles at that, only just barely managing to suppress it. At any rate, he isn't scowling anymore though, and the nervous itch that had been working its way through his chest subsides. "Good," he replies hastily, then amends it in a slightly more detached tone, "I mean, sure. Cool. If you want."

"Just first let me get better from being sick, because thinking with a fever pounding on my head isn't really a great idea. And uhh … I'll let you know … I guess. I'll think about it. Promise."

Momoshiro does have some serious thinking to do, and he hopes a few more days will give him enough time to sort everything out, to come up with a clear decision. Because it isn't fair to Kaidoh either, that he's already made his decision, and Momoshiro is just trying to catch up. It sort of feels like Kaidoh's got the upper hand here, and the instinct within him can't accept that part; he _will_ get there too. Even if he has to isolate himself from everyone on the world, he will figure it out.

"You okay with that?" Momoshiro decides to ask anyway.

"Yeah," Kaidoh says. "I'll just, uh … leave my phone on." For once, he actually sounds like he's _encouraging_ Momoshiro to call him, which he should be really embarrassed about, but it doesn't seem nearly so bad in the context of the rest of this very weird and awkward conversation. In fact, he doesn't hardly even blush while saying it.

He stands up and looks over at Momoshiro. "Um. I guess I'll go, then." Then, as if he's remembering his manners, he quickly adds, "Feel better," in a tone that sounds stilted and unnatural, even though he does mean it genuinely. It's not his fault if it's not really the sort of thing he's used to saying to Momoshiro.

There's a slight twinge in Momoshiro's heart that is crying out; _don't leave_. Even though he's the one that asked for more time alone to think about it. His mind is very contradictory … it's rather annoying. But still, having Kaidoh leave just like that, he feels he needs to do something … anything, really. So he throws the blanket off of himself and slips out of his bed—nearly tripping on his long pajama pants—and he stumbles over to where Kaidoh is, finally closing the distance between them.

"Then uhh, I'll let you out," Momoshiro says sheepishly, his eyes shooting away from Kaidoh's, and resting on his own two bare feet.

"Okay. Thanks …" Kaidoh replies. It's hardly something Momoshiro needs to be doing, especially when he's this sick, but Kaidoh's not about to refuse the offer.

So they make their way out of Momoshiro's bedroom and down the stairs, neither one of them saying anything. The whole time Kaidoh can't help but be conscious of all the chances he has to brush his arm against Momoshiro's … chances he doesn't take, not that he doesn't want to. He _does_, but at the same time, he doesn't want to make things any more confusing and risk freaking Momoshiro out.

When they reach the front entryway, Kaidoh turns to Momoshiro and says, in a low voice that sounds a lot more composed than he feels, "Well … See you."

Momoshiro tries to smile, though he's not entirely happy with Kaidoh leaving. But either way, he came over, and they even managed to talk. Not a lot, and there's still some confusion, but it helped. The next few days, Momoshiro will be sure to straighten things out, because he doesn't like the fact that Kaidoh is waiting on him, like he owes him one or something. He also doesn't like that fact that they're still _this_ close together, and his body is hinting that it wants them to be closer, to touch. He's been dying to do that for weeks now, but in plain sight? At his house? While he's sick?

"Yeah … I'll call you," Momoshiro says. Then he raises his hand, as if to give Kaidoh a friendly punch, but that hardly seem appropriate right now, so it awkwardly turns into him brushing his hand up against Kaidoh's jacket. And just like this, his mind kicks into overdrive, and takes control of his movements. His fingers dig into the fabric to get a hold of it, so he can yank Kaidoh closer to his own face, and he places a kiss on the side of his cheek in a flash. He pushes him away and backs off as well, face flushed, and heart beating way too fast.

"Bye," Momoshiro mumbles, before closing the door, and letting out a breath he'd been holding all this time.


	43. Private Booth

**Washed Up**

**A/N:** yay Momo and Kaidoh talked things out.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** MA

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- After Momo gets better, he calls Kaidoh and wants to meet up with him. They agree to go to karaoke for some privacy.

**Date:** January 7, 2013

* * *

It's pretty cold outside. Momoshiro checks his phone with his trembling fingers for the time, the screen reads 4:23.

About half an hour ago, he had called Kaidoh to agree to meet him. Which had taken a lot of courage, because he'd been festering with his feelings for five days straight after their last talk. Mostly, Momoshiro was simply waiting until he got better, because he had his own answer within a couple of days already.

Which is why it's so scary meeting up with Kaidoh again. He knows they didn't part on the best of terms (asking Kaidoh to give him some time to think), but this moment has to happen. They have to see each other again, and for once and for all, straighten things out between them.

Momoshiro had written a stupid list of rules after coming to his decision. He huffs out a puff of warm air, and sticks his hands back in his pocket, where the small note lies. Yeah … his decision. After Kaidoh had left, Momoshiro had honored his promise, and thought about their situation seriously. And all that thinking simply made him miss all the things they had done before. He missed doing things with Kaidoh, and after fussing about it for two days, he admitted, yes, he wants to do this again.

Even if it's really scary to admit that.

But they're in the real world now, and thus things are different. It's not like Momoshiro can throw his arms around Kaidoh and say; hey, let's do it! No, on the island, sure, he could get away with it, but here? Here … things happen a different way. Especially when they're such an a-typical pairing with two chromosomes, so Momoshiro had to do some research on how things _should_ go in the real world.

Momoshiro had gone onto the internet to perhaps look for some tips, or advice, or whatever. What he'd found wasn't pretty. He'd browsed an online forum for … 'confused youth', and read a few of their posts. Most of them were okay, they had encouraging words, and reassured most people that they were normal, and it wasn't wrong to like _that_ sort of thing. It made Momoshiro feel a little better, that is, until the next post he read where he was told to go die of AIDS, and everyone else just like him.

Next, Momoshiro had tried to find some information on what he and Kaidoh were supposed to do, or could do, with each other. He got a lot of results to porn sites, and Momoshiro being curious, entered. He'd been hesitant, and slightly freaked out (it's not like he's looking up gay porn because it's his fetish or something, that's gross), but he clicked on one video anyway, which showed two guys holding hands. It had looked promising, innocent even. The innocence quickly disappeared and was replaced by raunchy stuff only a minute into the video. Momoshiro didn't know whether to keep looking, or click away. It started out … alright, he guesses. He and Kaidoh had done those things before, so maybe he was on the right track. When they got naked, Momoshiro felt seriously weirded out and squirmy, wanting to crawl under a blanket and cry himself to sleep; what was he forcing himself to watch!?

He stuck it out though, because again, Momoshiro had done that with Kaidoh before as well. And well, it was … pleasant to say the least.

That was, until something was touched that should never be touched—and then it was _violated_. Momoshiro felt so disgusted, he threw up that night's dinner; a combination of being sick and watching nasty stuff on his computer. He could _never!_ Never ever will he do that!

Then his sister came over to see if he was alright, and then he had to explain why _that_ was on his computer screen. He quickly made the excuse he got a virus and didn't know how to get rid of it, which she seemed to believe for a bit. Enough to leave him alone about it and not question it.

Momoshiro felt exhausted after that. Never again. He's not going to do that with Kaidoh; over his dead body. The other things are okay, of course, they were pleasant and felt good, and Kaidoh seemed to like it too, so he figured that they'd be ok with just that. No need to try anything weird or new. Right. He sure hopes Kaidoh won't start wanting to do that sort of thing … if he does, Momoshiro will promptly stop speaking to him. That stuff is gross!

He did however, look up another video, strictly excluding some search terms on Google so he wouldn't have to find that nasty video again. What Momoshiro found, was a lot better. Lots of stroking, touching, cuddling, kissing, and some rough play like yanking hair and biting (to which he flushed even more red as that's something he had done subconsciously before). The guys on the video were in a lot of different positions each time, jerking each other off. Momoshiro felt guilty for watching it, as it's not like this turned him on or something. It was still weird to him to see two guys doing it. Then he saw that mouths were involved instead of hands, and then he couldn't stop thinking of doing that with Kaidoh, and had a nice masturbation session to that image in his head afterwards.

Either way, Momoshiro had tried to explore what doing this with Kaidoh would mean, what they _could_ do, and what they should do to keep it a secret. Because he doesn't want anyone finding out, and yet he desperately doesn't want to let this go either.

Hence why he's here, in front of the karaoke place, waiting for Kaidoh to show up, so he can tell him that … yes he's figured out what he wants. He doesn't want to stop seeing Kaidoh, that much is clear, and he also doesn't want to _not_ touch him, that's simply a force he cannot resist. Yes, he wants to do all those things with Kaidoh again, badly. But first he needs to let Kaidoh know, and tell him the 'rules' he came up with. Because he's definitely not ever letting Kaidoh do _that_ to him like they did in the video. Ew.

Momoshiro clears his throat and buries his chin into his jacket; he still has no scarf. What's Kaidoh taking so long anyway? He should be here already! Momoshiro doesn't like to wait, because it just makes him feel more jumpy and anxious. He looks to his right, eyes scanning the sidewalk; nothing. He looks to his left, and sure, in the distance, he sees someone jogging. His stomach does this weird summersault and he presses his lips into a thin line; that's Kaidoh.

For a little while, Momoshiro had fooled himself enough to think he had to courage to go out there and face Kaidoh, and tell him something really embarrassing—but when he sees Kaidoh's bandana, all that courage slips away. He's frozen to ice. Perhaps literally too, since he can't feel his toes or fingers, or nose, or even his own heart; that stopped beating the moment he saw Kaidoh. Okay, just calm down. There's no need to freak out about what he's going to say. After all, Kaidoh had been okay with it, he did say yes, didn't he? So basically, Momoshiro has nothing to worry about; it's not like he'll get rejected if he tells Kaidoh.

Oh god, what if Kaidoh made up _his_ mind during those five days? Oh crap, he didn't think of that! What if Kaidoh decided not to go through with this after all!? Then he'll look like a fool for saying anything at all, thinking Kaidoh still wants to.

Okay, wait, he's just freaking out now. Calm down Momoshiro, it's just Kaidoh. He's slowly jogging over and coming to see him to get some answers. Right. If Kaidoh didn't still want to, he wouldn't have agreed to come. Momoshiro lets out a shaky breath as he waits till Kaidoh finally catches up.

As Kaidoh nears the strip of restaurants and shops, he can see the flashing lights of a karaoke sign, and Momoshiro standing there underneath it. He looks a little impatient, and more than a bit chilly, and Kaidoh wonders how long he's been waiting. Kaidoh would have made it here earlier if he hadn't spent ten minutes trying to make himself leave his room. Which is stupid, because it's not like he's facing any kind of scary opponent. It's just Momoshiro.

But at the same time, it's _Momoshiro_, and Kaidoh feels like he's built up to this confrontation over the past few days since he and Momoshiro last spoke. He's been doing his best to avoid thinking about it, but his best, as it turns out, is actually not very good at all, because it's been constantly on his mind. He's tried to distract himself—with running ... looking for jobs ... helping his mother with chores—but he couldn't shake the instinct to check his phone constantly so he wouldn't miss Momoshiro's call. In fact, he'd nearly thrown a fit a couple days ago when his phone beeped in his pocket like he'd just missed a call, when really it was just an alert that the phone's battery was draining. Stupid phone. Stupid Momoshiro.

At least now he's going to get it over with and not need to stress about it anymore. Well, hopefully. He feels like he held up his end of things—although being that open made him feel uncomfortable and he's feeling increasingly uncertain about whether it was really a good idea after all—and he will punch Momoshiro in the face if he doesn't give him a clear answer this time.

Once he'd made it out of his room, it had been easy enough for Kaidoh to escape from his family. They've gotten used to him going out to run at all hours of the day, and didn't even question it. It's turned out to be a pretty convenient excuse, and unlike the truth—that he's going to _karaoke_ of all places—it's not likely to raise a bunch of suspicious red flags. Since Kaidoh doesn't sing. And he's never gone to a karaoke place in his life, even when they were much younger and Hazue said it would be fun. Kaidoh knows better, he knows that some things just _aren't_ fun. Namely, being trapped in a dark, cramped room with lights flashing and music blaring at him from all sides.

But today, that's exactly where he's going.

He's in track pants, with a dark fleece sweater pulled over his tank top, since his mother still doesn't want him running without some warm layers—like being stuck on an island for months has somehow made him fragile. Even though Kaidoh's insisted time and again that he'll be fine. After all, if he were going to get hypothermia or frostbite from running in winter, it would have happened already years ago.

Besides, all this extra clothing really sucks when trying to run. It weighs him down and even makes him feel a bit suffocated.

Well, not that it matters today since he actually isn't going running at all.

No, he's going to meet Momoshiro. And talk about their … whatever this is. And Momoshiro's going to tell Kaidoh what he wants. The thought of that makes Kaidoh anxious. He doesn't know what Momoshiro will say. He said he wanted them to be alone … and that made Kaidoh's pulse leap hopefully in his chest, but at the same time, maybe he just said that because he doesn't want to have to tell Kaidoh that it's over in front of the rest of either of their families.

Kaidoh tries to push that idea out of his head. It's not going to happen. At least, he doesn't want that to happen and maybe if he just wills it hard enough, it won't.

Well, whatever the outcome, there's no turning back now, since Kaidoh can see Momoshiro looking up at him and his legs don't seem to be interested in doing anything but continue their jog to reach him.

He slows down a bit as he gets closer, until he stops, right in front of Momoshiro.

"Hey," he says. Since he didn't bother to catch his breath before he spoke, it comes out sounding weirdly urgent and he frowns at the sidewalk in embarrassment before taking in some much needed air and looking back up again.

Momoshiro nods his head at Kaidoh, feeling his pulse quicken under his stare. "Hey." His lips tremble as he says it. From the cold or nerves; he can't tell. "Let's go inside, I'm freezing here," he says before it can turn into an awkward silence. It feels like he hasn't seen Kaidoh in forever, as if their last conversation was ages ago.

They both walk up to the entrance of the karaoke bar, lights flashing them in their eyes. Momoshiro had heard his sister talk about it before, it had been built while he was stranded on the island, and honestly, it was the first thing that would pop up in his head when he thought of some place for privacy. Judging by the coated walls in red, and the lack of windows inside, he knows for sure they'll have privacy. Which makes it all the more nerve-wracking, like he's about to do something sleazy with Kaidoh. And he's _not!_ Well, not that he isn't hoping for _something_ to happen, but he has no ulterior motive here; he simply wishes to talk to Kaidoh. Alone.

"I'll pay," Momoshiro mumbles. The rates aren't that high, and luckily he still has some of that charity money left, so Momoshiro pays for two hours (okay, maybe he has ulterior motives just a teeny tiny little bit) and they get assigned a room. The walk through the long hallway with blinking lights is spent in silence, with Kaidoh slowly walking next to him, making sure not to accidentally touch him. It kind of bothers Momoshiro, but also puts him at ease on the other hand, that he knows Kaidoh is highly conscious of him, and he still doesn't know what Momoshiro wants, to he's being respectful. For once.

"Number 14 … here it is," says Momoshiro as he stops in front of the red door with the silver number 14 on it. He clears his throat, suddenly getting chills at the prospect of being stuck alone with Kaidoh in a room. Not that it hadn't happened before, but right now, he's got something to say. He slides the door open and finally enters the room.

Wordlessly, Kaidoh files in after Momoshiro and closes the door behind them. The room is dark, apart from the bright TV screen in the corner that's silently flashing advertisements for music albums. There's a thick leather couch in the corner, curved into an L around a table topped with two empty glasses, a menu, a karaoke remote, two microphones, and a box of tissues.

Momoshiro starts to take off his jacket first, as the room is extremely hot. Or maybe being alone with Kaidoh is turning up the temperature inside of his body. Or maybe he's still a little sick. Or maybe he should just stop thinking already. He finally rids himself of his fat winter jacket and takes a seat on the leather couch.

Kaidoh sits down on the end of the couch furthest from the TV and, consequently, the door. He feels totally out of his element in this strange space, and at the moment he can't even feel reassured that Momoshiro's here with him, because Kaidoh still doesn't know what he's going to say.

He awkwardly pushes one of the glasses towards the center of the table, feeling fidgety and nervous. "So …" he starts to say, drawing the word out, waiting for Momoshiro to start talking.

Ahh, so there it is, he has to start talking now already? Can't Kaidoh give him a little bit of extra time to prepare himself? Perhaps some small talk? Momoshiro almost snorts out loud as he images Kaidoh asking him how his day went and all that other small talk crap. That's not who Kaidoh is, nor what he does. But surprisingly, coming right out and saying it seems to be unnatural coming from Kaidoh as well. He usually doesn't say much, so it takes Momoshiro a bit by surprise to hear him being so forward.

Momoshiro leans back into the couch and stares at the box of tissues on the table. He knows he has to start, to say something, but it's kind of hard to get the first word out. He slips his hand into the pocket of his pants and feels the little note sitting there, taunting him. It's the list of stupid rules he came up with, and wrote down in less than a minute because he felt embarrassed to even be thinking about it.

"Uhm, so," Momoshiro drawls out, feeling his face heat up. He slowly starts to take out the small white note, gripping it tightly in his hand so Kaidoh—who's next to him—can't see what's written on it.

"I uhh … took some time to think about ... things." Momoshiro sort of wants to die. This should not be that terrifying to say. It should not feel like the world is going to end if he turns to Kaidoh right now and says; _yes I want to._ But it does, and Momoshiro still can't seem to find the right words to start. He sighs and looks down at the note. He needs to get this over with. Right now. Like ripping a bandaid off.

"... And I got some ... conditions," he begrudgingly admits.

"Conditions …" Kaidoh repeats, giving Momoshiro a skeptical look as if to say, _What the hell is that supposed to mean?_

"Y-yes … if I'm gonna do this, we need to have some uh, rules," Momoshiro explains.

Kaidoh scowls. He's not sure how he feels about that. To go from not really talking about it at all to needing actual _rules_ for it … that's a big jump. And one that makes Kaidoh feel more than a little nervous. Luckily, Momoshiro seems nervous, too.

"Okay," he says slowly. "What are they?"

Momoshiro leans forwards again and stares down hard at the note, reading the first line. "Well uhm … first rule is …" He can't believe he's going to say this, that they're even talking about it like this. "No one can know. Not a single soul. If anyone asks, we are uhm, friends, and deny everything. O-ok?" Momoshiro feels breathless now that he's managed to say it out loud.

"Well, that's a stupid rule," Kaidoh replies gruffly, playing off the nerves with annoyance instead. "Why the hell would I tell anyone?" He doesn't want to broadcast his private life to the world, and what he and Momoshiro have been doing is … definitely private.

"I don't know! Just don't, okay?" Momoshiro says with a huff. But now he feels a little less tense having gotten into a small argument with Kaidoh already. He feels like he hasn't done that in ages, because every argument they've gotten in was serious and unlike the superficial arguments from before.

Kaidoh hisses. "Fine, whatever. Okay," he agrees. "What other dumb rules do you have?"

"Shut up," Momoshiro growls. "They're not dumb." Well, not all of them are. Okay, probably most are, but whatever. "I got time to think and this is what I came up with okay, now deal with it before I punch you," he grumbles. Again, he feels a little more at ease with the way he's yapping his head off at Kaidoh. It's a stark difference from their last meeting, which was so awkward, Momoshiro has nightmares about it.

Not that this is something he will tell Kaidoh.

"Okay, so uhm, rule number two is …" Momoshiro reads the line then twists his face up. "Uh, call. When you want to come over. Like a warning, or something."

Kaidoh blanches a little at first. Just sending a text message to Momoshiro saying he was coming over was difficult enough. At the time, calling was definitely out of the question. But. That was under very weird and awkward circumstances, and maybe it's something that will get easier with time.

"Okay …" he says, after his moment of hesitation. "That sounds reasonable, I guess."

Momoshiro turns his head and smiles, obviously happy at the quick agreement. Then he realizes how stupid he looks like and suppresses it, looking grumpy instead, just like Kaidoh. He looks back at his note again. Okay, so rule number three has to do with the terrifying things he's found online. If Kaidoh ever wants to—ew ew ew ew—then he better squash those thoughts right now.

"Rule number t-three," Momoshiro starts slowly. "Uhm … no ... uhh … hole will ever be touched. Either by you or me, never. Ever. That's holy ground, sacred stuff, no touchy—you get it?"

"Uh …" Kaidoh starts. "What do you—_oh_. Ohh … Gross. Why would you even need to make a rule—That's disgusting. Yeah. No way." He crosses his arms over his chest, trying to protect himself from the sudden weird squirmy feeling in his insides. Where would Momoshiro even get an idea like that from? Actually, no, Kaidoh probably doesn't want to know.

Momoshiro sighs in relief. "Good. I'd have to kill you if you … uhh, yeah." He shakes his head to get the thought out of it, and reads the next rule on his note.

"Number four is …" He pauses. "Stupid. Next rule is uhh …" He presses his mouth closed. "Also stupid." He crumbles up the note and flings it onto the table, already knowing the last rule from memory.

Kaidoh huffs. "Dumbass." He uncrosses his arms. "So … that's it, then?" he asks, trying not to sound too hopeful. If those are Momoshiro's only conditions, then that's not so bad. Then they can be okay again, like this, and Kaidoh can stop freaking out.

"No, got one more left …" And that one does seal the deal, as if Momoshiro is signing some kind of contract with this last rule. He clasps his hands together as he tries to think of a good way to say it. But no matter how he formulates it in his thoughts, it all sounds stupid, and needy, and it really does mean that they're going to do this, together.

"So uhh … last rule." Momoshiro takes in a deep breath, fidgeting with his fingers. He shuffles on the couch as well, making stupid uncomfortable leathery noises. "Uhm, no one else," he starts, unsure of how to finish it. "I mean, just us. Err. Not with … anybody else." He feels his cheeks positively glow at trying to make clear to Kaidoh that he doesn't want him to do this with anyone else but him. He hopes Kaidoh gets it and he can stop making a fool out of himself.

Kaidoh's heart pounds. Just them? His own face warms up too. So … Momoshiro doesn't want to do this with anyone else? He just wants to do this with Kaidoh, and just wants Kaidoh to want to do this with him. That's what he's saying. Maybe not super articulately, but the message is clear enough. And that makes Kaidoh feel momentarily invincible, like he's capable of anything.

"Yeah," he says quietly, his whole body seeming to thrum with energy. "I guess that rule's not so stupid."

"I don't make stupid rules," says Momoshiro, ignoring the two rules he did skip completely. "Anyways, that's it. And uhm." He suddenly stands up, hands beside his sides as if he doesn't trust them. "I'm gonna give you some time to think about that, while I uhh, go pee out my nerves. Yes. Be back in a bit." Momoshiro then quickly skitters over towards the door and rushes outside.

His insides are screaming, and it's making his head spin. Momoshiro quickly tries to locate the bathroom, trying to ignore how he sort of left Kaidoh there alone. But he really does need to pee though, all this nervous energy just has to go out somewhere. And talking, no, telling Kaidoh all of that stuff really made his chest pull at him in a funny way. He's nervous, but also feels elevated, like he's finally got this off his chest, and now all Kaidoh has to do, is agree.

Kaidoh listens to the sound of door shutting and then looks down at the table in front of him. Yeah, he'll think about it. But first, he's a little distracted by the crumpled piece of paper that's sitting there. He wants to ask Momoshiro what those other two rules were, the ones he thought were too stupid to actually tell him. But the rules he did say were already embarrassing enough—just to talk about this thing _out loud_ is embarrassing enough—and Kaidoh isn't eager to drag that out further with more questions.

But the paper's right here, and Momoshiro is not, so it … couldn't hurt to look. If Momoshiro thought it was important enough to write down, then Kaidoh wants to know what it is. What Momoshiro wants from him, or doesn't want, and what his expectations are for this … whatever it is that they're doing together. He needs to know so he'll know how not to mess things up. He doesn't want a repeat of this awkward mess.

Slowly, Kaidoh sits forward on the couch, leaning closer to the table and reaching out his hand, inching it closer to the paper until he can grab it. As soon as he does, he feels guilty, just to be holding it. Well. He'll just look really fast and then put it back. Yeah, that's all he'll do. It'll be fine. Momoshiro won't even know it happened.

Hesitantly, and inexplicably trying to be very quiet as though Momoshiro has the room bugged or something, Kaidoh unfolds the note and scans the list. Six rules, all written out in Momoshiro's clumsy handwriting:

_1. Tell no one.  
2. Call me.  
3. NO ASSHOLES INVOLVED EVER.  
4. Be nice and smile!  
5. Call me Momo-chan.  
6. Mine._

Kaidoh feels something tug inside of him as he reads each line. The "stupid rules", the ones Momoshiro had refused to say, well, they're things Momoshiro has told Kaidoh before, so they're not totally unexpected, but Kaidoh always sort of thought it was just dumb teasing, like a joke. He didn't think Momoshiro really cared all that much one way or the other. Now he's starting to think that maybe he was wrong about that, that maybe he underestimated how much this thing between them would mean, not just to him, but to Momoshiro as well, and it's sort of an overwhelming realization. He thinks it's a good kind of overwhelming, but any kind of overwhelming still takes some getting used to.

And the last rule, the way Momoshiro wrote it, just that … just that one word, makes Kaidoh's heart pang in his chest. In agreement or protest, Kaidoh isn't sure which. Does that mean that Momoshiro li—No, Kaidoh's not going to let himself finish that thought. That's jumping ahead a step too far. Momoshiro is only _just_ coming around to the idea of doing this—complete with conditions, no less—so Kaidoh's not about to push his luck. But still the idea of it, the possibility, makes Kaidoh's pulse race and his face go red and warm. His mouth even tugs into a little smile as he rereads the list. _Stupid idiot_, he thinks.

Then he hears the door click open again and his smile vanishes as he hastily crumples the paper back up and chucks it towards the middle of the table again. Only, he overshoots and it falls off the other end, rolling over towards the TV monitor. _Crap_. Well, maybe Momoshiro will forget it was there in the first place. Kaidoh tries to feign innocence, looking down at his lap instead.

Momoshiro had taken a bit longer than he would have liked to 'pee out all of his nerves'. Simply because being nervous makes all his muscles tighten, and it's hard to pee like that … and he hopes Kaidoh doesn't think he was doing something else other than peeing in there. That's gross. So he slowly opens the door again, half expecting Kaidoh to sit up and punch him in the face for the rules.

But he's not, instead he's still sitting in the same position, avoiding Momoshiro's eyes. Again something in his chest tugs at him weirdly, and he feels jumpy and nervous once more. He closes the door behind him and very slowly, walks around the table to sit next to Kaidoh again. Momoshiro notices the note disappeared from the table, and instead is lying on the ground. he huffs; so Kaidoh read it after all.

Well, it's fine. They were stupid rules anyway.

Momoshiro sits down next to Kaidoh, a little bit closer than last time. He looks at the tissues in front of him again.

"And?" Momoshiro asks with a brave voice. If Kaidoh agrees, then … everything will be okay again. Maybe Momoshiro still stop feeling so dissatisfied at night, maybe he'll stop wanting to check up on Kaidoh or think about him.

Kaidoh looks up and over at Momoshiro, trying to draw his voice back so he can answer. "And … yeah," he says, and gives a little huff, like it should go without saying. "I don't have a problem with those rules."

Momoshiro looks at Kaidoh too, inching closer just a little bit on this stuffy leather couch. "So, that's it then? You don't have anything to say, get something off your chest?" Maybe Kaidoh has some rules, or whatever.

"U-uh …" Kaidoh stammers. "N-no …?" His cheeks go a little pink and he feels put on the spot, like maybe he was supposed to think up some conditions too, when really he'd been busy trying not to think at all instead. He isn't sure he really even has any, other than 'Don't be an idiot', but that's a rule that's impossible to enforce when it comes to Momoshiro, and other than it often being embarrassing, Kaidoh doesn't mind nearly so much as his grouchy expressions let on.

"I mean, I guess not," he continues, his usual disgruntled tone returning. "Whatever. I said I was fine with it." He doesn't have a lot to say because he's still trying to figure out how to talk about it at all—that's not how he functions—and this alone is kind of stressful for him. Avoiding things is kind of his default setting, so to be doing the opposite takes effort. But if he wasn't okay with this, if he didn't want to be with Momoshiro, he wouldn't still be here. Momoshiro should get that.

Momoshiro feels himself get a little shy and he smiles at Kaidoh. He's fine with it. Of course he's fine with it, he said so last time. He had said so on the island as well. It's reassuring to him, that Kaidoh won't suddenly turn around and say everything up till now had been one giant prank, that he won't say that he hates it, that he doesn't want to anymore.

That nervous tension inside his body finally gets released; even his shoulders feel more relaxed. And with it, Momoshiro notices his old self returning again, being a lot less awkward near Kaidoh, and more comfortable like he should be. After all, back on the island, Kaidoh had been the person he felt most comfortable around, not minding the close proximity to him at all, in fact, he sought it out. Just like now, how his body seems to instinctively lean closer, until the fabric of their pants finally touch.

"Is that so …" says Momoshiro as he looks Kaidoh up and down. He grins this time; he likes seeing Kaidoh blush from embarrassment like this. Oh he can come up with a rule Kaidoh would want, definitely. Last time Kaidoh had been pretty pissed Momoshiro had used his bandana for _that_ on accident, so he's sure he wouldn't want it to happen again.

"Are you sure you don't have anything to say about …" Momoshiro leans even closer, raising up his hand behind Kaidoh's back, his fingers stretching out until it touches the end of the green bandana. "The correct usage of your bandana?" Momoshiro's fingers toy around with the end, accidentally brushing up against Kaidoh's hair as well.

Immediately, Kaidoh scowls, both at Momoshiro's words, and at the goosebumps prickling up the back of his neck. "Asshole," he growls. "Obviously that goes without saying. If you mess up my bandana again, I'll kick your ass."

"Does that include taking it off?" Momoshiro asks with half a smirk, completely ignoring the threat.

Momoshiro's fingers are itching to tug at the ends of the fabric and slip it off Kaidoh's head. He has no idea why he likes doing it, but he does, and it's been a while since he's done it. Perhaps it's because when he does, Kaidoh's hair falls freely on the back of his neck, showing off a little skin that makes him want to touch it. Touching—he hasn't done it in so long, and after all this tension and awkwardness between them, Momoshiro can't wait to return to their old selves. As long as the rules are followed, then it's fine, he's fine with it, and Kaidoh is too. So that means sliding his fingertips up and down against the nape of his neck isn't off limits. It's something he can't resist, not when Kaidoh's right here, within range.

"No, you … can do that, that's fine," Kaidoh says uncertainly. "Uh … I mean, it's not that annoying or anything. I mean, uhh … _whatever_, I don't care." He hisses, frustrated at his inability to answer in a way that doesn't sound clumsy and embarrassing, like it's somehow too difficult for him to simply say 'that's okay,' because that would be too agreeable and still feels somewhat against his nature. It's a bit difficult for him to _simply_ say anything at all at the moment. Having Momoshiro's fingers so close after so long seems to be making him a bit inarticulate.

"Well then …" Momoshiro smiles, and his fingers hook around the green fabric of Kaidoh's bandana. He starts to pull at it, until it gently slips off Kaidoh's head, and it's gathered in his hand. "There."

Momoshiro can feel his heartbeat throb in his fingertips as they leave the bandana on the table, and reach back for Kaidoh's neck again. His dark brown hair is longer, and leaves a small cowlick at the base of his neck. It's kind of cute. Just a little bit. It makes him smile to know he's probably the only person to notice. His fingers reach out to it and they finally bury themselves within the dark hair. He wraps his entire palm around the neck, and starts making soft circles, as if he's comforting him in a way.

To be able to do this now, Momoshiro finally realizes it. That he wants to, he hadn't wanted it any other way. No matter what his answer had been to Kaidoh, he'd been unable to resist doing this, as he's unable to resist anything when it comes to Kaidoh. All he can think about is avoiding another five years of silence between them. Never again. He can't let this chance slip away, nor let his nerves get in the way, so Momoshiro musters up all his courage before he asks …

"Am I ... am I allowed to … kiss you?" he asks in a kind of shaky voice. "I mean, I'm not sick anymore …" He averts his eyes towards Kaidoh's neck, it's embarrassing to look him in the eyes when he asks such an equally embarrassing question. But he wants to, and right now, it should be okay to do, because it's an agreement, right? And god knows how long it's been since the last time they did it.

Kaidoh's shoulders tense and suddenly his pulse feels like it's going a mile a minute. "Y-you don't have to ask," he mumbles, his voice sounding half caught in his throat. He feels sort of like he's outside of himself looking in when he answers, like this isn't really happening, like they aren't really having this conversation. But they are, and that's making his head spin. Yeah, dizzy is how he feels. His hand crosses the space between them to find the front of Momoshiro's shirt and curl into the fabric like that's going to keep from losing his balance. "Idiot," he finishes, glancing over with nervous anticipation.

Momoshiro looks right back at Kaidoh; suddenly they're a lot closer to each other now, and his body feels like his fever has returned; it's hot and sweaty, and he's shaking just a little bit. His heart is beating against Kaidoh's hand, warm and unstoppable.

So, does that mean Momoshiro can do it whenever he likes? Not like he'd ever given it much thought on the island, back then he just did it without any regard to what Kaidoh would have wanted. But right now, sitting in front of Kaidoh like this, suddenly his opinion matters, a lot. What Kaidoh wants, what Kaidoh doesn't want. It's silly, and stupid, but Momoshiro would feel pretty awful if he'd been doing things to Kaidoh that Kaidoh didn't like nor want.

He's always done whatever the hell he wanted, including teasing Kaidoh, or simply making fun of him. Yet now, he wants permission. It _is_ allowed, right? It _is_ what he wants, right? Momoshiro feels every fibre in his body agree; he wants to kiss Kaidoh. But only if Kaidoh wants to, too.

Momoshiro's hand slips away from Kaidoh's neck, slowly traveling across the skin and up to his jawline, where he moves it to his cheek to hold it, so he can keep staring into Kaidoh's eyes.

"I'll only do it if you want to," says Momoshiro. No matter how badly he wants to himself, they're in this together, and only Kaidoh can give permission. His mind keeps screaming; _say yes! Say yes!_

It's not like there's really any question in Kaidoh's mind, it's just a matter of actually getting the words out. He's never said it out loud before, and it's scary. It's scary but this time, Kaidoh isn't running away from it. He's still looking back at Momoshiro, not dropping his gaze, not shying away. His cheeks feel impossibly warm and his fingers feel sweaty around Momoshiro's shirt, and this is _embarrassing_, but he's not backing down from it.

"I …" Kaidoh starts to say, sucking in some air, "… yeah, I want you to." Just that one little sentence is a strain to get out, and Kaidoh narrows his eyes at Momoshiro as if to say, _Just shut up and kiss me already_, since he sure as hell isn't going to say _that_ out loud.

A fire has been lit inside of Momoshiro's chest, spreading warm and fuzzy feelings all throughout his body. He smiles with rosy cheeks; hearing those words really made an impact on him. He can only repeat it in his mind; Kaidoh wants to. And Momoshiro wants to, too. And well, what else is there left to question? What's he waiting for?

"Yeah, okay," Momoshiro half mumbles, his voice getting cut off by the breath he takes in. He starts to lean in, until their noses are almost touching, when he pulls back just as quickly, his hands finally leaving Kaidoh alone. He leans across the couch to reach the table with his other hand, and grabs the remote control. He punches in some buttons, and gets the TV to start playing some randomly chosen song.

There, at least people will think they're singing karaoke. Because it'd be awful if someone found out, and right now, Momoshiro simply wants to be left alone with Kaidoh.

He bashfully shrugs his shoulders at Kaidoh, who seems to be frowning at him for interrupting their moment. Momoshiro simply smiles, and moves closer to Kaidoh once more. His hand reaches for Kaidoh's, which is holding onto his shirt, and he plucks it free so that he can hold it himself. The fire inside of him seems to be spreading fast, and he's feeling so warm and good—he can hold Kaidoh's hand again like they fit together. But what's more important … is to kiss him.

Momoshiro doesn't wait any longer; his other hand wraps itself around Kaidoh's neck again, so that he has a firm grip, and he can finally pull themselves closer, close enough for Momoshiro's lips to finally touch Kaidoh's.

The moment they connect, there's this zing that loudly rushes through Momoshiro, one that leaves him breathless and shivering all over. He squeezes both Kaidoh's hand and his neck in response; his body simply reacting on instinct to be closer, and the feeling of Kaidoh's lush and warm lips on his own again is the driving force behind everything he's experiencing right now. His mind starts to shut down, as his urges kick in; he's been wanting to do this for weeks, so he doesn't hold back. He pushes hard against Kaidoh, and can feel Kaidoh push back just as much, like he's been waiting for this as well. He sucks, and Kaidoh sucks, and each movement he makes, Kaidoh reciprocates. Like he's leading in a dance, and Kaidoh follows his every move.

It's amazing how _new_ this still feels, despite it not being new at all, they've done it so many times already. That certainly doesn't diminish the excitement he gets from it though, Momoshiro is simply happy he can experience it again, happy that he's allowed to do this, and happy that Kaidoh wants this too. Fuck, he's feeling better than happy, he's feeling better than he's felt in months. Momoshiro's mind is reeling from the fact that they are doing this again, those weeks that they had been separated had been way too long, and why the hell did it take him so long to do all of this. Why did he have to go and be stupid and get freaked out by it all? Because when they're like this, there's nothing to freak out about, nothing feels wrong, but just about everything feels right.

He doesn't care what Kaidoh is, boy, girl, robot, as long as it's Kaidoh, and he's here with him, doing the things they both want to do, then it's okay.

Momoshiro's eagerness to catch up on those lost weeks makes him kiss Kaidoh as if he's on a time limit. He gives him quick and hard kisses, smacking them together again and again, aiming for his top lip, then his bottom, then the corners, everywhere he can touch and kiss with his own lips. He's missed this, he's missed this so much, and the fire crackling loudly inside of him agrees, filling him up with that warmth once more.

The crappy pop song in the background continues to play, but neither pay it much mind.

His fingers wrap around the back of Kaidoh's head rather possessively, like he wants him close, because Kaidoh has agreed to only do this with him. Momoshiro keeps kissing Kaidoh, urgent and needy, pushing him back more against the other side of the couch, like he has no self control anymore, especially not when Kaidoh tries to match his pace, curling his fingers around Momoshiro's even tighter like he doesn't want Momoshiro to stop or leave. That's probably the furthest thing on his mind; he can't leave Kaidoh. It's part of his problem. But it's looking less like a problem, and more like the best thing that's ever happened to him. Yes, he can do this, every day, with Kaidoh, he wants to. He feels like he needs to.

And it's all the better because Kaidoh agreed. He wants this too, perhaps even needs it. It's like time stood still after they left the island, and now they're finally catching up again, full speed ahead, doing things like nothing has changed, feeling like nothing has changed. The way Kaidoh's burning skin feels under his fingertips, the plum and warm lips hungrily kissing away at his own; how could he have ever doubted it for a second? He's missed this, missed every second of it.

In the heat of the moment, Momoshiro briefly pulls back, intending to return for more after taking a small breath, but instead he mutters, "I missed you." He barely registers that he says _you_ instead of _this_, but to Momoshiro, they're kind of one and the same right now. And truthfully, he has missed Kaidoh as well.

Kaidoh blinks his eyes open and gives Momoshiro a little smile at that, one he can't even help. Sure, the kissing should have been a bit of a hint, but hearing Momoshiro say that out loud makes Kaidoh feel warm and tingly all over. Probably some of that is embarrassment, but he's pretty sure there's happiness mixed in there too. Sometimes Momoshiro manages to say or do these things that penetrate Kaidoh's grumpy exterior and make him react in ways that feel totally out of his control. And more and more, Kaidoh seems to be just letting those reactions happen, he isn't trying to stop or hide them.

Right now, with Momoshiro's fingers against his skin and face so close to his own, he isn't sure he'd be able to even if he wanted to.

"You too," he says softly, and gives Momoshiro's hand a squeeze. He pulls his other hand up between them and cups his palm against Momoshiro's very warm cheek, his fingers grazing Momoshiro's ear. _I missed you too_, he thinks with every nerve in his body, relieved that he doesn't have to miss him anymore, that Momoshiro is right here now, that he isn't going anywhere, that they're okay again—no, they're better than okay.

He'd thought all the talking was a terrible, awkward idea—as he usually does, when it comes to … saying things—but if that's what it took to get here, then he'd go through it all over again. Because now he feels like any fears or doubts he had have been assuaged. He knows where Momoshiro stands and they can be together and do things together without worrying about whether or not they want the same thing or where this is going.

It feels different now, both of them knowing for certain how much the other one wants this, no more doubting it, no more holding back. The crackle of energy between them feels tangible, and perhaps even a little dangerous, because those few weeks spent apart suddenly feel like a whole lot of time to make up for. Sure, Kaidoh had been doing his best to keep his mind distracted, but who was he kidding? He missed Momoshiro and now that he's got him right in front of him, he feels like everything that was building up inside of him, all the urges and feelings he was trying to suppress, are coming boiling to the surface and it's all he can do to try and keep them reined in.

He slides his fingers back into Momoshiro's hair, his fingernails grazing his scalp as he leans forward and presses his lips against Momoshiro's, hard like he's hoping to leave a mark. Momoshiro kisses him back just as eagerly, like those few seconds spared for breath and words were too much time spent apart. Kaidoh sucks on Momoshiro's bottom lip and then even tugs on it with his teeth, abandoning any pretense that this is something gentle. Not that he doesn't like that too, but right now doesn't feel like the time for that. Right now he just wants to kiss and touch Momoshiro as much as possible, as soon as possible. It really does feel like they're making up for lost time, with the way their lips smack together over and over, refusing to be separated.

Momoshiro doesn't even _want_ to be separated from Kaidoh right now. Not now when he can kiss him all over, wherever he wants; leaving Kaidoh is the last thing he wants to do.

That awkward plane trip, being silent with each other, not touching, no communication, it was awful and Momoshiro regrets not saying anything sooner. Because that would have meant that they could have been doing this sooner, could have felt Kaidoh's fingers in his hair again, could have kissed him again. But they're here now, together, that's all that matters, and Momoshiro is not letting Kaidoh slip away from him, and he's not going to leave him either. All that matters is that they both want this, and they've been craving for it ever since it stopped.

Those fingers in Momoshiro's hair, scratching his scalp just feels so good. He didn't realize just how much he missed it, but he's hooked on the feeling again, like an addict crawling right back and enjoying the hell out of it. And Kaidoh's insistent mouth demands the other half of his attention, or pretty much all this attention. Each time they break away and come back lip locked together again, Momoshiro feels a crackle of energy shoot through him, and the butterflies in his stomach are going haywire.

Momoshiro feels like he needs to take breathing exercises when he feels Kaidoh's teeth tug on his lips again. There's never enough time for air, not when all he wants to do is continue smashing his lips against Kaidoh's. He breathes hoarsely through his nose and his mouth whenever he can, but it's only for a brief period; Kaidoh doesn't want to be separated for too long. Neither does Momoshiro. He'd rather die from lack of oxygen intake, than stop it altogether. His hand strokes the back of Kaidoh's head—feeling him do the same thing to him—until he wraps it around that delicate neck he's missed so much. He can feel Kaidoh's pulse throbbing against the palm of his hand; it's fast and hot.

Pretty much everything they're doing right now feels fast and hot. Too hot to remain in his winter clothes.

Momoshiro stubbornly pushes back against Kaidoh's mouth, forcing him to back down—though he's making an effort to remain where he is, pushing back against Momoshiro just as much. But that's how he likes it; when they're like this, everything feels like a complete circle of giving and taking, even if that does sound mushy. But he doesn't care, nothing else matters besides Kaidoh right now, Kaidoh and his very hot lips.

Those hot lips part and bite on Momoshiro's own lips, causing him to part his lips, wincing a little in pain, but at the same time take a deep and pleasurable breath. It seems to be an invitation to Kaidoh, because he figures his tongue should slip inside now that his lips are parted. The moment he feels Kaidoh's warm and wet tongue enter, he can feel his entire body slump against him, like all those tense muscles are finally collapsing, and simply basking in this warm glow of pleasure. Momoshiro angles his head to the right, giving Kaidoh easier access, then uses his own tongue to touch's Kaidoh's. Slippery, wet and hot—it always seems to set him off. The powerplay between their tongues, the hands gripping and pulling on hair, the shorts breaths they take—he pretty much loves every second of it.

Momoshiro's hand finally leaves Kaidoh's neck, but continues rolling his tongue against Kaidoh's, temporarily unable to do anything else. But his hand does finally reach the hem of Kaidoh's sweater; that seems way too hot. And, well, it's in the way. He squeezes Kaidoh's hand and pulls him to his own sweater, hopefully he'll know what he means without pulling away from his awesome tongue to actually tell him with words.

Kaidoh's fingers pull away from Momoshiro's, but before they have the chance to feel empty, he slides them over the back of Momoshiro's hand, covering it with his own and then curling both their hands around the bottom of his sweater. He pulls back, his lips smacking away from Momoshiro's mouth, and then he looks down at their hands, Momoshiro's fingers disappearing under his sweater, itching to move. Even though Momoshiro's not saying anything, Kaidoh sees the question there, and he's waiting for Kaidoh to tell him to go ahead, to keep going.

For a moment, Kaidoh feels a bit embarrassed, but the doubt doesn't last long, not when all the blood beating its way through him is demanding the exact opposite. Not when Momoshiro's looking at him, his eyes full of heated expectation, that look he reserves only for Kaidoh, and only when they're doing this. Kaidoh is helpless to that look. It scrambles his mind up, makes it impossible for him to overthink things.

He gives a little nod and squeezes Momoshiro's fingers, and then he feels both Momoshiro's hands move, sliding up Kaidoh's torso and pulling his sweater up with them. Kaidoh's hand slides out of Momoshiro's hair so he can help get the sweater off. It's more awkward than when it was just his tank top. Sleeves are annoying, and he doesn't need them anyway. He's probably the furthest thing from cold right now. In fact, he feels like their bodies are going to start a fire with all the heat between them, and Kaidoh's eager to stop dealing with his stupid sweater and get back to it.

Once he's got the fleece material off his arms and over his head, he drops the sweater on the couch next to him and throws both arms around Momoshiro's shoulders to pull him close again and reunite their mouths. Undeterred and without hesitation, he pushes his tongue back into Momoshiro's mouth, eager to pick up where they left out. One of his hands drags down Momoshiro's back to find the hem of his shirt and inch up underneath it, where there's hot bare skin just waiting to be touched. When he spreads his fingers over it, the feeling is like a zap of static, only even stronger and the jolt is much more pleasant, like Momoshiro's whole body is conducting electricity.

Momoshiro's arches his back in reaction of Kaidoh's fingers spreading around his lower back. He leans his body closer to Kaidoh, as if they're two puzzles pieces waiting to be connected. There's a bit of everything going on right now, Kaidoh's hand now stuffed under his shirt, his own hand stuffed under _Kaidoh's_ top, and their tongues eagerly sliding up against each other. There's so many sensations going on, Momoshiro is a bit amazed he's still functioning properly and hasn't short circuited from sensation overload.

It's how everything feels like when he's doing this with Kaidoh, everything is charged with this heat and fuzzy electric feeling, and it's the most addicting feeling in the world.

For a few more seconds, Momoshiro enjoys the way Kaidoh's tongue teases his own; it's eager and playful, like there's no way any of them will go slow now, not when it's been weeks since they last did this. The other few seconds, he's busy stroking his hand up on Kaidoh's stomach, rolling over his ripped abs—he can count them!—and what used to be an eyesore to him (since he didn't have them), now feels like something much more different. Because it's Kaidoh's, and everything about Kaidoh feels good right now, including all the defined muscles, and Momoshiro likes mapping it out with his hand. He likes the way it feels, the skin-on-skin contact, and he likes how it makes Kaidoh instinctively jerk towards him so he won't stop.

But, right now, Momoshiro's goal is to lose as much clothing between them and touch everything. He doesn't care where they are—a karaoke place with no lock on the door—all he knows is that he's got no self control anymore, and he wants Kaidoh right now. Preferably with nothing separating them.

Momoshiro finally gathers enough willpower to pull back from Kaidoh, his tongue slipping out of his own mouth, and he immediately feels naked without it. Which is weird, considering that's what he'd like them to be. But now, even separating from Kaidoh feels like he's missing a piece, so he tries to hurry up and do his thing so he can rejoin Kaidoh again. Kaidoh's looking at him with piercing eyes, probably wondering why he pulled back and stopped, but Momoshiro finally retrieves his own hands, and they quickly pull up his own shirt over his torso, taking the entire thing off. Despite the room being slightly chilly, Momoshiro isn't fazed; when he's like this with Kaidoh, his body always feels like it's burning up, and there's no stopping it. He drops it right behind him on the couch as well.

The moment Momoshiro's shirt leaves his upper body, Kaidoh's hands seem to frantically slide around his back, like they want to touch everything. Momoshiro smiles and sighs at the sensation; he wants to do this to Kaidoh too. He looks at him and kisses him a few times, their lips moist and hot, before pulling back again. Kaidoh gives him this grumpy look for interrupting him this many times.

"Lie down on the couch," says Momoshiro. The position they're in makes everything a bit awkward to reach and do, and he'd rather lie in a comfortable position while doing lewd things to Kaidoh. He blushes at his own thoughts.

Momoshiro backs away from Kaidoh to make room for him, and at the same time, is kicking off his own shoes since they'd get in the way. Once they're off, he quickly grabs the remote off the table once more; the song had already stopped playing. He instead puts on a playlist that will play crappy songs indefinitely; perfect for some privacy between them.

For a second, Kaidoh glares at Momoshiro, like he's got an argument waiting on the tip of his tongue, or at least feels like he ought to. But there's no good reason to protest this, no matter how natural the instinct it seems to be. Actually, more and more, what feels natural to Kaidoh is to simply do what Momoshiro wants, because it coincides with what Kaidoh wants to do himself. So instead of grumbling, he just hisses and bends down to quickly loosen the ties on his own shoes so he can nudge them off and leave them sitting neatly on the floor.

Then he shifts away from the edge of the couch, the leather creaking a bit as he moves and making him more conscious of his actions, which in turn makes him feel sort of embarrassed. Any time they separate tends to embarrass him, whereas as long as they have their hands and mouths on each other, Kaidoh is able to not think so much about what it is that they're doing and how much he likes it, and how that's still not something he's used to. But he's getting better at not letting it get to him. He's not going to let it throw him off, not when he's finally got Momoshiro to himself after all these days.

With a huff, he turns his whole body towards Momoshiro and gives him a look of challenge before he leans in to press his mouth against Momoshiro's lips again. There's no longer any hesitation to it. Kissing anyone, let alone _Momoshiro_ had once felt like a complete impossibility, but now it feels effortless; it just feels like where his mouth belongs.

While they're still lip-locked, Kaidoh snakes his hand up around Momoshiro's neck so he can drag him down with him as he leans back against the couch cushion. He tries his best to be smooth, but he's Kaidoh, so it doesn't quite work out. Instead, it's pretty clumsy, like he doesn't know where his legs and arms should go, just knows that he wants to get Momoshiro pulled as close to him as possible. He lets out a little growl of frustration against Momoshiro's lips as he squirms under him on the couch, trying to get into a comfortable position. This part was easier when they had the pretense of a fight and could just tackle each other to the ground.

Momoshiro can't help but feel a little happy at the urgency of Kaidoh's actions, pulling him closer like he doesn't want to separate again. He almost wants to pull back, laugh, and tell him to slow down—he's not going anywhere. But there's nothing to laugh about when his hands are trying to touch Kaidoh everywhere in a clumsy manner as well.

When one of Kaidoh's elbow manages to jab into Momoshiro's stomach, he thinks that's enough. As much as he'd love to continue this, it would need some kind of finesse, one that they seemed to naturally obtain when they were alone in a hut before. But now, they're simply too eager to care, but Momoshiro would rather not be annoyed by elbows stabbing him in the eye. So Momoshiro leans back from Kaidoh—once more eliciting a glare from the other man—and catches both his wrists as he pulls them away from his back, and up to the front of his chest.

"Relax," says Momoshiro as he looks over at Kaidoh. "We've got two hours, and I don't want to end it in ten minutes, ok?" He's surprised by how collected his own voice sounds like, since he feels just as impatient as Kaidoh. He raises one of Kaidoh's hands, and gently places a kiss on top of his bony knuckles.

Momoshiro nudges one of his knees against the inside of Kaidoh's thigh, so that he spreads them to make room. He dives right back in, releasing Kaidoh's wrists, and sliding on top of his chest, his legs in between Kaidoh's, and his hands pressing into the couch cushion to prevent him from knocking his head into Kaidoh's. Now _that's_ a much more comfortable position. He's up close to him now, and all those urges surge back to him, screaming at him to simply take what he wants, and to hell with everything else. To kiss Kaidoh like it was the last night on earth.

He's really not good at taking his own advice and slow down.

Their lips once more meet up, Momoshiro eager to return, and Kaidoh probably eager to get him to shut up. It makes him feel weak, almost helpless, as he can do nothing but suck on Kaidoh's lips, as Kaidoh tries to bite them, probably payback for stopping again. But he doesn't mind, he still doesn't know why, but that kind of roughness is just at the right level from him. It reminds him a bit of their fights, but this is definitely not a fight. For once they can both admit that this is certainly not a continuation of their fights. What exactly it is, well, Momoshiro will just call it 'spending time with Kaidoh', and that's alright with him.

Momoshiro dips his body down so that their chests touch, and their hips connect, and he slips his tongue into Kaidoh's mouth this time. It's a bit too much for him, all this touching, that Momoshiro feels completely dizzy and lightheaded from not breathing enough. But who cares about oxygen anyway; Kaidoh's tongue makes him forget about everything. Kaidoh's hands make matters worse as he loves feeling it on his skin, scraping against the back of his neck, and takes away most of his focus. It's one thing Kaidoh's always been good at; attracting his attention until he can't focus on anything but Kaidoh. He doesn't even know how he does it, or if he even does it on purpose, but Momoshiro knows for certain, that he will give Kaidoh _all_ of his attention.

And there's one other thing he's been wanting to do … Momoshiro tilts his head back, his tongue exiting across Kaidoh's bottom lip, a sensation that gives him goosebumps, and he takes a small moment to look at Kaidoh. Kaidoh's eyes flutter open and he gazes at him as well, his face relaxed and his mouth looks roughed up. There's a warm glow around him, almost as if it were tangible and Momoshiro could touch it. Even his cheeks are flushed with red.

Kaidoh looks kind of hot like that, a thought that makes Momoshiro's own cheeks sting and he averts his eyes.

It still almost feels like a dream, like this never happened, like Momoshiro never thought about these 'rules' and what it would mean for them. But here they are; on top of each other and their hands can't stop wandering over their bodies. He's glad he did it, glad he thought about it, glad he spoke up, and glad they're doing this again like it's normal. And it's supposed to be, Momoshiro certainly wants it to be.

Momoshiro gives Kaidoh a tiny seductive kind of smile before he closes the gap between them again, this time dropping his head even lower to the left, until his nose grazes over the soft skin of Kaidoh's neck. He doesn't know why, but that little spot has always been alluring to him, irresistible, really. So he finally places his lips on Kaidoh's skin, right next to his throat, and sucks, gently. He can feel Kaidoh's hands run up in his hair, and any kind of movement from Kaidoh encourages Momoshiro to continue, like he's getting this rush just from seeing his reactions. He leaves another kiss, lower towards his collarbone. And another, higher up near his jawline, until he's leaving small burning kisses all over the side of Kaidoh's neck, each more intense than the other. The flutter of Kaidoh's pulse against his lips feel exciting, as he can feel it speed up just by his own actions. He enjoys this freedom; he can touch Kaidoh anywhere he'd like.

He's always wondered what it would be like to leave a kiss mark on Kaidoh's neck—_not_ a bite mark. So this time, Momoshiro chooses a nice spot, smack dab in the middle of his pulsepoint, and parts his lips across the skin; taking in a big breath to suck, _hard._

Kaidoh's whole body seems to shudder as he sucks in a sharp breath of air and, without even thinking about it, stretches his neck out to give Momoshiro better access. It feels like his heart is right there, trapped in his neck, and Momoshiro is sucking it out with his mouth. Or at least he's doing a pretty fucking fantastic job trying.

His fingers drag up to Momoshiro's shoulder blades, wrapping themselves around his back, around skin so warm it may as well be scorching. He presses his own lips against Momoshiro's collarbone, since it's right there, since everything is right there for him to touch. The invisible barrier between them, built up with doubt and awkwardness, has been broken down to the point that it feels as though it never existed to begin with.

Kaidoh thinks it's weird how they're able to do this again, it all feeling easy and inevitable, but then, maybe everything they do could be conceived as a little bit weird. At least it's not how Kaidoh would act with anyone else, nor would he want to. But with Momoshiro, it's different, and Kaidoh is okay with that. He likes it. He likes everything about this and that's impossible to deny anymore, no matter how much of a stubborn front Kaidoh might put up.

Why does he even still feel the need to try?

Besides, any words dismissing it would seem pretty meaningless when weighed against his actions. No matter how grumpy or indifferent he may act, when he's got his arms wrapped tightly around Momoshiro's back like he can't bear to be more than a millimeter apart from him, it's pretty hard to pretend he doesn't care that much. But actions have always been his strength—running or training or playing tennis—and putting things into words seems, on the surface, to be much simpler than any of those things, but to Kaidoh it's never been an easy task. He presses another kiss along Momoshiro's collarbone, toward his shoulder. Even this shouldn't be an easy task for him, but having Momoshiro here and reassuring Kaidoh with his own enthusiasm, tricks Kaidoh into feeling like it isn't hard at all, like this is something he can do without worry or care.

Because he isn't worried. He's too wrapped up in good feelings to be worried. His whole body seems to roll when Momoshiro sucks at his neck again, his back arching up and his toes curling. Having Momoshiro's mouth there is always intense, and Kaidoh shakily tries to keep his breathing from getting too ragged.

He tries to focus on his own movements, and drags his fingers down Momoshiro's spine until they can sprawl out over his lower back, fingernails digging in slightly. It's not like the desire to mark each other up is anything new. Even during their fights, Kaidoh drew some satisfaction from leaving Momoshiro with a bruise, even though that usually meant he ended up with one of his own. But now he isn't scratching to prove some dumb point, to win a competition or settle an argument. He really isn't sure why he does it, just that it kind of feels right for them to be a little rough with each other. It's like an instinct that Kaidoh can't seem to shake. And maybe a bit of it is payback, because if Momoshiro keeps sucking on Kaidoh's neck like that, Kaidoh thinks his brain might just turn to jelly.

Momoshiro responds to the nails scratching at his lower back, and he arches it, forcing him to grind his hips into Kaidoh's for relief. For a brief second, he's glad Kadoh decided to wear sweatpants, because everything is so easy to _feel_ underneath it.

Lips continue to suck on Kaidoh's neck like a vampire, but Momoshiro honestly enjoys it. Maybe Kaidoh isn't aware of it, but he's letting out some very soft gasps the longer Momoshiro's lips stay attached, and it's spurring him on, not to mention turning him on. It's endearing, and if Momoshiro didn't know Kaidoh all that well, he might have thought he was faking it. But he _does_ know Kaidoh—knows him like no one else does, and he's glad he's the only one who knows him like that—and that Kaidoh would stubbornly refuse to say or do anything to indicate he likes something.

Which is why it's giving Momoshiro a rush of butterflies when he sees Kaidoh act like this, genuinely enjoying himself. He's really happy they can be like this, that Kaidoh shows him this side of himself, because Momoshiro wants to hog it as much as possible. He wants to be the only one that can make Kaidoh gasp and react like this.

Momoshiro finally plucks his lips away from Kaidoh's neck, and can feel Kaidoh's tense body finally relax beneath him. He slowly inches away to look at the damage he's done; there's a red, star shaped hickey on his skin. It's not that big, but big enough for Kaidoh to want to hide it.

Yeah, he wants to be the only one allowed to do this to Kaidoh.

It's why rule number five is probably, secretly, rule number one to him. There had been no doubt in Momoshiro's mind when he thought about the possibility of 'sharing'; he didn't want to. It's that kind of realization that forced him to make up his mind and to call Kaidoh. In hindsight, Momoshiro doesn't even remember what took him so long to decide, what got him all confused, because like this, arms around each other, and lips kissing, nothing is confusing. It feels like how it should be.

Momoshiro moves his head up, to look at Kaidoh and smile at him for a little bit. Kaidoh leans forwards to kiss Momoshiro on the lips, and all those happy little butterflies are back, feeling intense and demanding attention. This is not confusing at all. In fact, all of this is worth it. If it means there will be restrictions and hardships on doing this with Kaidoh, Momoshiro will accept them, because to him, this is worth it.

If someone had told Momoshiro that later in life, he'd be kissing and frolicking around with his so called rival, well, he would have deemed him mad and kicked him in the balls. Yet now, it makes sense. It makes so much sense. He's never been able to leave Kaidoh alone. Not when they were pre-schoolers, not when they were middle-schoolers, and not now as adults either. He doesn't understand the reason why; perhaps Kaidoh is releasing some kind of pheromone. Or maybe it's because from the start, there had always been a connection between them, a fire that caused them to fight all the time, and yet, still not hate each other. Perhaps this is simply a continuation of that, that it grew into something like this, where they're allowed to touch each other in places they had never dreamed of before.

Momoshiro pushes his mouth back against Kaidoh, almost angrily, yet he's anything but angry. Soon they're both moving in sync, massaging each other with hot and wet lips, parting briefly to take in short breaths, then rejoining as soon as possible again. As if being separated from each other for too long is impossible. He likes the way Kaidoh kisses him; rough, without any delicacy, and needy. It makes him shudder from the intensity, and goose bumps keep appearing everywhere on his body. Above all, he likes the fact that Kaidoh _wants_ to kiss him like this.

But Momoshiro's the same: wanting nothing more than to kiss him raw, and wanting it _now._ He's waited too long to kiss him again, and that sense of urgency is still present in his actions, kissing him fast and furious, digging his hips into Kaidoh's below him, and letting his hand wander through Kaidoh's hair.

What's amazing is how nothing feels awkward about this. Momoshiro can feel Kaidoh's tongue enter his mouth again, and he reacts to it on instinct, curling his tongue around Kaidoh's, trying not to moan right into his mouth as he feels his heartbeat pang against his chest. There might have been some trial and error during their first time, but after all this practice, it simply comes natural to him, to not think but do, to respond to each little touch. It feels great.

The hand in Kaidoh's hair finally leaves, and settles on his shoulder, his fingertips holding him tightly as Momoshiro thrusts his tongue against his. Then it moves down, until it's on his chest, then even lower towards his stomach. He can feel Kaidoh's own hands on his back, rubbing, stroking, showing off his ability to scratch him. And Momoshiro _likes_ the scratching. Another weird thing that carried over from their rivalry, he presumes. Yet what once hurt, now feels pretty damn good that he's become strangely addicted to it. He softly nips at Kaidoh's tongue in response, feeling Kaidoh suck harder in response. It makes his body squirm on top of Kaidoh, and now they're both already moving in a rhythm which Kaidoh tries to match. Everything needs to move when they're like this, as if they can't stand still even for a split second.

Momoshiro finally rests his hand on top of Kaidoh's hipbone, right at the end of his tank top. He wants it off. It's not fair Kaidoh gets to scratch his naked back, but Momoshiro still has fabric in the way. The thought of lying on top of Kaidoh with no clothes makes him shiver. He pulls away from Kaidoh, their tongues finally being left alone, and takes in a shaky and ragged breath. He opens his eyes to look at Kaidoh.

"Mind taking this off too?" Momoshiro asks, and his hand curls around the tank top. Desperate to not stay separated for too long, Momoshiro quickly covers Kaidoh's mouth with his, kissing him hard, before he stops again, resting his forehead against Kaidoh's. "Want to touch you …" he breathes out against Kaidoh's lips. And it's the truth; he wants to touch Kaidoh everywhere, and even kiss him everywhere.

He quickly kisses Kaidoh again. "Please," he croaks out, hating how needy and disgusting he sounds, but finding he doesn't care as much as he should. Momoshiro is too high on this rush to properly care about embarrassment.

"Y-yeah," Kaidoh murmurs, his voice sounding like a shiver put to sound. He's unable to look Momoshiro in the eyes as he says it, because Momoshiro has this look like he's going to melt through Kaidoh with his stare alone, and it's making Kaidoh feel like there isn't nearly enough air in the small room. "Yeah," he repeats, a little more confidently this time, "Okay."

He slides his hands away from Momoshiro's back, resting them instead on his shoulders and nudging him back a bit, while at the same time propping himself up on the couch with his elbows. His movements are pretty graceless since it's hard to take clothes off while lying underneath someone, but Kaidoh doesn't want to just shove Momoshiro away. He doesn't want to put too much space between them right now, for fear they won't be able to get back into the rhythm again if they separate.

He feels Momoshiro's hand slip around his back and pull the material up, and Kaidoh does the same at the front, until it's all bunched up around his neck and he has no real option but to sit up entirely so his arms are free to yank the tank top over his arms and head. He's probably never lost a shirt so fast in his life, impatient to get that out of the way so he can get Momoshiro back against him again. He doesn't even notice where it ends up, unconcerned with whether it gets wrinkled. His compulsion to fold and organize seems to have been temporarily switched off, like Momoshiro's controlling it with his fingers over Kaidoh's now bare skin.

Kaidoh leans back against the couch again, dragging Momoshiro back down with him and feeling their naked chests press together, skin and warmth everywhere. The leather feels a little sticky against Kaidoh's back, but he's not that bothered by it, too distracted by where Momoshiro's hands are going to really notice.

He circles Momoshiro's neck with his own arms and drags his fingernails through Momoshiro's hair to pull his head closer and force his mouth against Momoshiro's lips again, not waiting for them to part before he pushes his tongue inside. He no longer feels nervous about taking the initiative in this, about acting instead of just reacting. If he seems overly eager, it's because he is, but Momoshiro is too, so Kaidoh feels no shame in it even though his cheeks feel as warm as they do when he's really embarrassed. He isn't though. He isn't embarrassed at all.

Their now bare chests act like a heater between them; radiating warmth that's making them both sweat and slide against each other. Momoshiro pays no mind to it, as all his attention is going to Kaidoh's tongue, which is instantly exploring his mouth, like he's some enemy that's invaded his territory, and is ready to seize it.

It's not something Momoshiro thought he would ever be comfortable with—other obvious things not withstanding—letting Kaidoh take control of him, to invade his personal space like it's nothing. They were once rivals, and Momoshiro couldn't even fathom the idea of letting Kaidoh gain the upper hand, but here he is, allowing Kaidoh to plunge inside of him like it's where he belonged all this time. And it really does feel like it, his tongue hot and demanding, and it's _Kaidoh's_, yet it doesn't feel wrong at all. Simply feels right. He'd allow Kaidoh to do this anytime he wants, since it's something Momoshiro wants as well.

Who is in control, who is on top—those things don't seem to matter anymore. Not when Momoshiro's brain is screaming to _touch, kiss, and grind._

Plus, Kaidoh's tongue feels fucking amazing.

Momoshiro's own tongue wraps around Kaidoh's, until they're twirling around each other, taking turns. It's a sticky mess, but when his heart is beating so fast, pumping all his blood to his face (and between his legs), Momoshiro can't seem to give a damn. Not when it's making his insides feel all tied up, and his heart seems to be bouncing in his rib cage of joy and pleasure.

And it isn't just Kaidoh's tongue which is sending Momoshiro's mind reeling, it's his hands and arms as well. They're tied around Momoshiro's neck, to keep him close, and Kaidoh might not be doing this consciously, but it still makes something small light up in Momoshiro's chest. Like he's glad to know Kaidoh wants him here, and will genuinely hold onto him just because. Momoshiro manages to wrap one arm around Kaidoh's neck as well, lifting him away from the leather couch, and smushing their faces together as much as he can. His other hand is busy stroking down Kaidoh's chest, sometimes using his nails to make red tracks go down to his abs.

They move their tongues, and Kaidoh pulls it out so that they can both take a quick breath, before they return for more, smacking their lips together, and tongues meeting up in the middle. Momoshiro is half acting on hormones, and half on feelings right now. This probably is the most amazing thing he's felt before in his life, this thing between him and Kaidoh. And at the same time, he's also completely relieved and happy he got over himself and did this. Talked to Kaidoh, and made things happen again.

If he hadn't …if Momoshiro hadn't told Kaidoh it was okay …

Kaidoh's tongue once again screams for his attention, and Momoshiro's fleeting thoughts are erased. Fuck it, he could never stay away from this, he'd be crawling back to Kaidoh the moment he started missing him. And he already did, didn't he?

It's why they're here, right now, because Momoshiro couldn't stand missing him one more day. Because he knew he had to make that first step to get things back on track again.

Momoshiro tries to wedge his other arm between the couch and Kaidoh's back, and after a little bit of maneuvering, and Kaidoh realizing what he's doing, he gets his wish as Kaidoh arches up against him. Momoshiro presses his palm against Kaidoh's lower back, and he lifts him up so that their bodies are touching everywhere. Face, chest, hips, legs—everything's connected. He holds him close, and he finally stops kissing Kaidoh, pulling away so that he can rest his head against Kaidoh's collarbone, eyes closed, and mouth gasping for oxygen. He tightens his embrace, and for a little while, stays just like this, holding Kaidoh, not moving, not kissing, no fingernails scratching somewhere; just Kaidoh's body pressed up against his own. Momoshiro nuzzles his face into the crook of Kaidoh's neck with a small sigh, displaying affection he didn't even know he had in him.

It's a small moment in this hectic and frantic mess, that Momoshiro simply appreciates Kaidoh being here.

Kaidoh feels a little strange, his heart thumping hard in his chest but his whole body still, like he's frozen and helpless in Momoshiro's arms. It's almost like a hug, he guesses, and Kaidoh's not used to the feeling, being squeezed so tightly and warmly. He doesn't know how to respond. The rough movements—their mouths nipping at each other, their hands scrabbling over bare skin—that's something Kaidoh can grasp on an instinctual level. His hormones know how to react to that, they crave it, but something simple like an embrace leaves him a little baffled and he's torn between lying there and accepting it, or fighting in protest.

But even though it's kind of weird and Momoshiro's halted movement catches him off guard, it also makes his chest fill up with a warm and buoyant feeling. He doesn't know what it is, but it feels good enough to make him think that maybe this isn't so weird after all, that maybe it's okay to pause things and let this happen. Slowly, he wraps his own arms over each other, like he's locking Momoshiro's body tightly against himself.

With Momoshiro's face pressed against his neck, he can't see it, but Kaidoh is even smiling, just a little. It feels nice to have Momoshiro here and close. It feels unreal. They aren't on the island anymore; they're back in the real world, with its tall buildings and millions of people, but still he's able to be with Momoshiro like this. Everything he'd known the past few months—living in that wooden hut, and running on sand every day, and catching and cooking all their own food—all that is gone now, but this remains. This doesn't have to change.

Kaidoh's not going to let it.

He lets out a sigh of his own, and then inhales, smelling Momoshiro's hair and the sweat on his skin. By some strange compulsion, he leans against the side of Momoshiro's head and tilts his face towards Momoshiro's cheek so he can press his mouth against it. Then, feeling bashful, like he's been caught doing something he shouldn't, he turns away just as quickly, and hisses against Momoshiro's shoulder.

The hiss disturbs Momoshiro out of his trance, and suddenly he realizes how stiff Kaidoh feels below him. He feels a little stiff and embarrassed himself, the side of his cheek which Kaidoh's lips touched hot and red. But the way Kaidoh immediately retreated, it feels as if this is something that isn't allowed.

"Ah, sorry," Momoshiro mumbles against Kaidoh's skin. "Just felt like …" Holding Kaidoh. "Uhm, yeah." He bashfully buries his face into Kaidoh's neck, as if to hide, like he's done something wrong, and ruined the mood or something. He loosens his grip on Kaidoh's back and neck, slowly slipping away. If Kaidoh doesn't want to …

"Don't apologize, dumbass," Kaidoh grumbles back, glaring at the side of Momoshiro's face. He sounds shaky as he says it, like his voice is testing the waters and he's surprised he's able to say things at all. Talking when they're like this had once seemed totally impossible, and even after all this time it still feels like he's leaping over hurdles just to push the sounds out of his mouth.

His arms loosen a little, and he trails one hand over Momoshiro's shoulder and down his arm, his fingers pressing into the skin like he's trying to keep Momoshiro from going anywhere, like he's trying to convey to Momoshiro that it's okay, that he can still do this, that he can do whatever he wants, but he's used up all his speaking ability. This more gentle side of things isn't something Kaidoh's used to, and he doesn't really know what to do about it, but that doesn't mean he doesn't like it.

He's not great at showing it all the time, but he actually likes most things Momoshiro does, even the things he'd hate coming from anyone else. Maybe especially those things. Momoshiro has this weird and stupid way of persuading Kaidoh to be okay with things he never imagined he'd be okay with.

Feeling a little emboldened, or maybe just indignant that Momoshiro isn't quite so close anymore, Kaidoh kisses the side of Momoshiro's face again, this time lingering a little longer in spite of the red heat that flares up in his cheeks just from doing that.

Momoshiro feels his heart jump up and down in his chest, and a big grin spreads on his face (as well as it turning red). He chuckles, a little amused, a little shy, a little embarrassed, and a whole lot of happy. He leans closer again, tightening his embrace, his arms securely wrapping around Kaidoh, not wishing to let go this time. He plucks his face away from Kaidoh's neck, tilts it, and places a kiss on the side of Kaidoh's cheek as well, causing him to grin again. It's something that he'd been doing a lot when they were still stuck on the island. A kiss on the cheek right before Kaidoh left to go running in the morning. Sometimes it was a kiss on the lips. Either way, what felt acceptable then, now feels acceptable too.

It's allowed, everything feels like it's allowed now. He can do these kind of things without Kaidoh pushing him away, or telling him he's a disgusting idiot. At least right now, he's simply just an idiot. An idiot who likes doing these things. But if he's an idiot …

Momoshiro pushes his mouth against Kaidoh's ear. "If I'm a dumbass, then you are too," he says with a small laugh at the end. As if he's saying that even if they're being stupid, at least they're being stupid together.

He lifts his head away from Kaidoh, this time hovering over him so he can look him in the eye. Kaidoh seems kind of … nervous? Or, well, he seems to be conscious of the fact that he's blushing, and he's trying to hide it. Not very well of course. It's kind of cute, the way he gets this bashful. Momoshiro moves his hand from the back of Kaidoh's neck, to the front of his face, his fingers gently grazing over the spot he had kissed before. His cheeks feel warm and very soft, and there's this weird compulsive urge inside of him that makes him want to kiss it all the time, just to throw Kaidoh for a loop, to get him to react like this. He likes those reactions, it feels good to be the one to cause them. It's always felt good to have Kaidoh react to him. He gives Kaidoh another wide smile; he feels like he's glowing with happiness.

It's giving him courage to be more at ease with this, to feel more acceptive of what they're doing. The corner of Momoshiro's mouth lifts up a little bit as he prepares himself for what he's going to say next. With his crooked smile, Momoshiro parts his lips and says, "My dumbass." Rule number 5: don't do these things with anyone but him.

Kaidoh scowls at him. "Shut up," he mutters, his voice sounding whiny and petulant and not at all the way he wants it to. He covers Momoshiro's hand with his own, locking their fingers together and dragging it towards his mouth like he's trying to hide his whole face with Momoshiro's hand. It's annoying to have Momoshiro looking at him when his face is going all these embarrassing colors. It's even more annoying that Momoshiro is smiling at him like he gets some kind of enjoyment out of seeing Kaidoh like this. And most annoying is the fact that Kaidoh can't even bring himself to sound all that annoyed, not when Momoshiro's got that stupid grin on his face that seems to say there's nothing to be embarrassed about at all.

Now that he's got Momoshiro's hand captured, Kaidoh presses a soft kiss against Momoshiro's palm, a stark contrast to his grumpy expression. He's fighting a bit with himself here, wanting to do these mushy affectionate things with Momoshiro, but being unwilling to let himself wholly give in to all of it, remaining slightly guarded. He's at once less embarrassed and also infinitely more embarrassed around Momoshiro than he is around anyone else. Because somehow, doing things, any things, feels more important with Momoshiro, and he's opening up to him in ways he never thought he was capable. And that's pretty scary, but at the same time there's a pounding in his chest that reassures him that this is what he's supposed to be doing, that all of this is right and good. He isn't sure why he feels the need to fight against it so much. His lingering stubbornness is still hard to shake.

He tugs at Momoshiro's wrist and arches his own neck a little so he can get Momoshiro close enough to kiss him on the lips instead, because that stops them both from saying anything else, and Kaidoh finds the silence a lot more comfortable. At least when he's got his shirt off and his back pinned to the couch. In Kaidoh's mind this should sort of be a no talking zone.

Momoshiro pushes back against Kaidoh, still smiling slightly at this pleasant hum inside of his chest. At least Kaidoh didn't deny it.

Their fingers slowly move against one another, fingertips against fingertips, they feel hot to the touch, and despite Kaidoh's hand being rough and bony, it's surprisingly soft. Momoshiro likes the way it feels, as much as he likes the way Kaidoh's mushy lips feel. That mouth which can never seem to find anything nice to say, is very capable of making Momoshiro feel like he's melting in a puddle of warm liquid. It can be gentle, like right now, just simply moving their lips, and sucking slightly. It can also be rough, which is more like how Momoshiro knows Kaidoh, but he likes exploring this side of Kaidoh as well. He likes it a lot.

He can tell through Kaidoh's actions that he's still a little hesitant, that he's still unsure—not with the kissing. No, with kissing he seems to love taking control and show Momoshiro how it's done. Which is silly, because he's been doing this for as long as Momoshiro has, which is to say, they were each other's firsts, and it hasn't been very long. But other than kissing, Kaidoh seems reluctant to express this … these … Momoshiro can't come up with a word for it, so he's just going to use 'spending time with Kaidoh' again.

But it's not like Momoshiro is any better. He did kind of freak out, and they have only made up about half an hour ago. So if Kaidoh is reluctant, it's probably partially his fault. He wants to tell him though, that he won't go away anymore. How can he? Leave something that feels this good? He couldn't. Even if he wanted to, Momoshiro finds it impossible to leave Kaidoh alone, not after what they've all done together. No, he could never, not now that he knows, not now that he's got these memories, and not now he's got Kaidoh in his arms, and lips against his own.

Momoshiro's teeth playfully take Kaidoh's bottom lip between them, giving it a slight tug. If he's ever said anything funny about Kaidoh's lips before; he takes it all back. Not these lips that feel like Egyptian cotton grazing his skin, making him feel all tingly and lightheaded. Kaidoh frees his bottom lip, and quickly smacks his entire mouth against Momoshiro, their pace now picking up speed. And Momoshiro doesn't object; they can go back to being rough and needy, because it what he feels like all the damn time now, and it should be disgusting, but Momoshiro's already half-way to accepting that it's going to be like this with Kaidoh from now on.

Always wanting him, always following after him, always bothering him. But if Kaidoh doesn't mind, and in fact, actually _wants_ Momoshiro to do all of those things, then he's got nothing to complain or feel disgusted about.

Momoshiro lets his hormones and instincts take over as their kissing gets more rough, and faster, and harder, before they're attacking each other with their tongues again. The karaoke room is practically a sauna by now, their sweaty bodies sticking to each other like damp cloths. Not that Momoshiro minds, he can hardly tell when Kaidoh's doing that little trick with his tongue again, one that makes his knees feel weak, and makes him groan in response. Damn him for being so good at this.

So it's time to make Kaidoh feel good, too. Momoshiro pins Kaidoh's hand against the leathery couch and he finally breaks away from Kaidoh's delicious lips—yes he's calling them delicious, because he might as well have been eating from Kaidoh's mouth. His other hand is still trapped beneath Kaidoh's body, and it's sort of being cut off from its circulation, so Momoshiro decides to do something with it.

Namely lifting Kaidoh's entire body up against him—after a bit of wiggling and getting Kaidoh to corporate—and then he pulls at Kaidoh's other hand, forcing him to sit up against him. They stay like that for a second, at that awkward position with limbs tangled, and sweaty chests pressed together. Momoshiro dips his head down to kiss Kaidoh's neck, before he starts pushing him up further against the couch, until Kaidoh can't go back anymore, and his back is resting against the couch. Momoshiro moves on top of him, trying to be slick, and cool, and not awkward, but he does manage to knee Kaidoh in his shin on accident. He gets an angry look from Kaidoh, and Momoshiro tries to brush it off by quickly covering Kaidoh's mouth with his.

Then he pulls back just as fast, and moves down, kissing the right side of Kaidoh's neck, the one with no hickey on it. He moves even lower, planting another kiss on his collarbone. Momoshiro keeps leaving a trail of kisses as he goes lower and lower, hands sliding across Kaidoh's torso as he goes, until he's leaving kisses around his belly button. Momoshiro's chest is pressing up against Kaidoh's crotch, and it makes his heart flutter when he can feel it. The sweatpants don't hide much. Momoshiro's hands move down until they rest at the rim of Kaidoh's pants, holding onto his hips. He deliberately moves up a bit, so that his chest slides over the hard bump in Kaidoh's pants—an action that makes his own cheeks burn red—and instead of kissing the skin above the belly button, he takes a soft nip at it with his teeth.

Kaidoh groans and arches his hips up off the couch. It's a reaction that's totally out of his control, and a part of him is kind of horrified. But the rest of him is feeling too good to pay much attention to how he's acting, too focused on what Momoshiro is doing to care.

He runs his hand over the back of Momoshiro's head, through his hair and down to the soft skin of his neck. He digs his nails in there, just a little, like he's impatient, because suddenly he feels like he is. Things manage to get heated between them so quickly and already his brain feels like it's been scrambled into a frenzy. He uses that same hand to drag Momoshiro back up his body, until they're face to face again. He was getting a bit frustrated with Momoshiro doing all these things to him, and he feels like it's time for him to even things out between them, and get his control back. He rolls his hips forward again, feeling his erection collide with the hardness in Momoshiro's pants. This time, he hears Momoshiro let out of a groan of his own and unlike with his groaning earlier, no part of Kaidoh is horrified at that, at hearing it come out of Momoshiro's mouth instead. He just wants to do things to hear that sound again.

He doesn't move in to cover Momoshiro's mouth with his own. Instead, he presses his lips against the side of Momoshiro's face, the movement sloppy as he catches his breath as he goes, breathing out against Momoshiro's cheek as his mouth trails to Momoshiro's ear and lingers there as he nips lightly at the lobe. Then he ducks his head against the crook of Momoshiro's neck and bites at Momoshiro's collarbone, then his neck, then his shoulder, then back to his neck again where he kisses the skin like he's gasping against it, his lips ragged and inaccurate. But it doesn't really matter that he's losing control a bit here, because he can feel and hear it in Momoshiro's reactions that he is too.

The last song transitions into a new one and vaguely, Kaidoh remembers they're still here in a karaoke room, that there was no lock on the door, that there could be people just on the other side of the wall. Can they really do this here? Well, it's a bit too late for doubts like that. They already are, aren't they? It feels dangerous and Kaidoh is kind of embarrassed to realize that's kind of arousing in and of itself. It's making him feel like everything is a little more urgent, a little more desperate.

Finally he leaves Momoshiro's neck and moves his mouth back towards Momoshiro's lips, covering them with his own as his hands wrap their way around Momoshiro's back, sliding down all the way to Momoshiro's hips, his fingers hooking under the top of his pants. He feels Momoshiro squirm a little against him as his fingers tug under the material, pressing indentations into Momoshiro's skin, and there isn't even a hint of hesitation in doing it, not any worry that Momoshiro might stop him. He feels uncharacteristically confident with this, with doing this. It's okay, it's allowed, and they both want it. That's all he needs to think about.

Momoshiro nudges forwards with his entire body, reacting to Kaidoh's fingers so close to him, wedging underneath the fabric, and closer to his lips as well. But it's not close enough. The position is a bit awkward, so Momoshiro places his own hands on top of Kaidoh's and leaves one last and hard kiss on his mouth before he breaks it off. He leans back far enough so that he can prop his knees up between Kaidoh's legs. It certainly broke off their momentum, but Momoshiro is not allowing Kaidoh to leave, holding his hands hostage, and now firmly planted on his hips, sliding towards his ass.

He maneuvers his legs until he's thrown both of them over Kaidoh's hips, and can wrap them around his lower back. Now _that's_ a much better position. Momoshiro gives Kaidoh a small smirk, before he pushes up against him, their crotches now touching, and their lips meeting again, as if being apart from each other for too long means they'll die.

Momoshiro certainly feels like he needs Kaidoh to live at the moment.

He leaves Kaidoh's hands, trailing up his arms, until he wraps his arms around Kaidoh's neck as well, so he can have more leverage when he's kissing Kaidoh as hard as he can. Kaidoh doesn't hold back either, sucking hard, biting at him, thrusting his tongue against his—it's just incredible. Everything feels incredible, not to mention the pace is going so fast it's leaving him kind of numb and lightheaded. But he likes it.

Likes it so much, it becomes really hard to hide it. It's not a secret that Momoshiro's turned on by all of this. The little gasps he does each time Kaidoh bites his lips is a dead give away. Especially when Kaidoh rolls his hips into him again. Frankly, anytime he thinks of Kaidoh and the things they do together, is enough to get him all hot and bothered. Simply being together, alone in this karaoke room, was enough to make Momoshiro horny. But nothing sets him off as much as knowing that Kaidoh's like this too. He's not the only one affected by this, Kaidoh seems to want and need it as much as he does. And that, is enough to wash away anything else, any awkwardness, hesitation or doubts. All gone.

All that's left is him and Kaidoh, sitting here in this room which is severely lacking oxygen, not to mention has no lock, doing all of these unspeakable things to each other.

And Momoshiro wouldn't have it any other way.

Subconsciously, Momoshiro ends up digging his hips into Kaidoh's, just to get the stimulation he's craving for. He's just begging to have some action going down there, but he also really likes holding onto Kaidoh and simply kissing him. So he'll settle with rubbing up against Kaidoh for now. His erection feels cramped in his shorts and pants, but taking it off seems very risky in a place like this where they may need to bolt at a moment's notice. No shirts can be explained. No pants however … not so much.

Momoshiro tears his lips away from Kaidoh, and they feel raw and very red, like he's been punched in the face. But it doesn't bother him, not at all. He looks Kaidoh in the eyes, and reflected back is his usual fighting spirit, but something else is in it as well, this needy and desperate glaze. Momoshiro is getting kind of a kick out of it. He runs his fingers through Kaidoh's hair, yanking on them a bit so that he can pull Kaidoh's head back, giving him enough access to kiss his neck once more, and then go for his earlobe. He licks and then takes it between his lips, suckling on it. He feels Kaidoh's hips arch up against him, a groan erupting from his throat. This simply makes Momoshiro more eager to continue, and he snaps his own hips against Kaidoh as well, loving the stimulation that's causing himself to gasp. But enough gentle times, time for some rough play. He uses his front teeth to bite down on Kaidoh's earlobe, and scratches the back of his head at the same time, grinding his body into Kaidoh.

Kaidoh groans again, and midway through, the sound twists into more of a growl. Momoshiro's actions seem to flip a switch inside him, the same one that—before all this—would usually have been sparked by an insult or a punch. He feels like this is familiar territory for them, biting and scratching and both of them being a little rough on each other. It sets Kaidoh at ease, because it feels natural for him to respond to this, it feels normal to him even though he knows it would probably be weird to anyone else.

Well, Momoshiro's not anyone else. They work like this.

Even if it's not a fight, the elements of that are still here, and it gets Kaidoh hyped up in a way nothing else can, not even running. He's not about to admit it out loud, because it would inflate Momoshiro's ego and it's already big enough as it is, but Kaidoh would pick this over running in a heartbeat. It isn't just about getting off with each other, although Momoshiro does kind of send Kaidoh's hormones into overdrive, but even just being close to Momoshiro feels good. Kaidoh is usually a huge advocate for having his personal space, but somehow he doesn't mind as much when Momoshiro is the one invading it.

He digs his nails into Momoshiro's skin, wanting him as close as possible, because the friction he's getting just isn't enough. And he kind of wants to be a little rough about it too, as payback, since everything about this is give and take, push and pull. One of his hands slides around Momoshiro's side and towards his stomach, which is a little awkward when they're pressed up against each other like his, but Momoshiro nudges back a little to make room, his mouth still attached at Kaidoh's ear like he's trying to leave a mark on it, like he won't rest until Kaidoh has marks everywhere. It should be embarrassing but right now, in the hazy heat of everything, it just feels kind of awesome.

Kaidoh's fingers slide down Momoshiro's stomach and under the waistband of his pants. Immediately, Kaidoh can feel Momoshiro react, mouth wrenching away from the side of Kaidoh's face to gasp as he jerks forward against Kaidoh, momentarily trapping Kaidoh's hand between their bodies. Then Kaidoh trails his palm lower, until it swipes across the bulge in Momoshiro's boxers. It's warm and hard and Kaidoh can feel the blood pounding through it. It makes his face flush with color, and for a moment, his own audacity scares him and he feels like flinching away, but then Momoshiro rocks his hips forward in encouragement and Kaidoh remembers that there doesn't need to be anything scary or embarrassing about this. He presses his mouth against the side of Momoshiro's neck, sucking hard as his fingers clumsily fumble their way under the material to touch the scorching skin underneath, finally wrapping all the way around Momoshiro's penis.

His other hand clenches around Momoshiro's hip as he arches his body upwards again, his own erection straining against his track pants as his groin grazes the back of his own hand. He hisses out against Momoshiro's neck, and it sounds different this time, quick and clipped, as his fingers begin to move along the length of Momoshiro's penis, bold, yet without any real rhythm yet.

And Momoshiro lets out a needy little gasp, completely enthralled by Kaidoh's hand, and the way his cold fingers feel like such a relief when it touches the hot skin of his penis. Kaidoh's lips are feeling incredibly hot as well, pressed against his neck, and sucking on a different spot each time, as his hand continues to pull at his erection.

It's been so long, and too much crap has happened during it, that Momoshiro is simply so overjoyed, he lets himself go, and surrenders to this needy and wanting feeling. The need to have Kaidoh close, and continue to do all of these things to him. And he wants it, too.

Momoshiro drops his head against Kaidoh's shoulders, his body temporarily stunned as Kaidoh continues to do whatever he wants with it. As if Momoshiro gave Kaidoh permission to do anything he'd like. And yeah, he sort of already did. Kaidoh raises his hips into him once more, seeming needy as well, and Momoshiro wraps his arms around Kaidoh, like he's trying to hide himself with his body. The strokes on his skin feel fucking fantastic after all this time. Everything feels amazing, Kaidoh's touch is sending him reeling, it's kind of _too_ much … so much that he …

Wait, no. Oh no. No, no, no.

Argh, yes, yes, yes—keep doing that Kaidoh.

Momoshiro moans and stretches out his body against Kaidoh's, head flipped back, Kaidoh's lips sucking on his exposed throat, and his hand frantically stroking his penis.

Shit, this is going to make him explode before Kaidoh can even say 'what the fuck', before he laughs at him for coming way too soon, and making a sticky mess of his hands. And he hadn't even touched Kaidoh yet!

Before Momoshiro's fears are turned into a reality, he manages to push Kaidoh's face away from his neck with both his hands, hands holding onto his cheeks. He moves his hips away from Kaidoh's, so that his hand slips out of his pants. He immediately regrets it, feeling cold and lonely, and everything inside of him is aching to reconcile and continue again. But no, he can't just … and have everything end so quickly … he wants to savour it, to take his time, to enjoy it. He can't do that if he orgasms in his pants like some teenage boy who can't control his hormones.

Though Momoshiro kind of _does_ feel like one when it comes to Kaidoh, his hormones are always out of whack, and can't think of anything besides rubbing himself up against Kaidoh. Kaidoh just has that kind of effect over him.

Momoshiro takes a few seconds to control his damn self, as well as his breathing, being sure to keep Kaidoh locked in place so he can't do anything else that will send him over the edge. He can feel Kaidoh's body movements, unsure and stiff, like perhaps he did something wrong. He didn't, he was doing everything _right_. So right it just felt too good.

He takes in another deep breath, before he finally feels like he's stabilized his hormones enough to continue. And this time, Kaidoh is not the only one who will be doing something. Momoshiro drops both his hands, and they hurry to unbutton his own pants, zipping it open to give way to his stiff penis, which had been feeling rather cramped when it was stuck in that position. Kaidoh doesn't seem to be waiting either, as he slips his fingers into the hole of his boxers, once more taking hold of him. Momoshiro can't seem to control himself after all, as he just groans again and rocks against Kaidoh's hand in response. But he can't be the only one to enjoy this. He transfers his hands over to Kaidoh's sweatpants, where his own bulge is quite obvious, and a small part inside of Momoshiro feels kind of eager to touch it again, to see Kaidoh's reactions once more. The ones he's masturbated to, for far too many times to count.

Momoshiro smashes his face against Kaidoh's, lips messily meeting up—almost missing, actually. He moves his mouth roughly across Kaidoh's, and he gets the same treatment in return. He can feel Kaidoh's hand pull his erection out into the open and cold air, and it feels like such a relief, that Momoshiro thinks he's about to come again. This is getting dangerous, every action seems to be enough to set him off. So he quickly fumbles around with Kaidoh's sweatpants, until he nudges it down a bit towards his hipbones, the hemline sliding over the bulge. He quickly sticks his hands down there to grab Kaidoh's equally hard penis. A relief washes over him; it almost feels like nostalgia. Like it's been way too long since the last time they did this. It feels like it's been an eon.

And then they start up again, like a program booting up. Its mission is to go as fast as possible, because their hands can't seem to stay still. Instead they're both frantically moving their hands over soft and warm skin.

Momoshiro bites Kaidoh's lip, hoping it will prevent himself from orgasming too fast, hoping that if Kaidoh bites him back, it will hurt enough to temporarily distract him. And Kaidoh does bite back, taking every hit as it comes and returning it with the same kind of fighting spirit. It backfires on Momoshiro, as this feels as exciting as it did the first time, and he feels his penis twitch in turn with Kaidoh's strokes. Ah fuck.

This is definitely not going to last long.

Momoshiro breaks away from Kaidoh to take a deep breath, and he looks at him with these exhausted eyes. This is so unfair. Why is it only him? Though to be fair, Kaidoh looks out of breath too, and he's pulling his face into these arousing facial expressions.

Kaidoh opens his eyes to stare back at Momoshiro with an expression like he's accusing him of something, but his ability to glare is kind of deteriorating with each stroke of Momoshiro's fingers over his penis. In fact, Kaidoh merely manages to look hazy and unfocused, which is coincidentally, kind of how he feels. His brain's being flooded with so many sensations right now that he doesn't know how to deal with them. His capacity for thought is turning to mush, and all his movements feel like they're based solely on instinct now; he's not thinking anything through. He's just doing what feels right, and that's making all the things Momoshiro does in return feel heightened somehow, like Kaidoh no longer has the roadblocks of hesitation or worry in his way.

No, right now there isn't anything in his way at all, and it's all he can do to keep his own hand moving, like it's on autopilot, unable to do anything but continue. The temptation to just stop and savor the feeling of Momoshiro's hand against him is hard to avoid, but Kaidoh's not about to give up so easily. Especially since, while it's embarrassing to admit even to himself, he kind of gets a kick out of seeing Momoshiro so undone.

He curls his fingers more tightly around Momoshiro's penis and pumps them up the shaft and down again towards the base, the rhythm of their hands starting to fall into sync, until it seems like they're moving in tandem. It's fast, and the sweat and pre-cum makes everything sound slick and a little sloppy, but embarrassing sounds like that are hard for Kaidoh to hear above the blood pounding in his ears as tension seems to climb up through him, from his toes which are curled and tense, then clear up the back of his neck to the top of his head.

He uses his free hand to clutch the back of Momoshiro's neck and pull him closer again, but doesn't kiss him this time. It seems like too much effort at this point, and they're breathing so hard and fast that he thinks if they keep their mouths closed over each other for too long one or both of them will pass out from lack of oxygen. So Kaidoh just nudges his fingers into the soft skin of Momoshiro's neck until Momoshiro moves and presses his forehead against his own.

Kaidoh arches his hips, feeling his penis slide through Momoshiro's fingers, and pants out air against Momoshiro's face. He keeps holding Momoshiro's gaze, like maybe that'll keep him grounded, keep him from losing control. It feels like they only just started doing this a moment ago, it's all going by in a blur, but already Kaidoh's feeling pretty overwhelmed and his face is beaded with sweat like he's been running a marathon.

Momoshiro is aching to press his lips onto Kaidoh's, but anytime he opens his mouth, he simply seems to let out embarrassing sounds instead. It feels too good, Kaidoh's hand wrapped around his penis, and simply jerking him off—it's making him lose focus on everything. Even his intense stare is sending chills down his spine.

It's different than when Momoshiro does it himself. It's not necessarily better in terms of technique, but he certainly doesn't moan and gasp when he's doing it to himself. Only Kaidoh can cause that kind of thing to happen. Only he can make him feel fuzzy twinges in his stomach. Like his fingers are made out of magic, and they keep pulling these weird things out of him. Yes, it's certainly not the same. But it's a thousand times more satisfying, _especially_ when he's doing the same thing to Kaidoh as well.

They're just a sticky mess of limbs pulling up and down, sitting against each other trying to breathe enough to stay alive.

Masturbating could never hold up to this. Momoshiro has tried, to keep himself busy, to tide himself over during the long period where they didn't do anything with each other. But it never came close to this, to the intimacy they share, down to the way Kaidoh's hand feels on his burning skin. It's just _different_, and it gets him off so bad, Momoshiro is afraid he's going to finish up quickly once more.

He can feel it as Kaidoh's fingers dig deeper into the skin of his neck, the way he tightens his grip, yet sloppily yanks on it like there's nothing else on his mind. Momoshiro really wants to kiss, it's this burning sensation just sitting on his lips, and Kaidoh's face—covered in sweat and making this really erotic expression—is right there! So he leans forward, tilting his head so he can kiss him at least once. Right as he does that, Kaidoh seems to take this as an invitation to roll his hips into him, banging both of their hands together, and causing a weird and funny sensation to crawl up his penis.

And that's how Momoshiro presses himself up close to Kaidoh as he lets out three short bursts of gasps, as his entire body shakes and trembles, stopping his own movements on Kaidoh's penis. Each tremble is accompanied with his penis shooting out little strings of sperm right into Kaidoh's hand, and onto his own stomach. He feels blissfully good for just about a second, like he's in heaven, but then Momoshiro feels completely embarrassed and kind of humiliated.

He clings to Kaidoh, his face turned away and pressed into his shoulder; horrified that he's already had an orgasm right now, that he couldn't keep it in. It hasn't even been two minutes already—the same song from before is still playing! Great … what's Kaidoh supposed to think of that? He feels completely red in his face, and is worried Kaidoh will laugh at him all of the sudden, for being so completely needy and hormonal and premature and ... and …

Luckily, Kaidoh isn't really the laughing type, although a little smile does creep into the corner of his mouth, which is still more positive emotion than he's used to showing. He can't help it though. It's actually kind of endearing to see that Momoshiro _did_ miss Kaidoh, and missed this too, and that he's as into it as Kaidoh is … or as the evidence would suggest, maybe even more so. It makes a weird, warm feeling spread through Kaidoh, knowing that he can make Momoshiro like this, that he lost control even though Kaidoh barely did anything at all. It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but it's a bigger turn-on than anything else could be, one that spurs Kaidoh on and makes him suddenly feel like he should be rushing to catch up, like Momoshiro's already at the finish line and Kaidoh has to prove himself too. That, and now that Momoshiro has finished, it feels like all the attention is suddenly on Kaidoh instead, an awkward imbalance that makes Kaidoh embarrassed and overly self-aware.

He tries to squash those feelings down though, because all the nerves in his body are shouting that there isn't anything wrong with drawing this out. It feels too good to end it just yet, although it also feels like he probably won't last too much longer himself. All the blood seems to be rushing through him at the speed of sound, thudding at his eardrums and thrumming in his limbs. Or maybe that's the vibrating bass line of the song playing—It's hard for Kaidoh to tell at this point. Everything feels a little blurred together.

He nudges his nose against Momoshiro's cheek, to make sure he's still in this with him. Momoshiro's face feels incredibly warm, and just the proximity sends electric sparks clear through Kaidoh's skin. It feels like they're touching each other everywhere right now. They need to start moving again or Kaidoh feels like he'll die from the anticipation alone.

"Idiot," he mutters, familiar challenge in his tone, the word like an instinct more than anything. His voice sounds ragged, as he's still kind of hanging in a sort of limbo, his heart pounding, his breaths sloppy and short. He presses his mouth against the side of Momoshiro's face, and that feels like an instinct to him too, but he has no idea where the hell it came from. It's a weird impulse that's been growing, that has nothing to do with how quickly he's going to get off, and everything to do with just liking being close to Momoshiro. All of Kaidoh's weird hang-ups with physical proximity seem to fly out the window when it comes to him.

While the hand on Momoshiro's penis starts to unwrap and loosen itself, his fingers feeling stiff and sticky, the one behind Momoshiro's neck slides to his shoulder and Kaidoh tightens his grip, using it for leverage to pull himself up and thrust against Momoshiro's hand, encouraging him to keep going.

His mouth keeps sliding against Momoshiro's cheek until Momoshiro stops hiding against his shoulder and pulls back so that Kaidoh can close his eyes and kiss him on the lips again. _Come on_, he thinks, feeling impatient and eager and overwhelmed all at once. He can't help but feel anything else right now, although the way his heart is pounding underscores each movement like it's something important, like it's about more than just hormones. Well, if Kaidoh's honest with himself, that's something he's known for a while, and it's not something that scares him the way it might have in the past. Instead it just feels more exciting than anything he's known.

Momoshiro feels the embarrassment and shame eb away. His cheeks still feel red and hot, but more so because Kaidoh's lips had touched it, not because he's hiding away in fear anymore. He gently presses his lips back against Kaidoh's, feeling a little bit more at ease.

Yes, he truly is an idiot. When it comes to Kaidoh, Momoshiro simply can't help himself. He does things he's never imagined, and feels emotions and sensations he could have only dreamed about before. He still feels a bit bummed out though, since he was the one to tell Kaidoh to relax after all, if they wanted to draw this out. Well, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't draw it out _at all_. The only drawing out that happened, was Kaidoh's fingers pulling his orgasm out of him.

And now it's Kaidoh's turn. It's not that Momoshiro wasn't going to finish him off—he enjoys doing this to Kaidoh as well—he was just a bit shaken from his premature ejaculation. Except Kaidoh isn't, he seems to be gnawing on his lips, urgent and needy, and his hips are rolling into his hand, making his throbbing penis slide in and out of his hand. Even though Momoshiro already had his quick and dirty orgasm, this is still such a turn on. Being in this room with Kaidoh, doing this with him, will never cease to be exciting. Everything about Kaidoh is exciting, and now Momoshiro is eager to continue.

His own flaccid penis forgotten, Momoshiro finally starts sliding his hand over the smooth skin of Kaidoh's penis again. The other hand is cupping Kaidoh's cheek, holding him in place as Momoshiro kisses him with newfound intensity. Kaidoh returns his kiss, albeit a bit sloppy and rough. But that's how Momoshiro likes it too. He curls his fingers around the hot skin, going up to the very top, and pausing a small moment to rub his thumb right on the slit. A thin trail of precum stretches between his thumb and the glans, which he uses to lubricate the rest of Kaidoh's penis. It does after all, feel better for him when it's slick and wet, so he thinks Kaidoh probably likes it more like this, too. Then he goes faster, pulling the skin with him, and listening to the quick breaths emerging from Kaidoh's mouth.

Momoshiro breaks away from the moist lips, giving Kaidoh a moment to catch his breath because he seems to be losing oxygen fast. But also, like this, Momoshiro can watch Kaidoh's face scrunch up in pleasure. It makes his heart beat faster, and it's got nothing to do with wanting to get off. He already did. Right now, everything he does is for Kaidoh, to make him feel good, to get him to keep making those faces that are now burned in his retina forever. And those sounds … those erotic sounds which haunt him at night in bed, when he feels alone and misses Kaidoh. Sometimes, it's just too much for him.

Momoshiro moves his hand away from Kaidoh's warm and soft cheek, scraping it right behind his ear, and resting behind his head, where he presses his fingertips into his scalp. He scratches the skin, in tune with each stroke of his hand, and he can see Kaidoh squeeze his eyes shut and bite his lip. Again, his heart starts to thrum in his chest. It feels good to see Kaidoh like this, to be the cause of it. It might even feel better than his orgasm, or perhaps it's just a different kind of good. A really warm and fuzzy kind of good. He can't resist Kaidoh when he's whimpering like this in front of him, so he drops his head against Kaidoh's neck, and presses his lips against the hot skin there, feeling like he needs to leave Kaidoh's mouth alone so he won't die from lack of air.

There's one thing Momoshiro has been wanting to try out. It's always been on the back of his mind, and always on the tip of his tongue. He leaves small and light kisses on Kaidoh's neck, moving up until he reaches his jawline. He squeezes Kaidoh's penis harder as he quickens his pace, feeling Kaidoh's impatient hips thrusting against him as well. He leaves a small kiss on his earlobe, and closes his own eyes, taking in a small breath.

He waits a few seconds before parting his lips again, resting against the side of Kaidoh's head. "Kaoru," he croaks out in his unused voice.

For once, Momoshiro isn't calling Kaidoh any stupid insult, or a cheeky nickname; he's just calling him by his name. His real one. Because he can. Because he wanted to. Because his head is clouded by nothing but Kaidoh. Because he's the only thing he thinks about. And he's alright with that. It's just him, and Kaidoh. Momoshiro sighs against Kaidoh's ear, feeling overwhelmed by this blissful sensation.

It makes Kaidoh's whole body jolt, like Momoshiro's voice is lightning shocking through him and splitting him in two. Just his breath alone sends chills through Kaidoh's skin, and even though it makes him shiver it doesn't make him feel cold at all. Everything in this moment is so warm that even the chills themselves are catching fire.

Somewhere within him, there's a familiar itching feeling to protest that name, like he might once have, because Momoshiro's not supposed to call him that, because it's weird, because it's not what they do … but it's quickly overwhelmed by all the other, much better feelings coursing through him like wildfire. And Kaidoh realizes that, actually, all the supposed to's might not really be so important anymore. Momoshiro can call him his first name. He can call him whatever he wants. Even if things have changed and now they're doing this together. Especially if they're doing this together.

Besides, Kaidoh kind of likes the way it sounds coming out of Momoshiro's mouth. It's not like how anyone else would say it.

Spurred on by Momoshiro's breaths against his ear, Kaidoh jerks up against Momoshiro's hand, urging him to speed up. His fingernails dig into Momoshiro's shoulder, so sudden and deep that he hears Momoshiro let out a pained gasp, but he doesn't loosen his hold. At the moment doing so feels impossible because every muscle in his body feels like it's tensing in anticipation, like a racket string being stretched tighter and tighter. And there's no stopping it, there isn't even any way to slow it down. Momoshiro's hand keeps moving over his penis, the movement slippery and fast. Kaidoh can't help himself, and now his hips seem to be moving on their own accord, bucking and thrusting almost angrily. It's like his own name, said in Momoshiro's ragged voice was some sort of codeword and it unlocked him, undid him.

It's a little embarrassing if that's true, but maybe it is, because it isn't long before Kaidoh thrusts forward violently against Momoshiro's fingers and just holds there, like everything is paused in mid-air. Even his breath stops for a second. And then his whole body seems to shudder and his penis empties in several short spurts, and finally the tightly wound anticipation curling through his body unknots itself and he exhales a long, shaky breath.

He rolls his neck, his head feeling heavy, and all his muscles exhausted. Momoshiro's sweaty hair brushes against the side of his face as he moves, and then Kaidoh drops his head so it presses against the curve of Momoshiro's neck and he stays there, panting and catching his breath, feeling contentment and release wash over him.

To be honest, Momoshiro is actually pretty turned on still at the moment, and if it weren't for the fact that he can't get hard right now, he might have gotten off at seeing Kaidoh like this.

Well, had Kaidoh lasted any longer, then it wouldn't be a problem for Momoshiro; he'd have gone for another round.

Instead, Momoshiro feels his own tensions slowly slip away as Kaidoh's hasty breaths turn into steadier ones. His hand feels slick with Kaidoh's sperm, and his stomach too. Why didn't he think of bringing an extra pair of underwear? Well, that would be like he was expecting it to end up like this. Momoshiro's cheeks turn a little pink when he silently admits that yes, perhaps he had been expecting this. Or maybe a better choice of words was that he was hoping for it. Desperately hoping that they could return like this, that this was okay to do again. And it is. The way Kaidoh is slumped against him, both arms around his back to hold him close, it feels like everything is okay again. Everything feels perfect.

Momoshiro doesn't even feel the need to reach for tissues this time to clean themselves. This moment feels too good to move and break it off. Like he'll break some sort of magic.

A love song continues to play in the background, but Momoshiro's own heartbeat is drowning out that kind of noise; it's loud and it's steady. He can feel Kaidoh's own heartbeat as well, their chests resting against each other, feeling warm and sweaty. Kaidoh's body feels heavy, but comforting against him. Momoshiro presses his face into the nook of Kaidoh's neck just like Kaidoh; the side of their heads touching now. He can't help but continue making these soft and satisfied sounding sighs. It's because he feels incredibly content right now, with Kaidoh in his arms, matching the same rhythm of his heartbeat. The hand around Kaidoh's penis loosens as he feels it going soft, but doesn't make a move to pull away. It's strangely comforting to continue holding him like this.

At the moment, Momoshiro can't fathom why he had ever doubted this, why he'd freaked out. Because this is probably the only place he feels like he belongs; with Kaidoh. Never had it once felt wrong to do it. It only ever felt like the best time of his life—so why did he have to act like it was something they shouldn't be doing? He feels stupid for ever having thought like that, for pushing Kaidoh away, and for being an idiot in general.

Momoshiro embraces Kaidoh with one arm around his neck, and breathes in his scent. He was really so stupid. To have ever thought of not doing this, of letting it go. How can he? He's always been unable to leave Kaidoh alone. And the only time he didn't try to bother Kaidoh, was because he was under the impression Kaidoh hated him for real, and wanted to stop being bothered. But now that they're here, years later, together again in a totally different way, Momoshiro can't imagine not being around Kaidoh. There's just no way. Whatever Momoshiro is doing, he will always find the time to contact Kaidoh. Whether it would be through an annoying text message, an urgent phonecall, or simply dropping by—Momoshiro feels this strong urge to always seek Kaidoh out. To always be with him and spend time with him, to share things and see his reactions.

"Sorry …" he suddenly breathes out against Kaidoh's neck. His eyelashes brush up against Kaidoh's skin as he opens his eyes to stare at the couch. "For being stupid, and stuff," he explains in a rather inarticulate way. He can't really find a way to put this into words, how ashamed he actually feels for having acted this way. How important this is to him.

Momoshiro tightens his embrace and kisses Kaidoh's neck twice. "I don't want to stop this," he admits in a rather confident voice. Because if there's one thing he knows, it's that Kaidoh makes him feel amazing each time they do this.

"Good," Kaidoh says, before he can stop himself, and for once he doesn't immediately stumble to correct it with a less enthusiastic-sounding reply. It _is_ good. It's better than good. It's all Kaidoh wanted to hear. He pushes his face closer against Momoshiro so that his nose is buried against his collarbone. It feels so effortless, and Kaidoh wonders how Momoshiro manages to make him feel like this, like there's this protective forcefield surrounding them and Kaidoh can do anything, no fears or worries or consequences. He can't even imagine this with anyone else. The idea of anyone but Momoshiro feels jarring and wrong. It's always been Momoshiro; it can only be him.

He shifts against Momoshiro, their skin sliding, still sweaty and there's some stickiness too. It should be kind of unpleasant, but right now Kaidoh can't really find anything wrong with this moment. He's simply content and happy and even almost looks it, his expression relaxed and open. He presses his mouth against the crook of Momoshiro's neck and just leaves it there for a while, not feeling any rush to pull away just yet.

It's different from the first few times they did this, when Kaidoh felt awkward and embarrassed immediately after. There are still traces of that now, but mostly Kaidoh just feels really good, warmth spread out inside of him, filling him up. His breaths and heartbeats feel more even now but that still doesn't stop his body from continuing to hum with excitement.

Momoshiro doesn't feel like moving, sitting here with Kaidoh, arms intimately wrapped around each other, after they've done that together, feels like the nicest place on earth. He thinks briefly how perhaps it wasn't the island he could call home, but it's being with Kaidoh that makes him feel so at ease. Even in this stuffy karaoke room, every bone in his body is telling him this is the place he's meant to be. Wherever Kaidoh goes, he'd follow. Being apart isn't possible anymore, much less be an actual option. The way his heart is beating, his skin tingling with a slight undercurrent of electricity, and the butterflies fluttering around in his stomach—it's all because of Kaidoh. This nice and buoyant feeling, that's swelling him up from head to toe, is all because he's here, his head resting on his neck and his lips pressed up against the skin there.

He wants to touch Kaidoh more, using his hands, but they're covered with both of their sperm, and that's actually pretty nasty. No matter how good they're feeling, Momoshiro is pretty sure Kaidoh won't appreciate it getting stuck in his hair. Ew. Or his bandana. Well, he did see some tissues on the table (do people do this sort of stuff often in karaoke rooms!?). He takes a long time to decide to pull back, as it's so warm and comfortable to be holding Kaidoh like this; he really doesn't want to leave it. What if they can't return in the same position?

But eventually, the urge to touch Kaidoh wins Momoshiro over, and he finally shifts back a bit, lifting his head from Kaidoh's neck He feels Kaidoh do the same, and now they're facing each other again.

Momoshiro feels his heartbeat speed up, like it's jumping up and down in his ribcage, when he sees Kaidoh look back at him. There's this very relaxed and wanton expression on his face. Momoshiro thinks he probably looks the same. He swallows, before throwing out his desire to clean them up, and he leans forwards, capturing Kaidoh's waiting lips with his own. He closes his eyes and lets out this needy breath of air as he can feel Kaidoh push back with the same eagerness, each sucking on each other as if it has meaning. And maybe it does. Maybe it carries a lot of meaning that is hard to put into words. Like how he's missed talking to Kaidoh. Missed being with him. Missed doing this with him. Missed everything about him.

As their kiss goes on longer than intended for, and getting more passionate by the second, Momoshiro subconsciously brings up his hand to touch Kaidoh's face—but stops just in time before he does. Right, he needs to clean that up. He plucks his lips away from Kaidoh, already regretting it when he feels cold and lonely without it.

"Let me, uhh, get some tissues," says Momoshiro. Kaidoh seems to understand and his arms slips away from his back. _Now_ he feels really cold. But he has to get it over with.

Luckily the tissues are close enough to reach by stretching his arm out that he doesn't have to move much. He tugs out a bunch, then gets to work, like he's an autopilot. He wipes everything clean, and tucks both their exposed privates back into their pants. Kaidoh helps after he steals a tissue from him, which Momoshiro won't complain about. It's all a bit stiff and stilted, and limbs are awkwardly getting in the way, but it's not any worse the previous times they've done this. In fact, it feels more like a relief to be able to act like this, to clean up after themselves like it's part of their routine. He throws the dirty tissues into a trash can that's somewhere behind him. He hopes he didn't miss. When he's finally done, he stares a little bit at Kaidoh, who is still resting against the couch behind him. They're both quiet, the only sounds are their breaths and the stupid song playing on the TV.

Well, Momoshiro has waited long enough. He crawls over Kaidoh's body, but instead of lying on top of him, he rolls over next to him onto his side, one arm hooked around Kaidoh's bare chest to prevent himself from falling off the edge of the couch. It's not _that_ wide. He nuzzles his face against Kaidoh's shoulder, and leaves a light kiss on it. His hands travels from Kaidoh's chest towards his hipbone, and reaches for Kaidoh's own hand and gently tugs it back up closer to their faces. His fingers wrap around it, feeling comfortable and at ease like this.

"We can stay here for a bit longer," Momoshiro says. He did pay for two hours after all, and it didn't exactly take long to finish up. He blushes again at his lack of self control. He cast his eyes down and sighs. "Next time … next time I'll uhh …" he squirms against Kaidoh, "won't be as quick, or something," he finishes in a pipsqueak voice. It's embarrassing he didn't last long at all.

Kaidoh makes a disbelieving sound and automatically challenges him on it. "You can _try_," he taunts in a low mutter. It's like a reflex, like this is some old, often retread argument he can win. It only takes him a second to realize how awkward it is to be trying to argue over something like this, to be talking about it at all, so he quickly huffs and adds, "I mean … y-yeah," sounding as dismissive as he can manage, although it's hard to focus on words when Momoshiro's so close and there aren't very many layers of clothing separating them.

It still feels weird to speak like this, like they're both okay with it, like this could be normal. Maybe it's supposed to be that way, maybe it could be, but at the moment that doesn't stop the conversation from feeling kind of embarrassing to Kaidoh. It doesn't help that Momoshiro is blushing and Kaidoh's fairly certain he is too.

So instead, as if to draw attention away from the weirdness he's feeling, Kaidoh shrugs against Momoshiro, shifting a little until his free hand can slide up to brush into Momoshiro's hair, since somehow the touching doesn't feel awkward at all, and he's really missed it, more than he'd care to admit. He isn't sure why this is easy when talking is not, because this is, objectively, a lot more intimate and he should feel a lot more exposed. But it's like he's a different person with Momoshiro, one who likes touching and being touched. He can't get over of the feeling of Momoshiro's skin under his fingers, of being able to reach out and touch him and no longer even really need to think about it first.

He gives Momoshiro's hand a little squeeze and echoes quietly, "Yeah, next time," a solid and confident warmth filling him at the reassurance that there will be a next time, many next times, that they can keep doing this, keep being together as much as they want, that neither one of them wants it to stop.


	44. Not A Date

**Washed Up**

**A/N:** unfortunately, this will be the last log we'll write together, as I've decided to stop. This log is also unfinished, so excuse all this build-up with no climax. It was fun while it lasted! I hope everyone enjoyed it as well.

**Authors:** Celianna (Momo) & Happiestwhen (Kaidoh)

**Rating:** T

**Events leading up to this log:**  
- After the day at the karaoke place, Momo and Kaidoh have been meeting up regularly to catch up for lost time  
- When Momo sees an ad for a new burger at Mos Burger, he decides this is a good excuse to invite Kaidoh to hang out with him on Valentine's Day  
- Momo texts Kaidoh about it, and also says he's picking him up with his bike

**Date:** February 11, 2013

* * *

Despite having skipped breakfast so he can be pretty hungry for when lunch rolls by, Momoshiro is in a good mood.

About a week or two ago, Momoshiro saw this ad on TV. It was about Mos Burger's special Valentine's Day deal. It had the most delicious looking hamburger Momoshiro's ever seen. Three layers of buns, two stacks of meat, dressed in vivid green lettuce and tomatoes, topped off by the cheese melted all around the sides. It was mouth watering, to say the least.

It didn't however, had any requirements for buying it, such as purchasing it as a couple.

He might have told Kaidoh there was such a requirement.

Momoshiro came up with a little white lie, and told Kaidoh he could only get the burger if there were two people, and invited him to come to Mos Burger on the 14th.

See, it was a bit awkward for Momoshiro to call Kaidoh up, and say he wanted to eat out with him on Valentine's Day. He thought about it a little, like perhaps he _should_ be doing something with Kaidoh, a thought that kept him up at night feeling fuzzy and embarrassed. But it's kind of weird. And Valentine's Day is for couples, and he and Kaidoh aren't. He still doesn't know what exactly they are, but he's settled on for 'friends who fool around', and that's the closest description he can use without feeling creeped out by it. Anything more than that makes him feel strange.

So they jerk each other off and kiss sometimes. No big deal. As long as no one knows, Momoshiro can get on with his life, and fool around with Kaidoh every now and then.

Though every now and then ended up being quite more frequent than expected. While they hadn't hung out every day since that fateful day at the karaoke place, Momoshiro did feel free to bother Kaidoh a lot more than before. It'd been weird when they came back from the island, but after getting over that part, everything just fell into place, like nothing had changed, and Momoshiro was back to his old self of bugging Kaidoh with incessant texts and phonecalls. That, and getting him to visit Momoshiro, or Momoshiro to come visit him so they could do more … physical stuff. In private of course, very discreetly.

Though it's kind of hard to be discreet when they're surrounded by family, and they're never alone together in the house. It actually really sucks. To go from having the utmost privacy on the island, even sleeping together in the same cramped hut, to a situation where neither of them are ever truly alone together. It puts a damper on Momoshiro's spirit, and he can tell Kaidoh's bothered by it too. They don't want to be found out of course, but where else would they go? It's not like they can keep going to the karaoke place, it's a miracle they hadn't been found out the first time.

Though there is one other option that Momoshiro had briefly entertained, before turning really red and slamming his face into his pillow a bunch of times.

Privacy … discretion … alone together doing physical stuff … it's what love hotels are made for. Everyone knows this. Momoshiro knows this. But the implication of going to a love hotel, just so they can do their thing … makes it seem kind of planned. And that makes everything ten times more scary. And it's kind of nasty.

He and Kaidoh always seem to roll along with the punches, nothing is ever planned between them. It just sort of happens. It's not that they meet up _just_ so they can jerk each other off. Though Momoshiro won't deny that it is on his mind when he's with Kaidoh … but still. One thing leads to another, and he's on top of Kaidoh, mouth angrily sucking on his. Things have always escalated between them, for years on end—but they're not fights this time. Not by a long shot.

Besides, planning to go to a love hotel is just plain ridiculous for two guys. What would Kaidoh even say? He'd probably call him a moron, and might not want to do anything at all for a while, turned off at the idea of Momoshiro even asking. Or he'd be too horrified to even look at Momoshiro again. So Momoshiro had pushed it to the back of his mind, and focused on other things. Like keeping his voice down when Kaidoh sucked on his neck, or when his fingernails scraped down his back, or when he grinded his hips into Momoshiro's … yup, pretty much most of the time, they're trying to hold back as much as possible.

It sucks the fun out of things. Quite honestly, Momoshiro likes to be rough and loud with Kaidoh, and he loves hearing Kaidoh's voice rip out of his throat into a long groan because of something Momoshiro did. He gets a kick out of it, and it makes him more enthusiastic. And it's not like Kaidoh holds back on getting Momoshiro to enjoy himself either, he's always biting his lips to prevent himself from making too much noise. Trying to be quiet all the time is pretty annoying in that respect.

And then Momoshiro's sister almost walked in on them that one time. Luckily his sister had knocked, and Momoshiro had told her, in an attempt to hide their secret, and in a shaky and out of breath voice, that no girls were allowed. His sister, obviously insulted, stomped off at his childish behaviour. It had been so nerve wracking, and it also destroyed their mood. They kissed a bit more, before Kaidoh left without finishing. Momoshiro had to jerk himself off afterwards, feeling frustrated. He made sure to be extra rough with Kaidoh the next time they met up again, and it seemed Kaidoh was thinking the same thing, because god that was the most amazing orgasm he got in his life. And he's got the marks (that he hides) to prove it.

Either way, it sucks to have no privacy, and Momoshiro is trying pretty hard to find more part time jobs so that he can save up enough money to move out of his parent's home again. At least then he and Kaidoh can have some privacy, and fuck without giving a fuck.

The idea of a love hotel was looking quite attractive though. There's only so many times they can be interrupted before Momoshiro might just be driven to insanity from not finishing up.

All he wants is some alone time with Kaidoh—is that too much to ask for?

And then the idea of Valentine's Day popped up in his head. Spending the entire day with Kaidoh, doing things with him like always, and then perhaps have some privacy for once, and get down and dirty with each other. He'd even like it if he could sleep with Kaidoh again—something he's missed quite a bit.

Momoshiro had gotten used to it on the island, after forcing Kaidoh to come home before dinner. They'd go to sleep at the same time, and it was nice, and comfortable, and Kaidoh would be there when he woke up. Sometimes he would be creepily staring at Momoshiro, and sometimes Momoshiro would get creepy boners, but other than that, it was _nice_. A few days before they were rescued, they even went to sleep in the same bed. It was soothing to have Kaidoh that close, that he could continually touch him, and have him pressed up against him. Even kissing him seemed effortless like that. It's something Momoshiro would only do with Kaidoh, he'd never be this close and caring with someone else.

It's quite strange how Momoshiro is able to think of all that as caring, and being intimate. It took him a while, but he knows that's what it is. He tries to make himself believe it's because there's nothing wrong with wanting intimacy with another person. It simply falls under the 'friends who fool around' umbrella, and he shouldn't put too much meaning into it. Even if in their most tender moments, he sees Kaidoh's face all relaxed, and half smiling up at him as his arms are wrapped around Momoshiro's body. Something odd pulls on his heart whenever he sees Kaidoh like that. He wants to see more of it.

He wants to see more of Kaidoh period.

Hence why Momoshiro sort of asked him out on a totally not-date, because they're totally not a couple, on Valentine's Day. Just two guys hanging out. He didn't mention it was Valentine's Day, simply referring to it as the 14th of february. It seemed kind of … right? Or at least, Momoshiro felt like they had to do something. It might not be couple-y, but there's nothing wrong with spending time together. After all, Kaidoh had agreed and didn't say no.

So Momoshiro's been hyping himself up for those past couple of weeks, wondering what he should do with Kaidoh, what he should talk about, and what they should do after Mos Burger. He can't exactly ask Kaidoh to go to karaoke with him because a; he hates fun, and b; he would misunderstand and think Momoshiro meant 'let's go jerk off' instead (though he won't object if that were to happen). Perhaps they can do something else afterwards as well. Maybe they can go to a cat cafe or something—they did have a talk about cat cafes several months ago. Surely, it would be a safe option to pick if Momoshiro simply wanted to spend time with Kaidoh. As long as Kaidoh doesn't object to sit on the back of his bike to get there in the first place.

The prospect of Kaidoh riding along with him makes Momoshiro feel giddy; Kaidoh's only done this once before, shortly before they lost contact. It just feels nice, to have Kaidoh on the back, and they're riding together. Like they can face the world together, and go anywhere they'd like. He's seen lots of people do that, and he's done it with other people as well, but Kaidoh's special. Kaidoh can use the seat as his throne, if he'd like. And perhaps hold onto Momoshiro as well. Yes, that'd be nice. Strong warm arms wrapped around his stomach as they ride through the cold air of February. It almost sounds as good as eating burgers at Mos Burger. Almost.

And then, when it's time to take Kaidoh home, he can sort of 'stumble' upon a street filled with love hotels. And perhaps make a casual remark how everyone's doing it nowadays, and vaguely suggest that he's got enough money to pay for a room overnight. Because Momoshiro really does want to be alone with Kaidoh. And if not on Valentine's Day—a day that's supposed to be about two people having privacy—then _when?_

Momoshiro is growing increasingly frustrated that they just can't seem to be left alone, that yes, he's really considering the love hotel option.

And doesn't it annoy Kaidoh as well? Surely he must be feeling frustrated as well, at the lack of privacy, at their change of routine after getting used to sleeping with each other. Doesn't he miss this as well? Momoshiro sure does.

He even bought some stupid chocolate to persuade Kaidoh to go. Or maybe lure him inside. Or perhaps that method only works on Momoshiro himself.

Either way, Momoshiro is here right now, standing in front of Kaidoh's house with his bike in tow, and chocolates stuffed in the pocket of his jacket. His fingers are freezing and his cheeks are red from the cold, but he feels warm despite all of this. Warm at the prospect of spending a day with Kaidoh, and perhaps, if the chocolate he bought looks expensive enough, he can convince Kaidoh to stay the night with him as well. He takes out the cellphone from his other pocket, and quickly tries to send Kaidoh a text that he better not leave him waiting outside for too long, lest he lose his fingers to frostbite.

Perhaps, instead of spending his first paycheck on expensive chocolates, a really nice burger, and potentially a love hotel, Momoshiro should have spent it on getting gloves and a scarf to survive the winter. Ah well, if Kaidoh goes along with it all, he won't have anything to complain about.

Kaidoh goes through the whole charade of pretending to be busy and taking his time, so as not to seem totally eager by rushing out to meet Momoshiro as soon as his phone buzzes with the text message. He doesn't manage to keep it up for long—five minutes, tops—because the truth is he _is_ eager. Lately it's like all he wants to do is hang out with Momoshiro, which feels weird and definitely disrupts his strenuous running schedule. Somehow, that hasn't bothered him nearly as much as it should.

No, he's always able to find time for Momoshiro, even though when he talks to Momoshiro about it, he makes it sound like it's a total pain in the ass to do so. That's not his fault though, arguing just seems to come naturally when they're together. And saying to Momoshiro directly that spending time with him is somehow important, or that it's even remotely a priority in Kaidoh's life just, well, sounds really … weird. And needy. And kind of gross. And like Kaidoh wants this to be something it isn't. It isn't, right? Sure, it might be Valentine's Day—as his mother cheerfully reminded him this morning, stupid holiday—but it's not like he and Momoshiro are dating or anything. So it hardly matters what day it is.

Although deep down, it kind of feels like it matters. Momoshiro wants to spend _this_ day with Kaidoh. That feels like it means something although Kaidoh's trying his best not to read into it.

After all, the only reason it has to be today of all days is because Momoshiro got fixated on some dumb hamburger. Kaidoh's used to it by now; Momoshiro's obsessive food cravings. He even kind of indulges them most of the time, and tells himself that's because it's easier to agree and get it over with than put up with Momoshiro whining on about it, although maybe he also kind of likes how happy Momoshiro gets when he's eating something he really enjoys. But that's a weird thing to like. Well, Momoshiro in general is a weird person to like, too, but Kaidoh's given up trying to fight himself on that.

He still hasn't admitted it though, either. Especially not to Momoshiro.

His brother has suggested, more than once, that he should, but it feels like some insurmountable task. It also gives Kaidoh a fluttery feeling like he's got insects trapped in his stomach, and that's not the most pleasant sensation. It's not altogether _unpleasant_ either, just weird. And jittery. It reminds him of how he felt through much of middle school; nervous and young and confused. But a lot of things have changed since then, so surely he shouldn't still feel quite so nervous. He isn't sure why he is, especially when, when it comes to nearly everything else he does with Momoshiro, he's only grown more and more at ease. But then, most of those things don't require a lot of talking. Putting things into words has always been a challenge for him.

Well, he doesn't have to worry about that right now. Because even if it _is_ Valentine's Day, he's not some girl, so Momoshiro won't be expecting some big dumb confession from him—ew, the idea alone ties Kaidoh's throat up in a horrified knot. This day is simply about satisfying Momoshiro's stomach. Although Kaidoh probably wouldn't complain if they did some other things too. Or maybe he would complain, since that's kind of what he does, but he wouldn't mind it.

He told his parents this morning that he was going to go hang out with a friend and luckily they didn't pry, although Hazue did raise an eyebrow at him. Well, what is Kaidoh supposed to say? He doesn't really know what to call this thing they do. It's kind of hanging out, although not like any hanging out he's ever heard of. And referring to Momoshiro as some nameless "friend" feels weird too. To be honest, referring to him as a friend at all seems strange. He isn't sure if that's what they are now. The label doesn't quite fit, but they're certainly far from rivals these days.

Well, whatever it is, whatever they are, Kaidoh's spent enough time stalling in his room and should just go outside and meet Momoshiro already. Who cares if it seems like he was sitting on the edge of his bed anxiously awaiting Momoshiro's arrival. Momoshiro won't care, Kaidoh's sure. In fact, if Kaidoh waits any longer, he'll probably just complain about him taking too long. For a moment, Kaidoh considers the merits of that. Then they could get into an argument before they even leave, which isn't something Kaidoh necessarily views as a negative, because even with everything that's changed and evolved between them, he still likes arguing with Momoshiro about stupid stuff. It feels comfortable and familiar, even if neither of them really mean most of the insults anymore.

But finally Kaidoh's impatience to see Momoshiro outweighs his hesitation and immature desire to piss him off, and he goes downstairs, stopping in the entryway to pull on his jacket and shoes, and then heads outside. He closes the door and jogs down the front walk and out the gate to where Momoshiro is waiting.

When he sees him, his heart starts beating just a little faster. "Hey dumbass," he says, and the insult almost sounds friendly. It might not be written all over his face, but he's in a good mood.

Momoshiro's been watching him from the moment he stepped outside of the door. He cracks a friendly grin at the greeting. "Hey stupid," he greets back, feeling a lot happier all of the sudden. A lot warmer too. Kaidoh stops in front of him, and he's got this strong urge to pull him close, and kiss him on the lips. He even wants to hold Kaidoh's hands (because his are cold, not because he's feeling mushy).

And for a split second, he does remove his hands from his pockets, raising them towards Kaidoh, until he remembers. They're in front of Kaidoh's house, out in public. They can't do stuff like that here. Treacherous hands. Even any kind of friendly touching, which he's done a million times before, suddenly feels like he shouldn't be doing in public, because it means more now that they're like this. An arm wrapped around Kaidoh's neck to pull him close isn't the same as it was when they were still rivals. So he awkwardly lowers his hands again and shuffles on the spot, trying to think of an excuse why he tried to reach for Kaidoh.

"You took too long, my hands are frozen, see," Momoshiro decides to say instead, and shows the top of hands, which are red and the skin is broken and dry. "If it were me, I'd be out in less than thirty seconds!" he boasts. Because it's true, he'd be eagerly rushing out to meet Kaidoh.

For a moment, Kaidoh feels a little guilty for keeping him waiting, but he brushes it off. "Whatever," he says with a dismissive eye-roll. "That's only because you can't wait to go pig out."

"But you really should just get some gloves," he adds, but then looks down at his own bare hands and realizes it's a bit hypocritical of him to tell Momoshiro how to dress for cold weather. But it's not like Kaidoh is the one complaining about the cold. In fact, if he were going running, he'd probably be out here in a tank top. And be just _fine_.

Momoshiro wrinkles his slightly red nose at Kaidoh. "Well I _would_ buy some gloves, but I'm taking _someone_ out to go eat," he says in an exaggerated voice. He pouts and averts his eyes so it rests on his fancy shoulderbag instead. The one containing an extra set of clothes, as well as a box of chocolates. He came prepared. Except no gloves.

Then Momoshiro cracks a smile and he pushes his knuckles into Kaidoh's chest, the contact feeling familiar, yet still tingly. He wants to do more. "Though you're welcome to give me some, of course."

Kaidoh punches Momoshiro's arm lightly in return. "Hah, yeah right," he replies. He means to sound lighthearted, but his voice is still blunt like the crack of a tree branch and just as humorless. At least he doesn't really look grumpy as he says it, so maybe in a weird way that's some kind of progress.

Not that tone of voice has ever held Momoshiro back from demanding things or teasing Kaidoh, though he does notice Kaidoh seems to be in a good mood. Well, he better be, today is going to be awesome. Just the two of them, and hamburgers. What could be better than that? Well, it could be better if they were alone and out of public eye right now, then Momoshiro could do whatever he wanted to Kaidoh. He feels anxious to touch him. It's not in his nature to hold back, but he tries.

Momoshiro turns his body around to face his parked bike. He sets his hands on the cold handlebars (he'll be ok without gloves … he thinks), and takes off his kickstand. It's already making him feel giddy knowing Kaidoh has to sit on the back. He sets his foot on the pedal and turns his head to look at Kaidoh with a smirk.

"Get on then, I don't want to hang out in the cold any longer." His smirk transforms into a gentle smile. "... And hold tight," he adds in a softer and hopeful voice.

Kaidoh remembers the last time he rode on the back of Momoshiro's bike, back when they were in high school. He'd spent the entire ride with his hands behind him gripping the metal rack, terrified that Momoshiro's reckless steering was going to send him hurtling into the street the moment they went around a curve. As if he hadn't had reason to be nervous enough already.

This time, however, it isn't the bike rack he holds onto, instead slipping his arms around so his hands rest at Momoshiro's waist. It feels a little strange, and a little embarrassing, like he's relying on Momoshiro, putting his safety in his hands, and Kaidoh doesn't really like relying on others. But it also feels kind of nice and comfortable, and he gets a kick out of the way Momoshiro tenses slightly at his fingers and then relaxes again.

"Okay, here we go!" Momoshiro yells out confidently, and starts to pedal away. The cold rush of air stings his fingers, but he ignores it in favour of the warm feeling of Kaidoh's embrace.

The moment the bike starts to move, Momoshiro can feel Kaidoh's hands clench around the fabric of his jacket, and it's a nice kind of feeling that he's actually doing this. At fifteen years old, this might have earned him a punch in the face for even suggesting to hold onto him, but now, so many years later, Kaidoh goes along with pretty much anything he suggests.

They've changed a lot, haven't they? Well, not in the sense that Momoshiro feels like a different person, but the way he's like with Kaidoh definitely changed. And that's not even counting the thing they have going on between them—that's _definitely_ something that's never happened before—but it's the little things. Gestures, tone of voice, less fighting (who would have thought?), and generally more agreeable. It's like they've become pretty comfortable with each other, not finding it as scary anymore to rely on the other as much. Such a thing would have been impossible six years ago; Momoshiro would never rely on Kaidoh. Except maybe during tennis matches. Then Kaidoh was always reliable. Okay, outside of tennis then. He and Kaidoh had always butt heads with each other, so it's pretty remarkable that they've come this far.

Momoshiro can't even remember the last time they had gotten into a stupid fight with each other.

Well, actually—the last time would have been on that fateful and embarrassing day when Momoshiro found out Kaidoh was K-chan. But that felt different. That wasn't a stupid fight. That was a very serious fight, a first actually. Momoshiro can't remember if he's ever fought Kaidoh on something serious. It was always stupid stuff, like Kaidoh stepping on his toes, or knocking him in the head with a tennis racket. It had never been complicated.

_They_ had never been complicated.

Momoshiro turns a corner around the street, and he feels Kaidoh move closer to his back to hold on. Kaidoh can't see, but he's smiling delightfully. And his cheeks aren't only pink because of the cold either.

Yes, things have gotten quite complicated between them. Things used to be very simple between them, and they mainly communicated through fights. Now, they still get into simple fights, but it's not like before when they were young. These fights are actually quite lighthearted. Rarely does it turn out into a physical confrontation. And if it does, it doesn't last long before one of them starts to kiss the other. Actually, Momoshiro might be trying to turn some fights into a physical one on purpose, just so he can have an excuse to shut Kaidoh's mouth with his own.

Sometimes, he doesn't even need an excuse. Lately, it's been like that more often.

But even as some things get easier to do—such as not feeling weird or awkward reaching for Kaidoh's hand when they're alone—everything else feels like it's been building up into something … bigger. What used to be flying fists with no thoughts, are now carefully placed strokes of the hand. Everything seems to have meaning now. After that day in the karaoke place, it hasn't been the same since. Because now it's sort of like an official agreement between the both of them. Their little secret. And the more secretive stuff they do, the more important their actions seem to become. They're no longer adolescent children getting into immature fights; they are adults who are doing adult-like things with each other.

It might have started out as a hormonally charged impulse on the beach, but Momoshiro knows that's not the case anymore. Well, he won't deny the fact that he gets pretty damn horny around Kaidoh, but aside from that, they're doing this because they want to. Because they chose to. Because somehow, it's important to Momoshiro. And each passing day they continue to do these things with each other, Momoshiro grows more attached to Kaidoh.

As if he wasn't already.

He sees the changes in Kaidoh as well. The usual grumpy reply he'd get for even suggesting to do something, has now been just a casual snort, followed by a quick agreement. As much as Momoshiro wants to see Kaidoh, Kaidoh wants to see Momoshiro as well. He probably won't ever outright say that, not without some prodding coming from Momoshiro's side, but he shows it in subtle ways. Like the way Kaidoh answers the phone lately, greeting him with a stupid nickname in a fond way. Even most of Momoshiro's texts to Kaidoh get answered, whereas in the past, only one or two would get replied to every month. Then there's the casual way Kaidoh pushes his fist into Momoshiro's arm or chest, like this has become some sort of secret handshake between them. It feels nice and comforting, like an evolved kind of fist bump. Momoshiro secretly really likes it when Kaidoh does this.

Of course, then there's the obvious hints that Kaidoh's been changing too, such as when they're alone together, in Momoshiro's bedroom. It sometimes surprises Momoshiro just how _non_-aggressive Kaidoh can be when it comes to this. He's actually quite … gentle? Which is not a word Momoshiro would have ever used to describe Kaidoh with. Stupid? Annoying? Grumpy? Yes, those fit much better, but he can't deny the fact that Kaidoh's a lot more docile when they're touching. Caring, even.

Especially after they've just jerked each other off, Momoshiro likes to snuggle up to him, and Kaidoh starts brushing his fingers through Momoshiro's hair. He even looks quite content and at ease when he does it. It's moments like these that Momoshiro really, really likes. It's when they least resemble their old selves. There's still some teasing, and some name calling present, but it's so tongue in cheek that Momoshiro's mood is never disrupted, and he simply plays along as he relaxes against Kaidoh, while Kaidoh relaxes against him.

Yeah, he really likes those moments, hence why Momoshiro wishes they could be alone together without being interrupted by someone else. And he thinks—or hopes, really—that Kaidoh wants to be alone, too.

Hopefully this totally non-date will be successful enough to lure Kaidoh into a private hotel room.

And if Kaidoh complains, well, he's never really been able to resist Momoshiro's charming side for very long. Momoshiro will just have to be extra charming today.

After about fifteen minutes riding his bike, Momoshiro sees Mos Burger come into view on the street. He tells Kaidoh they're here, and he rides up onto the sidewalk to get off his bike, but waits until Kaidoh's hands finally slip away from his waist. They both get off the bike and he parks it against a streetpole. He wrings his hands together and blows hot air into them to warm them up, but it doesn't do much. Perhaps he really should have bought gloves instead of saving up for this day.

But then he wouldn't be able to spend the entire day with Kaidoh. He'd rather go cold, than miss that kind of alone-time with Kaidoh. He hopes Kaidoh's hands aren't as cold as his either.

"Alright, let's order this awesome special burger," says Momoshiro excitedly as he pushes the door open to walk inside. The warmth inside feels good against his cold skin. He turns to hold the door open for Kaidoh as well (he's always mindful like that of course). "So, what do you want to eat?" he asks as Kaidoh walks by him.

"Uhh …" Kaidoh stops when he's inside and looks up at the menu in puzzlement. How the hell is he supposed to know? It's been ages since he's been to this place, or any fast food chain for that matter, and each and every time it was never really by choice. But he _is_ hungry and he did agree to come, so he might as well just bite the bullet and try something. What's the worst that could happen?

Once Momoshiro stops next to him in front of the counter, Kaidoh turns and asks, in a still skeptical tone, "Which one is … the least greasy?" which is kind of his way of asking Momoshiro for a recommendation, but he doesn't want it to sound like that, like he's looking to take food advice from him, because that would just be stupid. And pointless, since in all the time Kaidoh's known him, Momoshiro hasn't met a food he didn't like.

"Hmm, let's see," says Momoshiro as he thinks it over. He looks at the menu, and sees a few new burgers on there that weren't there before nine months ago. It's kind of frustrating, since he doesn't know if it'll taste good or not.

But hey, they're burgers—of course they'll taste good!

At least, to Momoshiro of course. Kaidoh is a special case. The least greasiest, hm.

"If you wanna go for least greasiest, you wouldn't want to pick a hamburger with beef. Definitely not. They're filled with the juiciest greases that are like a slice of heaven, but I guess you're not into that. So no regular hamburger for you, weirdo. Okay then uhh, I guess you'd pick something like chicken, or some other kind of seafood. There's the chicken burger, which has a really yummy sauce and plenty of lettuce on it so you can pretend it's healthy. I really recommend it. But if that's still too greasy for you, then there's always the fish burger. Definitely no greasiness there. But it's very small though, it might not really be very filling. Oh!" Momoshiro turns his head and grins at Kaidoh, but is surprised by how close they are. They're so close in fact, Momoshiro has got his arm slumped around Kaidoh's shoulders—when exactly did that happen? "You should eat my favourite burger; the shrimp cutlet burger. It's not greasy at all, and it's filled with shrimp. And then get a side salad instead of fries, sound good to you?"

Momoshiro continues to smile pleasantly to Kaidoh, briefly wondering when exactly he made the move to drape his arm around Kaidoh like this. It seems he can't resist touching him after all, even in public space.

Kaidoh hisses. "Yeah, I guess that doesn't sound too bad," he agrees, and since Momoshiro's right there, he takes the opportunity to elbow him in the side, too. Because he's a moron who can't shut up about food, and maybe a little bit because Kaidoh just wanted to touch him again. But mostly it's because Momoshiro is getting all googly-eyed over hamburgers and that's stupid. Although maybe not as stupid as Kaidoh used to make it out to be. He used to act like it was the most annoying thing on earth, but in truth it never really was.

Not like that will stop him from giving Momoshiro a hard time about it, but that's just what they do.

"And I guess you're planning to eat _that_ giant thing then," he says, sounding disgusted as he nods to the advertisement displaying the special limited time offer burger. It's stacked so high with toppings that Kaidoh isn't sure how anyone could even feasibly fit it in their mouth.

Momoshiro starts to drool at the sight of it, already forgotten to jab Kaidoh back with his elbow for revenge. "Hell yeah," he says excitedly. He finally removes his arm as he walks up to the register.

As Momoshiro starts to order their food, he scans the room with his eyes, looking a bit shady. There's really only two other people in here today, they're sitting at the window, chatting about something. Surprisingly, Mos Burger has not adapted an urge to sprinkle hearts everywhere in their vicinity, despite having a Valentine's special burger. It still looks pretty normal, which is good, it'd be awkward to eat food with Kaidoh when there's hearts floating around them. It makes it seem like some mushy kind of date, and the thought makes something weird crawl inside of Momoshiro's stomach. No, this is not a stupid date, they're just doing things together which happened to be on Valentine's Day. Momoshiro gripes about it a bit more in his mind as he waits for their food to arrive, and luckily they don't have to wait long.

At least Kaidoh doesn't question him when the cashier made no such mention that you need to purchase the burger as a 'couple'. Maybe Kaidoh already noticed that it was just a flimsy excuse to get him to come in the first place. Momoshiro jabs Kaidoh in the side for being so sneaky as he gets the tray of food.

"Let's go sit …" Momoshiro looks around for something that doesn't have huge windows next to their seats. He sees one at the back, near the bathroom, a small booth against a wall, looking pretty cozy and secluded. No one would really be able to hear them talk, or see what they are doing. Perfect. "There," he finishes with a smile. With the tray of food in his hands, Momoshiro hastily makes his way over to the booth, with Kaidoh following.

"This burger is gonna be so delicious," Momoshiro gushes as he sits down on one of the benches and puts down the tray. He's brimming with excitement, the reason being he's going to eat a new burger, and the other reason being that he convinced Kaidoh to eat one too. And that Kaidoh is even here in the first place, of course.

Momoshiro really wonders if he can set operation Love Hotel into motion. He looks over at Kaidoh as he sits down on the opposite side of him, and flashes him a grin. "You better enjoy this burger, I'm not buying another one for you," Momoshiro teases.

Kaidoh leans back a little against the booth and looks suspiciously at the burger in front of him. "Yeah ..." he says cautiously, like it's some strange science specimen in front of him instead of food. But weirdly, despite his complaining and sour expression, Kaidoh can't deny that the food actually smells kind of ... good? Or edible, at any rate. Which is to say, it probably won't kill him to try. Momoshiro eats them all the time and he still—against all odds—seems perfectly healthy.

He lifts the burger up, holding it by the paper wrapping. It's stuffed full, looking almost as big as the one Momoshiro ordered, and there's sauce squeezing out at the top over the lettuce and shrimp. It seems kind of unnecessarily messy to Kaidoh, but he steels himself to take a first bite, determined to not get it all over his hands. He's not some kind of animal, after all. He's just hanging out with one—as evidenced by the fact that Momoshiro's already stuffing his face.

Kaidoh on the other hand, tentatively bites in and chews slowly. As burgers go, in Kaidoh's very limited experience of them, this one's actually pretty good. So maybe not everything Momoshiro eats is complete junk.

After he's swallowed, he looks up at Momoshiro and says, "Well it's not as terrible as I thought it would be."

Momoshiro is having an explosion of food ecstasy in his mouth. So at the moment, he is unable to talk at all, as his mouth continues to savour the taste of the juices from the burger, the special sauce, the golden cheese, the fresh lettuce, the squishy tomatoes … _everything_ tastes like a slice of heaven. He finally swallows, and he swears there are stars in his eyes as he looks at the burger in his hands.

"This … is the best burger I've ever tasted," Momoshiro says in awe.

When he hears Kaidoh cluck his tongue at him, he remembers he's not alone, and Kaidoh had actually spoken to him before.

"Oh, how's yours? Good, right? I know it's good. I can pick out the best burgers. Want a bite of mine? It's _super_ delicious, I almost don't want to share—haha!" Momoshiro leans over the table, stretching out his arm with his yummy burger so Kaidoh can get a bite. He smiles pleasantly, happy to know Kaidoh's here and not hating on the food.

Kaidoh rolls his eyes, but still takes a bite of Momoshiro's burger anyway, mostly because it's being shoved right in his face so it's kind of hard to avoid. He does however swat at Momoshiro's hand immediately after, because it doesn't feel right to simply go along with everything so agreeably.

"It's okay," he says once he's finished it, which is about the best compliment he can manage for something like a hamburger. He can see why Momoshiro would be so into it—and he is, quite obviously. He looks positively delighted. It makes Kaidoh's chest feel tight and jittery, but in a good way, but he quickly collects himself and returns to his own burger, so as not to look like he's staring creepily at Momoshiro while he eats, because what the hell, who _does_ that?

Momoshiro is positively delighted that Kaidoh took a bite from his hamburger. He used to be greedy and not want to share his food with anyone at all, but it's fine when it's Kaidoh. Especially since he'll try to deny that he liked it, even though Momoshiro can tell he doesn't really mean it.

He kind of wants to sit next to Kaidoh and let himself be fed though. They did that a lot on the island. And yes, it's kind of stupid, and a little embarrassing, but Momoshiro feels comfortable enough to do this with Kaidoh—and Kaidoh _only_. It feels lazy and cozy, and Momoshiro misses it a little bit. That he could hang all over Kaidoh and bother him, while eating food. Two of his favourite things in the world. Momoshiro smiles up at Kaidoh once more; they just need to be alone for a while again. Yes, that'd be perfect.

But at the moment, Momoshiro should finish his hamburger, which has been a gift of god. He keeps seeing Kaidoh looking at him, and he looks sort of disgusted in return. Well, Momoshiro admits he can be a messy eater, but the food is so good! Then again, he didn't invite Kaidoh just so he could pig out, he does still want to talk to him.

Then he suddenly remembers something. Taking another big bite, and not waiting until he's finished chewing, he points his finger at Kaidoh.

"Did yah know, I was dead?" asks Momoshiro. He chews some more, making loud smacking noises.

"Huh?" Kaidoh blinks, feeling lost. He hopes Momoshiro isn't making some metaphor about how his burger is so good it's killed him, because that would be so painfully dumb he'd have to punch Momoshiro right then and there.

Momoshiro chews thoughtfully. "You know this thing people have, called a Facebook? Well you probably have never heard of it, considering how primitive you are with technology, but anyways, it's this profile you make online about yourself. And, it seems my sister hacked into mine and ... declared me dead. It became like this weird memorial thing to me, it was creepy. People are still posting on it thinking I'm dead! Geez. I certainly didn't expect this." Momoshiro swallows and thinks some more again. How did his sister guess his password anyway? He was sure it was safe! After all, he wrote 'password' in English, and no one would ever guess that.

"Oh yeah … I—" Kaidoh starts, and then stops himself, not wanting to seem like a stalker. "I mean, _Hazue_ saw that." Which is still true. It wasn't like he was the one who'd gone searching for Momoshiro's Facebook page, after all; that was all his brother. "I didn't really look at it …" he adds with a dismissive huff that doesn't manage to sound very convincing. "But yeah, that's … pretty weird."

Momoshiro's lips turn into a wide smirk. "Are you sure? I could have sworn I saw a certain Kaidoh Kaoru on my friendslist …"

Kaidoh's cheeks flush. "Asshole, that was just—shut up." Momoshiro wasn't ever supposed to check that!

Momoshiro nudges his knee against Kaidoh's underneath the table, toying around with him. "So, got worried about me? When you saw I was dead, I mean," he asks in this satisfying smirk. Catching Kaidoh in the act is so much fun.

Kaidoh throws an annoyed glare back at him. He tries to kick Momoshiro's shin too, for good measure, but misses and hits the table leg instead. "Of course I wasn't _worried_," he says. "Don't be stupid. I was just trying to find your address." As soon as he realizes how that sounds, he makes a noise that sounds caught halfway between a hiss and a grumble and averts his eyes. Great, now he just seems like a creepy weirdo.

There's this smile on Momoshiro's face, one even bigger than before when he took a bite out of his hamburger. Perhaps bugging Kaidoh is a higher priority than eating food after all. It's always so much fun to tease the snake and get all these different kind of reactions out of him. Momoshiro could never get enough of this.

At least now it makes sense why Kaidoh knew where he lived in the first place; he stalked him. That thought makes him very giddy.

Momoshiro leans over the table, his hamburger clasped in his hand in a very cool way (well, _he_ thinks he's cool), and he raises his eyebrows at Kaidoh. "Oh, is that so? What else did you try to find out, huh."

"N-nothing!" Kaidoh protests. It hadn't even been his idea to begin with! In fact, if it weren't for his brother's meddling, he probably would still be totally in the dark about what Facebook even _was_ … Which would mean he also wouldn't have a rather suspicious number of photos of Momoshiro saved on his phone. But … that's completely not the point.

Momoshiro leans back and takes another bite out of his delicious burger. "Well, whatevah," he says with a mouth full. He swallows this time before he talks. "You should be glad you were on the island with me. You'd probably think I was really dead if you saw that. Haha, that'd be kind of awkward. Ehh, my parents would hold a funeral for me and … hmm, would you come too? I wonder."

Before they met again on the island, they hadn't had contact since. Which meant that Kaidoh would probably have never known about Momoshiro disappearing, or being proclaimed dead. But what if he knew? Would he come to visit? Would he be sad? Momoshiro would be sad to find out if Kaidoh didn't feel a pang of hurt upon finding out he had died. That would make him truly heartless. But he knows Kaidoh better than that … he's just very good at hiding things.

Kaidoh frowns. "Don't say stuff like that," he grumbles. "If you really …" He stops, and his frown turns into more of a scowl. Because that's super depressing, and it's hard to imagine Momoshiro suddenly not being around. Sure, they'd stopped talking for all those years, but that was hardly the same thing. So he just says, "If you died because of Atobe's stupid boat, I would have been pissed off."

Momoshiro laughs. "You better be! Speaking of Atobe, I'm still in the process of kicking his ass in court. Well, not really. Our lawyers are talking it out or something, making up some kind of deal. I bet I'm gonna get some money at least. It'd be good. Then I can stop living in my parent's house again and move out." He slurps on his cup of coke and ponders how much money he'd get.

"Hey, what about you—don't you want money to move out?" he asks Kaidoh. _And be alone with me?_

"Yeah, I guess …" Kaidoh says with a shrug. Moving out hasn't really been something he's given much thought to, to be honest. After all, he doesn't hate living with his family, although recently it's been kind of awkward reconciling the whole living at home thing with also seeing Momoshiro quite a bit. The idea of doing all these … things together, under his family's roof, initially mortified him, and the lack of privacy still makes him nervous. Things were a lot easier when they had their own space. Sure, they still both have their own bedrooms, but it's not the same when their parents or siblings are always just down the hall.

He huffs. "I don't know, I guess it might be nice. But I was planning to just work and save money to pay for college tuition again, since I got dropped from my course and all …" Which feels like the right thing to be doing, and certainly what would make his parents proud, but it's been months since he even attended a class and it feels kind of weird to settle back into that, especially since Kaidoh was never really sure what he planned to do with that degree in the first place.

"Right. That sucks. They should have let you retake it for free." Momoshiro takes a huge chomp from his burger, and chewing slowly. If he's going to get a lot of money from Atobe … then he could give some to Kaidoh as well. Or at least, enough to pay for his college tuition. It's only fair after all, Kaidoh wouldn't get any money at all since he got lost on his own. He was never part of the cruise ship. Right, Kaidoh never accepted the invitation.

"You didn't come on the cruise because of your college, right? Or were you still in Japan when you got that invitation?" Momoshiro can't remember exactly when he got the invitation. Like a month or so before March. He'd been excited to see everyone again (plus he could eat for free on the ship).

Momoshiro sighs and leans his chin on the palm of his hand, the other hand lazily clasping his half eaten burger. "It was really disappointing to know you didn't come. I wanted to see everyone again ..."

"Well, it didn't matter so much whether or not I took the invitation," Kaidoh points out, with a slight smile that, on his face, ends up looking more like a grimace, "since we all ended up in the same place anyway."

"Hmm, I guess so … but then it's like I wanted you to get stranded too, and that's not right." Even if he did wanted to see Kaidoh, see what he was up to, know some details about his life, and maybe punch him in the face.

Momoshiro nudges his knee against Kaidoh again, a smile playing on his lips. "Hey, hey, did you ever thank me for rescuing you? I don't remember it!"

Kaidoh scowls. "That's because you didn't rescue me, dumbass," he argues. He hadn't needed any rescuing! Or well, maybe he had, but his prideful self still refuses to acknowledge that.

"Thank you, Momo-chan, I am eternally in your debt," says Momoshiro in a high voice.

Kaidoh rolls his eyes. "You wish."

"Hmm, it's okay." Momoshiro grins at him again. "I can tell you're thanking me from the bottom of your heart!" Then he sneakily places down his hamburger, and reaches for Kaidoh's hand, which had been resting next to the tray. His eyes shift around a bit to see if no one is looking, then his fingertips brush over the back of Kaidoh's hand, before he simply covers it entirely. He flashes Kaidoh another smile. "You're here with me today, after all."

"Whatever," Kaidoh replies, but he doesn't dispute the fact, and this time his expression resembles more of an actual smile instead of the failed attempt from before.

Even so, he still hesitates a bit before turning his hand just enough that he can squeeze back on Momoshiro's fingers. A small part of him finds this thrilling, but they're still in public, after all, and doing this out in the open, where anyone could see, feels weird to him. He's used to being private, even secretive—hell, when he was younger, he would routinely freak out if someone simply caught him petting a stray cat—and his other habits, running especially, have always been pretty solitary too.

So now he feels kind of nervous, and a little embarrassed, like he's not sure what he's exposing himself to since this feels different than when it's just the two of them in a room with a closed door. He looks up at Momoshiro, feeling his face warm up even more as he does, and then, overwhelmed, he turns his hand over again and slides it out from under Momoshiro's fingers.

Which feels like a mistake as soon as he does it. After only a second, he misses the feeling and his fingers surely do as well. They're kind of hovering awkwardly on the table, like he can't decide whether or not to pull them away completely.

And he finds he doesn't want to do that at all.

He likes being close to Momoshiro, and why should it matter if there are other people in the restaurant? They're not even looking over here, so maybe Kaidoh can allow himself this one tiny indulgence. Because Momoshiro isn't shying away from it, so since Kaidoh isn't some kind of coward, he shouldn't either. It's just holding hands. Although holding hands with Momoshiro has never really felt like something that's "just" anything.

With a soft hiss, Kaidoh acquiesces and slides his hand back, this time not making any attempt to conceal what they're doing, or pass it off as anything but what it is. This time his fingers are deliberate, not pretending to be accidental, as they curl around Momoshiro's own.

They fit together like two puzzle pieces. Momoshiro's entire body warms up at the small action, as if there's this strange current flowing into him from Kaidoh's hand. Well, it's not so strange, and it's definitely not unfamiliar—but the place they're at, in public, is definitely new. He didn't think Kaidoh would reciprocate at all, but he did, so now they're here, hands warmly holding onto each other.

Momoshiro casts his eyes down at their hands, a relaxed expression on his face, with a slight uplift of his lips.

This feels really nice; Momoshiro doesn't want to let go. It's exciting too, and more than a little embarrassing if someone caught them like this, but they're mostly secluded from anyone's view. He softly squeezes his fingers around Kaidoh's, and feels his heart beat faster when Kaidoh returns the same kind of affection. They've certainly come a long way if they can do this without complaint, more or less without Kaidoh complaining at least. Momoshiro has never really shied away from the topic or possibility, even if it had been terrifying at first. But like this, it's not at all terrifying, it feels like how it should be. It simply feels right.

He wonders … if this is simple to do, then would doing other things with Kaidoh be simple as well? It's been on his mind ever since he met up with Kaidoh at his house, and while being able to hold his hand is nice—Momoshiro wants more. Lately all he ever wants to do with Kaidoh is to get every single inch of their bodies touching, and to stay like that without a care in the world. It's a little scary that he's been feeling like this recently, but at the same time, Momoshiro wants to explore all of these things with Kaidoh. All of these feelings that stir up within him when they touch is definitely new territory, but he doesn't shy away from them. Not anymore. Not after what happened during Christmas. He will latch onto these feelings for as long as he can, and therefor, will continue to hold Kaidoh's hands for as long as possible.

But it's not just holding hands that Momoshiro wants. He looks at Kaidoh, his eyes searching for the other's. There's an unmistakable blush on Kaidoh's cheeks, the sight of it making Momoshiro gulp and feel a little embarrassed as well; Kaidoh's newfound expressions have that sort of effect on him. Determined, he keeps looking at Kaidoh, until Kaidoh finally looks at him too.

"Hey Kaidoh, come closer for a second," Momoshiro says as he himself leans his upper body over the table a bit. He keeps a strong hold on Kaidoh's hands so that he can't let go without yanking it free.

Kaidoh blinks. _Why ...?_ Is there something on his face? Well, besides the annoying red warmth flushing his cheeks.

But Momoshiro just keeps smiling pleasantly at him, offering up no explanation, although his fingers squeeze Kaidoh's a little more tightly. In return, Kaidoh's own eyes narrow, like he's suspicious of Momoshiro's motives—maybe he's trying to distract Kaidoh so he can swipe the rest of his hamburger—or just suspicious of the situation, which is definitely a first. Sitting here eating burgers and holding hands with Momoshiro is not something Kaidoh could ever have really anticipated, let alone prepared himself for ... although he may have thought about it once twice, as some kind of far-fetched fantasy.

But as with most things lately, his reluctance doesn't last for long and, for better or worse, he leans in a little, though still regarding Momoshiro somewhat warily.

A little annoyed at Kaidoh's reluctance to do what he asked, Momoshiro narrows his eyes at Kaidoh. What's he so afraid of? That Momoshiro will steal his burger or something? Seeing the little amount that Kaidoh has moved, Momoshiro switches onto the offense.

"You're too slow, idiot," he warns Kaidoh, then yanks on Kaidoh's hand to bring him forward.

Now that Kaidoh is close enough, Momoshiro quickly does what he had wanted to do all day long before Kaidoh can pull back. He presses his lips (or in this case, more or less squashes them) against Kaidoh's. He can feel Kaidoh's surprise, and even feels him wanting to retreat, but after a second he seems to get it, and slowly presses back.

Momoshiro feels like he's dancing on clouds. He pulls back, and sits down normally again, looking at Kaidoh with a bashful and lopsided grin. He's sure his own cheeks are pink as well. But it was worth it.

No one saw that, right?

"D-dumbass," Kaidoh stutters, but doesn't manage to sound the slightest bit annoyed, just shaken up. In fact, that's kind of how his insides feel after that, like they're the contents of a fizzing can of soda. He feels bubbly and weird, and when he looks down at the table and then back up at Momoshiro again, the strangest sound crackles out of his throat. If Kaidoh didn't know by now that giggling is simply not something he does—and he's certainly not about to start anytime soon—he'd almost think that's what the sound was.

He coughs, trying to pass it off as just him clearing his throat instead, because the idea of him making weird involuntary giddy noises because of Momoshiro is embarrassing and beyond stupid. And _he's_ not supposed to be the stupid one here.

Yeah. Momoshiro is the stupid one. So Kaidoh hisses and kicks the toe of his sneaker under the table. Like that's making some kind of point.

Momoshiro hadn't prepared for a reaction such as this, after all, they've done _a lot_ of kissing these past several months, and even things that go beyond kissing, yet Kaidoh is squirming on his seat, making weird noises as if Momoshiro just did an unthinkable thing. As if it had been their first time or something. He's never seen Kaidoh _this_ embarrassed, it's yet another unexplored side of Kaidoh. And while he enjoys seeing Kaidoh's face all red, still holding onto his hand, it seems embarrassment is contagious, because now Momoshiro feels a bit put on the spot; heat rises in his cheeks and spreads to his ears. This is stupid, why is Kaidoh acting like this, and why is Momoshiro reacting to this in such a weird way? He covers his nose and mouth with his free hand, like he's trying to hide his face from Kaidoh.

"Stupid … I j-just didn't have a chance to when I picked you up at your house," Momoshiro says in a shaky stream of air. Why is he suddenly so nervous!? He shouldn't be, and neither should Kaidoh!

It almost seems like … it almost seems as if this is a … _date_, or something. Momoshiro turns even redder at the thought of it, and he shrinks back into his shoulders, trying desperately to cover up his red face. Is that what Kaidoh thinks this is … ? That they're on a date?

Sure, Momoshiro thought about it before—it is Valentine's Day after all—but don't couples go on dates? They're not … _that_ together, so this is not a date, even if Momoshiro wanted to use this day to be alone with Kaidoh. But that doesn't make it a stupid date! And Kaidoh should stop squirming on the spot already, as it's making Momoshiro feel uncomfortably warm. He almost wants to take out his cellphone and snap a picture of Kaidoh's face to accommodate the memory. Because no matter how embarrassed he gets, seeing this look on Kaidoh, Momoshiro kind of likes it. He kind of really likes it, so he can't get himself to hate his reaction. Even the slightest tremor of their hands—either Kaidoh is shaking, or Momoshiro—he can't help but enjoy it. Yeah, he can't bring himself to hate this part of Kaidoh …

He can't believe that this is so distracting, he doesn't even feel the need to continue eating his delicious burger. Instead, he shakily clasps his fingers tighter around Kaidoh's.

Momoshiro dares to look up at Kaidoh again, swallowing what feels like the biggest burger in his throat, before he manages to speak up again. "Hey, uhm …"

Maybe it's because of Momoshiro's expression, but at that moment Kaidoh feels a weird jolt of electricity pulse through him. It lingers for a second like a low buzz and then stops. He's so nervous that it takes him a moment to realize that it's not anything quite so dramatic—it's just his phone vibrating in his pocket.

He fishes it out with his free hand and flips open the cover to read the message. It's from his brother, and embarrassingly, he's reminding Kaidoh that today's his opportunity to confess. Immediately, Kaidoh's whole face flushes red and, glaring slightly, he slams his phone shut again and stuffs it back into his pocket. His gaze drifts downwards, to the table where he's still holding Momoshiro's hand, and suddenly that seems so weird that he almost wants to pull away. But he doesn't, because doing that would be even weirder.

So for a moment he doesn't really know _what_ to do, and then he decides to pick up his burger again and take a bite, because—and he never thought he'd say this—right now food seems to be the only fitting distraction from this abrupt and unwelcome swirl of nervousness within him.

_Sus-pi-scious._

Momoshiro narrows his eyes at Kaidoh, trying to figure out who would text him, other than himself of course. He's pretty sure he knows everyone Kaidoh talks to, and that pool is very small. So who was it then? He doesn't like to be kept in the dark about Kaidoh's interactions with anyone else. What if he could be … texting some other guy.

Wait, that's stupid. Momoshiro shakes his head, trying to clear his moronic thoughts. He eats his hamburger in silence, and even the delicious taste of it isn't enough to distract his stupid thoughts. What's he getting all worked up about? Kaidoh is allowed to have his own life, and text who ever he wants. It's got nothing to do with Momoshiro, nothing at all.

This doesn't stop Momoshiro from squirming in his seat as he leans over the table again, trying to see where Kaidoh stuffed his cellphone.

"Family?" he asks with his eyebrows slightly raised, trying to play it off all cool and nonchalant. "They do know you're … with me, right?" Momoshiro quickly asks afterwards. Everyone should know Kaidoh is going out with Momoshiro.

No, wait, that was phrased really stupidly. Uhh, uhh … they're _hanging_ out—that's it. They're not _going_ out. Hah! Momoshiro shrinks back into his original sitting position, but doesn't let go of Kaidoh's hand either. After all, they're hanging out, and only Momoshiro is allowed to do that with Kaidoh.

Kaidoh glances up and his voice stumbles a bit as he replies, "Uhh … yeah." He doesn't know why he feels so on edge, but his brother's words, and this stupid holiday, and just being in public with Momoshiro like this—even if they're doing things that are far from new—have given him all these fluttering butterflies. "I-it wasn't anything important though," he adds, brushing it off. He wishes he could brush the color off his face just as easily, but that, annoyingly, seems to be staying put for the foreseeable future.

"Good," Momoshiro says with a huff. He looks away from Kaidoh and gobbles up some of his fries, trying to manage it with using only one hand. It's good it's not important. Important things can't happen without him knowing about it. Like, what if Kaidoh had more plans? Plans that didn't involve him? The thought makes him queasy.

Which reminds him, he should probably tell Kaidoh about the plans he has in store for them. Or, well, at least try to. He can't exactly come out and ask him if he wants to go to a love hotel. That's stupid, and embarrassing, and Kaidoh would most likely punch him.

Momoshiro stares at their still intertwined hands, feeling a little bit at ease like this. Knowing Kaidoh is not pulling back. It had been something of a fantasy, this scenario; him and Kaidoh eating burgers in Mos burger. His favourite place on earth, with his favourite food, eating it with his favourite pe—wait. No, this is stupid. They were just fleeting thoughts he had in the back of his mind, that's all. It's not like he was actually looking _forward_ to eat burgers with Kaidoh.

And it's not like he's totally lying right now, not at all.

His palms are getting sweaty the more he thinks about how he's really eating burgers with Kaidoh, he hopes Kaidoh will just think he's the one sweating instead. The thought of eating together with Kaidoh, and actually being _fine_ with it, even if it means he won't score a free handjob out of it, kind of sets him on edge. Like he's actually doing this because he wants to …

Momoshiro sighs.

Fine, he does. But he's not about to tell Kaidoh that.

At least, so long his big mouth won't betray him. "Uhh, Kaidoh," his lips have already formed before he can stop himself. Great, it _is_ betraying him after all. "You free? After. I mean, to be with me. I meantospendmoretimewithme—I told you to keep the day free!" Momoshiro's face flushes a million colours, and his voice changes pitch several times. He can't seem to keep his voice steady, nor to prevent himself from looking like a tomato. And a fool, that too.

If he were Kaidoh right now, he'd hiss from frustration.

Momoshiro's words make Kaidoh's heart race, and the fact that he's nervous getting them out makes Kaidoh feel funny and shivery and pleased for some reason he can't quite pinpoint. Of course, he kept the day free. Momoshiro may not know it—or maybe by now he's beginning to catch on—but Kaidoh always has time for him, and even if he didn't, he'd clear his schedule if it meant getting to be with Momoshiro.

But he'd never say as much. He doesn't know why it seems somehow important to do so, but whenever Momoshiro wants to hang out, Kaidoh always makes a big fuss complaining about how busy he is, and how annoying it is to skip his running, or training, or whatever he was planning to do … even though in reality he's leaping on the inside at the thought of getting to see Momoshiro again. It just seems hard to come right out and say that yes, he can't wait to spend time with Momoshiro too.

So instead of replying with any ounce of enthusiasm, he just says, "Yeah, I guess I'm free," but his small yet genuine smile betrays the impassive tone of his words.

And in turn, Momoshiro can't help but crack into a wide smile as well. "Then I hope you don't mind if I hog you all day long." And night.

Kaidoh huffs back at him. "Moron." No, he doesn't mind at all.

Momoshiro pinches the skin on the back of Kaidoh's hand with his fingers. "Dumbass," he responds before slipping his fingers back into Kaidoh's hand. He could do this all day long, and he certainly hopes he can do it at night too, but asking Kaidoh to spend the night with him as well takes a lot more courage. It is after all, a step they haven't made yet.

They might have spent nights together at the island every day, but when they're back in this world, they'd need a reason to spend the night together.

Momoshiro can't tell what that reason is anymore. Does he want to get off with Kaidoh with no one to bother them, or does he honestly want to spend time with him? To crawl up against him under the blankets, like they did that one time. To wake up and see Kaidoh staring creepily at his face, which still scares him a bit, but he could get used to it. Yeah. He _wants_ to get used to it.

Momoshiro spends the rest of his time gorging himself down with his fast food, and he might have stolen another bite from Kaidoh's hamburger or two (well it _is_ his favourite!). Obviously he's the one who's happily chatting about stuff, as Kaidoh simply stares at him with this funny look, not saying a word. Momoshiro thinks Kaidoh just likes to hear him talk, or see him eat food, or maybe both—or he just doesn't like talking. But despite the fact that his conversation partner is not pulling his weight, Momoshiro feels comfortable either way. That's just how Kaidoh is, and Momoshiro's always got something to say when he's with him. He'll talk for two. Either way, he's happy Kaidoh isn't running off, or getting into a fight with him (though he doesn't mind those too much), or even letting go of his hand.

Yes, they held hands the entire way. Momoshiro still feels the lingering warmth of Kaidoh's hand when they finally do let go, getting ready to leave.

"So, that wasn't so bad right? You should definitely come to Mos Burger with me more often," Momoshiro says in a coy voice, hanging all over Kaidoh as they try to fit through the entrance together at the same time. Momoshiro stubbornly refuses to pry himself off of Kaidoh.

Kaidoh rolls his eyes and once they're out the door, he gives Momoshiro a little shove. "Just because I ate one doesn't mean I want to make a habit out of it," he argues. It also doesn't mean that he _doesn't_ want to either. After all, he wouldn't be coming to Mos Burger for the food, but for the company anyway, so maybe he wouldn't exactly hate it if it were to happen again in the future.

He stuffs his hands into his pockets since it's still kind of chilly outside. When his fingers brush against his phone, Kaidoh feels a little pang of nervousness again, because as much as he'd like to pretend he doesn't care, his brother's "encouragement" did get him thinking a little. Which is stupid, because really, there shouldn't be anything to think about here. They're just … hanging out, right? Sure it's Valentine's Day and they held hands and even kissed but that doesn't mean Kaidoh should be expected to say anything at all about his feelings for Momoshiro. His lips curl into a scowl. Gross. Just calling them that—"his _feelings_"—makes him sound like a total idiot.

When they reach Momoshiro's bike, Kaidoh decides to distract his mind from such dumb things, by asking, "So where'd you wanna go now?" He eyes Momoshiro with a bit of skepticism as he adds, "… Not more food, right?"

After unlocking his bike, Momoshiro shakes his head. "No, I think you'll like this one. We did make a promise after all," he teases. He wonders if Kaidoh even remembers talking about it. Then again, that conversation happened when … well, a certain other Valentine's Day was brought up. It makes Momoshiro's hands feel sweaty despite the chilly wind outside.

Momoshiro positions himself on his bike and waits for Kaidoh to get on too. It might not look like it, but he's actually enjoying the fact that Kaidoh's going along with it, that he will hold onto Momoshiro as they ride together to their destination (but he won't admit that it was some kind of fantasy … maybe). Like he's kind of taking care of Kaidoh, and while that wording sounds disgusting, Momoshiro doesn't seem to hate the thought at all. Taking care of Kaidoh sounds like something fun instead, it feels good to have Kaidoh rely on him for something. Surprising Kaidoh with a cat cafe also sounds like a lot of fun.

It's getting hard to deny that Momoshiro has fun with Kaidoh regardless of what they actually end up doing. In fact, he can't think of a single thing he'd hate doing with Kaidoh. Not one. Not even going jogging for his stupid training.

No, mostly he just wants to see the look on Kaidoh's face when he's happy. Even if it's just a small smile, Momoshiro will take it. It makes him feel happy as well, like a chain reaction. After all, getting Kaidoh to smile is quite a feat. Though lately, Momoshiro does spot him looking amused every once in a while. Then again, lately Momoshiro has been discovering all kinds of sides of Kaidoh, and yeah, maybe he'd like to see more of it.

And Kaidoh actually _is_ feeling pretty happy right now. Nervous too, but at least for now there's enough good feelings to outweigh that.

It doesn't feel weird at all to rest his hands on Momoshiro's waist for balance. He doesn't even hesitate this time, and his fingers curl against Momoshiro's jacket more than is probably necessary, but it's still ordinary enough to be something only the two of them would ever read any meaning into. Kaidoh isn't exactly sure why there needs to be any meaning to it, or what that meaning would even be, but everything does feel kind of different right now. It's not the way things were on the island, where they were together all the time because they shared a shelter and it was sort of unavoidable. This isn't like the way they are in private either, especially lately, when Kaidoh feels constantly guarded, worried about his or Momoshiro's parents finding out. This just feels free and easy and they're both here because they want to be, and not because of circumstances or hormones or whatever else.

Of course, that also makes all of it a little more difficult to explain, but Kaidoh can't really complain right now, and as long as he doesn't try to think about it too much, he thinks he'll be fine with it. Why shouldn't he be? Why should he question this? It's something he wants, after all, and since Momoshiro didn't tell him to get lost as soon as they finished their food, Kaidoh thinks maybe it's something Momoshiro wants as well.

Before Momoshiro takes off, he releases the handlebars and reaches for Kaidoh's hands that are wrapped around his waist. He covers them with his own hands, smiling pleasantly at it, even if Kaidoh can't see.

"You should put them in my pockets, it's a longer ride so it'll be cold," says Momoshiro as he curls his fingers around Kaidoh's hands to move them into his own pockets. He can feel Kaidoh's hands gripping him tighter again on the inside of his pocket, and it's giving him this sugar rush, boosting him with enough energy to make it all the way to the cat cafe without a single complaint about the cold. He completely forgets that he also kept his box of chocolates in his right pocket, so is blissfully unaware that Kaidoh might find out.

Positioning his hands back on the handlebars, Momoshiro finally starts pedaling, with Kaidoh shuffling closer to his back. At least the cold of the winter is a nice mask for his rosy cheeks this time. Kaidoh better like this cat cafe, Momoshiro spent some time looking online for the perfect one. Or well, for the one with the most cats that was affordable still (he doesn't earn _that_ much at the toy store). He found one which had 40 different cats; it's like being attacked by a kitty avalanche. They can spend the day there until it's time to uhh … get 'lost' on a sketchy street, and take refuge in a love hotel.

When they've been riding for ten minutes already, and stop at a traffic light, Momoshiro takes the time to take his left hand off the handle and stuff it into his pocket. His fingertips graze Kaidoh's warm skin, until he grabs it entirely, half wanting to warm up a little bit, and half wanting to hold Kaidoh's hand where no one can see them. He smirks at his own cleverness.

Momoshiro looks over his shoulder, only managing to see some of Kaidoh's bandana. "Just another ten minutes, and we'll be there." If Kaidoh keeps him warm like this, then surely he'll be able to make it without getting frostbite.

"As long as you know where we're going ..." Kaidoh grumbles back, in a typically irritated tone, like riding around on the back of Momoshiro's bike is some kind of hardship for him. It isn't really, and the way he squeezes back on Momoshiro's hand says as much.

When the light changes and they start moving again, Kaidoh lets go so Momoshiro can use his hand to steer. In its absence, Kaidoh allows himself to shift a little closer, pressed up against Momoshiro's back, in a way he can easily argue as inevitable—there isn't a ton of room on the bike rack for him to move around after all. He can smell Momoshiro's hair and see the way the tips of it fall back behind his ears against the skin of his neck. He doesn't have to steal glances at him, it's all just right in front of him, all up close.

He wonders what Momoshiro would say if he knew how much Kaidoh was staring, how much he's enjoying this simple proximity. It's a little embarrassing, like he's doing something sneaky, but Momoshiro isn't stopping him or telling him to back off. Everything he's done so far suggests the opposite, that Kaidoh is welcome to be as close as he likes, which feels like a strange and foreign invitation when they're in public like this, the bike weaving along the street, past cars and other pedestrians. But the thought of the other people around them doesn't bother Kaidoh. In fact, he's ignoring them, caught up in the moment with Momoshiro like they're the only ones here. That's potentially a little dangerous, like Kaidoh might be letting his guard down, and Kaidoh doesn't like feeling like he's not in control of his own actions, but that's been happening more and more. It's not really something he can stop.

His fingers crunch against the warm lining of Momoshiro's jacket pockets. No, he can't seem to stop doing this. His hands feel a little crowded in there—Momoshiro sure carries around a lot of crap—but, as seems to be the case more and more lately, Kaidoh doesn't seize the opportunity to give Momoshiro a hard time about it.

It might be cold outside, but Momoshiro feels pretty warm inside regardless, it's like a dream come true. Sort of. It sounds mushy and stupid, but yes, Momoshiro had been looking forward to this. And judging by how close Kaidoh seems to sit, with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jacket, Kaidoh is enjoying this too. Or at least, he doesn't seem to object. When they're outside like this, it feels like they need to hide what they do, but on the flipside, it also feels like they're free to do whatever they want because those people are strangers. They don't know them, so who cares if they see them like this? Besides, they're zooming right past them, so Momoshiro can do whatever he likes. And right now, that's to ride his bike with Kaidoh on the back.

But the ten minutes are up quite fast, and Momoshiro rolls into the street with the cat cafe. He hopes Kaidoh won't notice it straight away, since he'd like to keep it a surprise so he can see his happy face when he realizes what it is.

"Okay, we're here," Momoshiro announces as he slows down the bike. He eventually comes to a halt and jumps off, Kaidoh getting off as well. He parks it against another pole and locks it. His hands are pretty freezing right now, so he blows hot air into them. But it should be warm inside.

Then he gets an idea as he stands up straight to look at Kaidoh and spots his bandana. "Hey. Close your eyes, you can't see what's inside yet until I tell you to," he boasts with a confident grin.

Kaidoh gives Momoshiro a slightly suspicious look. A few months ago, the suggestion would have gotten an immediate "Hell no, idiot" as a response, because, as a rule, he's never really liked surprises. He likes when things are solid and concrete and don't sneak up on him, or so he always thought. But sometimes when he's with Momoshiro he wonders if he's really the way he thought he was at all, because Momoshiro seems to bring out this weird other side of himself, one that's much more tolerant of spontaneity, and maybe even likes it a little.

"Fine," he grumbles, giving Momoshiro a final warning look—as if to say, _This had better not be anything terrible or I'll punch you_—before closing his eyes. The logical part of himself isn't quite sure that he should be trusting Momoshiro of all people to lead him around blind. Somehow, the rest of him is feeling totally illogical, and just pleasantly jittery instead.

"Uhh …" Instead of taking him by the arm and leading him towards the door, Momoshiro ends up staring at Kaidoh's face instead.

Momoshiro can see the usual tension in Kaidoh's face, right at his eyebrows and the way he's lowering them as if to glare without using his eyes. Even his jaw is clenched tight, probably preparing himself for anything funny Momoshiro might have had in mind (maybe he might have wanted to a little ...). But other than that, he's obediently following Momoshiro's orders, and that _rarely_ ever happens. And now that Kaidoh's got his eyes closed, Momoshiro feels he's like he's free to stare at his face as much as he wants.

And the longer he stares at Kaidoh's face, the more he wants to touch it. To kiss it. Suddenly Momoshiro's entire body is telling itself to lean forward and kiss him right there. But they're out in public, and they're not zooming by people because they're riding a bike. Right now, if anyone saw them, they might actually recognize them (the news did make them a bit popular). So he stands there for a few long seconds, shifting his weight on his feet, trying to make up his mind whether or not to kiss Kaidoh, or to push him into the cat cafe.

Momoshiro sees Kaidoh is getting impatient of waiting, and right before he opens his lips to complain, Momoshiro quickly dives in and sloppily presses his cold lips against Kaidoh's. They feel a lot warmer than his, and his entire body shivers at the contact. He hastily pulls back, cheeks flushed with red and his eyes scanning the area looking for people who might have seen them. So he quickly hooks his arm around Kaidoh's—not giving him any chance to protest the kiss—and he pulls him forward to the big tall windows of the cafe.

"Right this way ... haha ... hah …" Momoshiro's voice sounds stuttery and nervous, but that's because he feels like it. Like they might have been caught because of his stupid impulse to suddenly kiss Kaidoh. He's gotta get that urge under control!

Somehow Kaidoh manages to keep his eyes closed as they walk into the cafe, even though the rest of his face is reacting like he's been struck with a sudden sunburn in the middle of February.

He has to fight the urge to step on Momoshiro's foot, because a little warning would have been nice, especially when they were out on the street where anyone could see them! But he doesn't, because he still has his eyes closed—unsure why he's still going along with this stupid idea—and if he tried to do anything right now he might miss and that would be annoying.

But luckily, any anxiety or embarrassment he was feeling wears off as soon as Momoshiro pulls open a second door and Kaidoh hears a sound of what could only be a cat.

Actually, it sounds like a whole bunch of cats.

Unable to stop himself, his eyes blink open and immediately widen as he takes in the scene in front of him. There are dozens of cats in the cafe; cute little kittens and giant fluffy monsters, cats of every different kind and color imaginable, and they're all just lounging around waiting for attention or walking around and plaintively demanding it.

It's like nothing Kaidoh's ever seen, and he's mesmerized. His insides feel like they've been dipped in cotton candy. He leans a little into Momoshiro's side and murmurs to him, "There are so many …" because he doesn't really know what else to say to express his amazement.

"Yes I know, I tried to look for one who had a lot of them, and this was the chea—err—closest to us," says Momoshiro with a slight chuckle.

Taking a second longer before Momoshiro shrugs Kaidoh off of him, he starts to take off his shoes and jacket, motioning for Kaidoh to do the same. And he does, in a seemingly speedy manner; he must be excited. When they're done, Momoshiro stands up to head to the counter. "Now go, do whatever you do best, I'm gonna go pay for two hours, so you better enjoy this." Not that Kaidoh will be the only one to enjoy this …

When Momoshiro takes his wallet out of the pocket of his coat, he remembers the Valentine's chocolates. Right, he needs to give that to Kaidoh sometime … maybe when Kaidoh is not getting so distracted by a black cat who is circling his legs, tail upright and happily twitching. He quickly takes it out of his pocket anyway, and puts it in his bag instead, in case he wants to give it to Kaidoh in the cafe itself.

Though the thought of giving Kaidoh chocolates on Valentine's day kind of gives him creepy jitters in his stomach that won't calm down. He did it once before, so he should be able to do it again, right? Well, the first time he did it, it was meant to be a joke, because no one in their right mind would ever give Kaidoh chocolate on Valentine's day, and Momoshiro was giving him some to make fun of him. Yet here he is; chocolates hidden in his bag, and it's meant for that stupid grumpy snake. Though at the moment he's looking nothing like his usual grumpy self, but instead awed at his surroundings, eyes sparkling at the cat near his feet, and trying to pet it like a naive eight year old kid who has never seen a cat before.

Momoshiro's heart melts into a puddle. He knew this was the best place to go today.

He smiles and leaves an awestruck Kaidoh alone, like he's standing in a battlefield full of mine kitties, just waiting to explode and run towards him. There's a few other people in the cafe, sitting at tables drinking beverages, petting cats that are resting on their laps, but otherwise it's pretty empty looking. Perhaps most people are out eating dinner in restaurants instead today. A cat cafe is not exactly the place to be to have a date.

Not that this is a date.

Definitely not.

Momoshiro makes his way over to the counter—avoiding a bunch of cats on the way—and pays the clerk the money, while looking over his shoulder to see what Kaidoh is doing. He's still just standing there, with this really dazed look on his face. It's rather endearing that he doesn't know what to do, or most likely, doesn't know which cat to start petting next. He smiles at the sight, feeling all pleasant inside. Yes, the cat cafe was a good idea. A brilliant one even.

A sudden tiny mew alerts Momoshiro that there's a cat rubbing up against the cuff of his pants. He looks down and laughs; it's a tiny white furball. Couldn't be much older than a month or two. The kitten is very fuzzy with hair, and is scratching at his pants, as if Momoshiro is standing in its way or something. So he moves, but only to scoop up the small kitten and hugs it against his chest.

"Please do not pick up the cats," warns the clerk behind the counter, and in his hand is a small flyer of rules he's offering to Momoshiro.

"Oh, right." Momoshiro feels embarrassed and gently places the kitten down. Right, there are rules in the cat cafe after all. He takes the flyer and mumbles an apology, before deciding to go back to Kaidoh, and see if he hasn't died from fluff overload already.

"Hey uhm," Momoshiro starts as he gets closer to Kaidoh. "Don't pick up the cats, it's one of the rules here, or something." He doesn't say that the clerk scolded him for doing it in the first place, he knows Kaidoh would scold him as well. He hands Kaidoh the flyer—he can read them instead. "Here."

That snaps Kaidoh out of his daze a little bit and he looks bashfully back at Momoshiro. "Well yeah, obviously. I wasn't planning to," he protests, even though it's a little bit of a lie. The impulse is kind of hard to resist when they're all so cute. He's never been surrounded by so many cats before, especially not ones that are this outgoing. A lot of the strays he runs by on the street dash off into the nearest bush whenever he tries to get close to them, but these cats are so friendly it's kind of taking him by surprise.

He's not going to admit it out loud, but he's pretty happy that Momoshiro decided to bring him here. It's really … thoughtful of him, which is a strange way to be describing Momoshiro, since most of the time he just likes doing things because _he_ likes them, or to get a rise out of Kaidoh, or to piss him off or tease him, but he doesn't seem to have any annoying reason for doing this. It's like he just knew it was something Kaidoh would like, and that makes Kaidoh feel really warm and good.

He shuffles forward, the little black cat trailing along behind him, nuzzling at his ankles as he moves. He can feel his mouth tugging a little into an uncontrollable smile as it does—he can't help it, it kind of tickles.

"We could find somewhere to sit, I guess," he suggests, looking around at the empty chairs and sofas. Some are already occupied by sleeping cats, a sight that makes Kaidoh's face warm up even more. It really feels like he's in a dream right now. In fact, he's definitely had dreams like this in the past. Having Momoshiro here, real and solid and not even immediately mocking the way Kaidoh can't seem to stop staring wide-eyed at everything, makes the situation feel even more surreal, and it's weird, but there's something really nice about it too.

"Sounds good, my legs are killing me," Momoshiro complains. Not that Kaidoh is really heavy or something, he just likes to tease him either way. Momoshiro starts walking towards a sofa—he'd like to be able to sit next to Kaidoh this time—and after scaring a cat awake who then ran off to make way for Momoshiro, he sits down with a satisfied smirk. Kaidoh sits next to him, fidgety as if he wants to play with all the cats in the room. Kaidoh's good mood is infectious, and Momoshiro keeps smiling as well.

"So you really don't remember?" he asks Kaidoh. "About our conversation. Come on, you gotta remember, it's when you told me that you gave me—uh, well, it was when we were on the island. Talked about visiting cat cafes when we'd be back home …so yeah … here we are."

"Oh yeah," Kaidoh recalls. "I guess we did." That conversation seemed like such a long time ago that he never really thought it would actually happen. They talked about all kinds of stuff back then, and at the time Kaidoh figured once they were off the island they'd probably part ways again and Momoshiro would forget about it. Well, obviously that didn't happen, much to Kaidoh's relief. Now he can't even imagine them being apart.

A fluffy tabby cat jumps up onto the sofa next to Kaidoh and starts climbing over his lap, onto Momoshiro's, and then back again, kneading at the sofa cushion and Kaidoh's arm. Kaidoh pets it tentatively at first, like he's still worried he might scare it off, but then loosens up and smiles a little more when the cat starts purring affectionately.

"It's weird that you remembered," he says, since it's too hard to say he's _glad_ that Momoshiro did. "But uh, this is cool."

Momoshiro laughs, before he reaches over to Kaidoh's side and pinches his cheek. It's something he probably won't ever stop doing. "You're welcome," he says, knowing Kaidoh won't ever say thank you out loud in front of him. Well, maybe not anytime soon.

"And you're stupid," Kaidoh grumbles back, but he doesn't really look like he means it. It's hard to be all that grouchy when he's got a lapful of contented cat.

And Momoshiro feels like it's hard not to laugh like he's really happy, because that's how he feels right now. Simply at ease sitting here with Kaidoh, petting cats. He scoots closer to Kaidoh, until their thighs are pressed up against one another, and he stretches out his hand to start petting the very eager cat, who has settled down on Kaidoh's lap, kneading its paws into his thigh. When Momoshiro's hand brushes against Kaidoh's on accident he doesn't pull away, nor flinch—like he might have done so several years ago. Instead he simply looks up at Kaidoh and smiles at him, letting his fingers linger on top of Kaidoh's hand deliberately. To the others in the cafe, this might look like they were petting the same cat, but he and Kaidoh know different. It's no accident, and in fact, nothing has been an accident anymore after the day in the karaoke room.

Everything they do together right now is because they choose to, because they want to, out of their own free will they will do things like this. The reason why, Momoshiro isn't exactly sure of, but he does know he wants to, he wants to do all these things with Kaidoh, like kissing him whenever he feels like it, hold his hand and smile at him, or see his happy face as he pets a cat.

He might even like this more than eating that delicious burger a little while ago.

Well, maybe just a little.

"They've got kittens too," Momoshiro says. He won't tell Kaidoh he picked one up though. "Little white furballs. Makes you want to take one home and keep it, haha." Momoshiro's hand runs up the cat's spine, until his fingers connect with Kaidoh's again and he lingers to savour the good feeling he gets from it.

"That would be nice," Kaidoh muses, and tries to imagine it, having one of these cats for his very own, getting to see it whenever he likes and pet it as much as he wants. He'd like that. "Too bad my parents would never allow one in our house." He scratches the cat behind its ears and it flexes its front paws approvingly. "But maybe that's why these cafes exist."

Momoshiro pushes his knuckles into Kaidoh's arm. "Yeah, built especially for people obsessed with cats," he says with a snort.

"Dumbass, I'm not _obsessed_," Kaidoh argues, his cheeks heating up furiously. Okay, maybe the current situation is not really helping his case much, but he isn't! Saying he's obsessed with cats makes him sound super lame, and Kaidoh isn't lame. He just thinks they're really cute, and really cool, and wants to pet every one he sees. That's normal.

He hisses out air and it startles the cat in his lap a little, which in turn makes Kaidoh hiss again. "I just like them …" he says weakly.

It's always so much fun to tease Kaidoh. Momoshiro can't help himself, it's always been like this, starting from the day they met. But lately, Kaidoh's reactions are much more … well, for lack of any better word, cute? Sort of. Maybe. He gets all bashful and annoyed, and Momoshiro enjoys seeing him squirm around like that. He's happy he managed to convince Kaidoh to come with him on this day without much fuss. It seemed like an impossible task half a year ago, but right now, Momoshiro seems to convince Kaidoh (or maybe trick him into things) quite easily. He doesn't put up much of a fight anymore, or should he say, he pretends to put up a fight. Kaidoh's nonchalant and grouchy reactions are so transparent to him.

Momoshiro raises his hand to lift it above Kaidoh's head to pat him twice on his bandana. "You're allowed to like 'em," he says in an amused voice. He drops his hand until it brushes the hair on Kaidoh's neck, and then rests it on his shoulder, feeling quite comfortable in this position.

"I'd want one, for my apartment. If I'm ever going to get enough money to move out again, that is. Maybe two even, they need a buddy to play with, right? It shouldn't be too hard to take care of a cat, I hear they're fine when you leave them alone. Dogs just bark all day long until you return, they're helpless like that. Cats would probably be sleeping away somewhere, not caring you left them alone. Yeah, I think that'd be easier to take care of. Plus they're fun, just look at this one on your lap—hah it's purring!" Momoshiro scratches the cat's back and it raises its tail in response.

Yes, he would like to have one, too. Kaidoh would probably want one more though, Momoshiro isn't _that_ obsessed with getting a pet. But it would be nice. What would be nicer is if he had a place to live at, alone. Only then can he get a pet. And only then will he and Kaidoh have some privacy together, love hotels notwithstanding.

"Yeah," Kaidoh agrees, with a small smile. "The ones here are so friendly." He's surprised this one hasn't jumped off his lap by now. Well, he reminds himself, most of the cats he's had experience with were just strays out on the streets. They're bound to be more skittish and wary of people. Kaidoh's relieved that none of the cats in this cafe seem to have that problem. In fact, it's kind of the exact opposite. These cats seem to be loving all the attention they're getting. If Kaidoh had known that this was how these places were, he might have tried going to one sooner. Or maybe not, since who else would he have gone with? And it definitely would have felt too weird to go hang out in one on his own.

At any rate, Kaidoh is glad that it's Momoshiro here with him right now. To be honest, he can say that about just about any place; it's better when Momoshiro's there too. He tilts his head a little so he can look over at him, and then his smile broadens ever so slightly as he notices a little black kitten sneaking up behind Momoshiro's shoulder. He's never had to do so little work to get cats to come to him before.

_Cute_, Momoshiro thinks.

Momoshiro mistakes Kaidoh's gaze as staring at _him_, and he's smiling! It's not a full blown smile like Momoshiro does so effortlessly, but a smile nonetheless—Kaidoh's been showing a lot of different expressions today. He can feel his stomach doing flip flops the longer he sees Kaidoh staring at him with that cute little smile of his. It makes Momoshiro want to hug and squeeze him to death. His fingers are already itching to move, and the muscles in his arm are already getting tighter just so he can hold Kaidoh close to him.

But just as he's about to scoot closer in glee, something scares the crap out of him as it lands on his shoulders.

"Whoa—where'd that come from?" Momoshiro exclaims in a startled voice. He cranes his neck to see what attacked him, and sees a small black kitten, standing proudly on his shoulders, and meowing right into his ear.

Momoshiro chuckles. "Geez, they really just jump right onto you, huh?" He lifts his hand to pet the cat's head, and it nuzzles against the palm of his hand. Alright, this cat is cute too.

Then the small black kitten decides it's time to scratch at Momoshiro's nose for no reason at all. He yelps and withdraws in pain, knocking into Kaidoh next to him, which causes the other cat to flee from Kaidoh's lap. The kitten uses its nails to hook into Momoshiro's hair and climb on top of his head, with Momoshiro wincing in pain.

"Ow, ow, Kaidoh help me get this one off for a second, those nails hurt!" Momoshiro huffs and tries to reach for the kitten, but simply gets swatted away with its paw. Then it starts to knead right on his head! Okay, he takes it back; this kitten is _not_ cute.

Kaidoh can't help but snort, because it's pretty funny the way the tiny cat is attacking Momoshiro's head like it's a ball of yarn, and Momoshiro, the idiot, seems helpless to defend himself against the onslaught.

"See, the cat knows you're a moron too," he points out, amused. But then Kaidoh gives in and decides to help out after all, and reaches over to try and pry its paws away. It doesn't work out quite as planned, but the kitten is distracted enough by Kaidoh's intrusion that it loosens its hold on the Momoshiro's head and starts swatting at Kaidoh's fingers instead, before leaping onto Kaidoh's wrist.

_Ouch_.

Momoshiro wasn't lying about the nails hurting. Its claws are really sharp for such a tiny, and harmless looking animal. It takes a little maneuvering, and Kaidoh pulls several faces ranging from discomfort to outright distress as the kitten digs its nails in, but eventually it seems to lose interest in making a scratching post out of Kaidoh's forearm and lets go, strutting off to explore a nearby jingly mouse toy instead.

Maybe it's possible, Kaidoh thinks, for a cat to be too friendly.

Momoshiro's hair is disheveled, and his red nose stings. He huffs, then points at the little devil on the floor. "If you're ever getting a cat, _don't_ get that one."

Then he notices the red mark on his index finger; the cat really did scratch him to make him bleed. Momoshiro groans and examines his precious finger. "Little devil," he mumbles as he hugs his finger to his chest. "How are your battlewounds?" he asks, looking over at Kaidoh.

Kaidoh turns his arm over to survey the damage. There are red streaks along his wrist, tracing almost to his elbow. It looks like someone's raked a fork up his arm.

"It's fine," he says, dismissively, even though they kind of sting. Whatever, he's not going to act all wimpy over a cat scratch, especially since the cat in question is now looking so adorably innocent and oblivious that Kaidoh can't help but forgive it. "And you'll be fine too, dumbass," he adds. "But if it's really that bad, I'm sure the staff have bandages or something."

"Yeah, because it looks like you really need it," says Momoshiro with a laugh. He pokes the damaged area on Kaidoh's arm, awaiting his reaction.

Kaidoh flinches and his mouth pulls into a grimace and then a scowl. "Asshole," he hisses. "Cut that out."

Momoshiro simply smiles at him, with this smug and satisfied face. "Should I ask for some, then?" He wonders if these cats are healthy, and if they won't give them any weird mutation disease from scratching them. What if that's how zombies are created? He shakes his head; it's a cat cafe, not a zombie cafe.

Kaidoh glares. "I said I'm fine," he protests, unwilling to admit that something as tiny as a kitten might have hurt him.

"Well I guess if Kaoru-chan said so, I better hurry up and get a first-aid kit from the clerk then!" Momoshiro promptly gets up, giggling and skipping away from Kaidoh before he can retaliate against him. He almost ends up tripping over a cat that ran right by him, but manages to catch himself in time, and stumble over to the counter.

As he asks the clerk for a first-aid kit, he looks over his shoulder to see Kaidoh glaring at him. He shoots him a very dashingly handsome smile in return.

Just like with the little kitten, Kaidoh finds it hard to stay grumpy at Momoshiro when he looks like that, but he's trying to make a point here, which is that he doesn't need any stupid bandages because he's not some weakling. They're just cat scratches, even though a couple of them do look kind of deep and they sting when his arm brushes against the sofa. But he's not going to let anyone know that a cat got the best of him.

So he just narrows his eyes back at Momoshiro. That is, until the clerk up at the counter glances up and over at him and, Kaidoh, not wanting to look like he's glaring at _her_, immediately drops his gaze and pretends he's been looking at cats all along.

Before taking the entire box with him to Kaidoh, to 'nurse' him (Kaidoh's gonna hit him for that one), Momoshiro quickly wraps his own finger with a very colourful band-aid with kitty faces on it. Well. He'll switch it when he's at home, or something. Or just walk around with his hands stuffed in his pockets all the time. He has to assure the clerk that yes, he didn't try to pick up another cat, when inquired about the scratches. He's not _that_ dumb.

He thinks.

Momoshiro likes to think he's not. Though Kaidoh would certainly disagree.

"Okay, would you rather I plaster twenty different band-aids on your arm, or do you prefer to be wrapped like a mummy?" Momoshiro asks as he sits down next to Kaidoh again, kit in hand.

"I would _rather_ you did neither," Kaidoh grumbles, even though he knows it's pretty futile to try and protest Momoshiro when he's on a mission. The mission being, apparently, to embarrass Kaidoh as much as possible. "The scratches really aren't that bad," he tries, hoping that maybe he sounds a little bit convincing. Well, by Kaidoh's standards anyway, it's true enough. They aren't that bad at all. He's had worse scrapes and bruises from scuffles with Momoshiro in the past, and it wasn't like he'd offered him bandages afterwards. Kaidoh would have punched him if he tried.

"You could get rabies," Momoshiro jokes. He gets out a few cotton swabs so he can clean it at least, so the scratches don't get infected for real. That'd be stupid. Another orange cat jumps up on the sofa, and sits on Momoshiro's lap, staring at the first-aid kit with curiosity, then its eyes are fixated on the cotton swab in Momoshiro's hand. He hopes he doesn't think it's a toy.

"Come on, I'm wearing a stupid kitten band-aid, so join my embarrassment," says Momoshiro with a laugh. He reaches for Kaidoh's hand to grab it, so he can clean the small wounds.

"I'm not going to get rabies," Kaidoh huffs, but acquiesces and doesn't put up a fight when Momoshiro takes his hand. He tells himself this is just because he's trying to pick his battles, and fighting with Momoshiro over band-aids in the middle of a cafe crowded with purring and meowing cats is really not the place for one. That, and maybe Kaidoh doesn't hate Momoshiro fussing over him as much as he lets on. Which is to say, it's not his least favorite thing in the world or anything.

The orange cat transfers from Momoshiro's lap to Kaidoh's lap, feeling more content over there as it curls up into a small ball, purring loudly. Momoshiro smiles as he sees Kaidoh's face transform from a grouchy one, to a more neutral one. He can't seem to resist cats for very long, it's kind of funny. He tries to keep himself focused on tending to Kaidoh's 'wounds', cleaning it as efficiently as he can, and eventually slapping a bunch of band-aids on it before Kaidoh can complain. When Momoshiro's finished, there's four colourful band-aids adorning Kaidoh's arm, positioned at the worst scratches. He did quite a good job, even if he does say so himself.

"Done," Momoshiro exclaims. "And don't rip them off right away," he warns Kaidoh.

Momoshiro quietly puts everything back into the small white box, wondering if one of the cats stole a bunch of bandages or something to play with. Speaking of toys, there should be a few in the cafe. One of the other customers was playing with a feather like thing, so there must be some around. He closes the first-aid kit and brings it back to the counter, leaving Kaidoh alone with his kitty band-aids. Before returning, he scouts the area for any kind of toy, and spots one on a very large scratching pole; it's a fishing pole. Or at least, Momoshiro thinks it's one. It's a black thin stick, and at the end is a gold fish hanging off a small rope. Great, Kaidoh can go fishing with the cats, he'd like that. Happily he retrieves it from a sleeping cat who was holding it hostage—careful not to wake up the cat, lest he be scolded again—and returns back to Kaidoh, stick in hand, and a smile gracing his face.

Despite the sting on his finger, Momoshiro is actually enjoying his time here with Kaidoh. "Look what I got," he says as he dangles the goldfish in front of Kaidoh's face. The orange cat's ears immediately perk up.

Kaidoh feels like swatting the fish out of his face, because it's annoying. But luckily the cat in his lap seems to have similar feelings, because a second later it leaps up and tugs the fish between its teeth, and wraps both its front paws around it as it pulls it down into Kaidoh's lap. That's when the toy stops being annoying, because it's hard for Kaidoh to find it anything but totally adorable the way the cat guards the fish territorially, not wanting to relinquish its hold on it.

"I think he likes it," Kaidoh says, and strokes the cat behind its ears, like he's praising it for its expert hunting skills.

Whatever the cat seems to like, Kaidoh seems to like it more, Momoshiro thinks. He's getting a bit moodswingy now, looking annoyed one second, and melting into a puddle the next. Momoshiro feels a bit jealous how these cats can effortlessly bring forth a smile on Kaidoh's face, while he has to work overtime to even get a _neutral_ face. It's not fair! Does he need to cuddle up on Kaidoh's lap to get the same reaction?

Ew, gross, he's not some stupid cat.

But he wouldn't mind sitting in Kaidoh's lap …

But that's still gross.

Momoshiro passes the stick to Kaidoh. "Here, you can play with it, it seems to like you very much." He sits down next to Kaidoh once more, scooting up close to him so that he can stroke the cat's fur with a pleasant smile. This cat is a lot better than that devil that gave him and Momoshiro scratches. He eyes the band-aids on Kaidoh's arm, looking all happy and colourful, and is tempted to laugh at him for not tearing it off already. He's surprised Kaidoh didn't punch him at the mere suggestion of it.

Then again, doesn't Kaidoh seem like the kind of person to carry around band-aids with him anyway? Just like that stupid sewing kit that Momoshiro discovered. He pushes his arm up against Kaidoh to get his attention (he seems to be digging that stick). "Hey, don't you carry that stuff with you? The band-aids, I mean. In case of emergencies or whatever."

"Not _all_ the time," Kaidoh mutters. Or at least, he doesn't have any on him at the moment. Sure, he usually brings some when he goes running, in case of blisters, and has a small first aid kit he used to take with him to school. But that's just being prepared.

He hisses. "And anyway, so what if I do?" he argues, in a tone like he thinks Momoshiro's making some kind of accusation or trying to start something.

"Nothing. Just thought it'd be useful right now." Momoshiro smiles as he leans closer to the side of Kaidoh's head, getting all cozy with him despite all the people around them. "Why, did you think I was going to call you a girl?" he muses.

Kaidoh elbows Momoshiro in the arm. "Well, it wouldn't be the first time you said something stupid like that."

Momoshiro laughs; he's said it plenty of times before indeed. But it's fun to tease Kaidoh about it. He gets all up in arms, and starts getting super defensive and eventually they're in another stupid fight. It's hard to resist the temptation, Momoshiro simply likes getting Kaidoh to fight with him. It's a really stupid constant he's relied on for years. It's a comfortable area to be in, because no matter how much they fight, they don't _hate_ each other. However, right now, he feels like relaxing, because this is nice too, so he doesn't take the bait.

"I'm not saying it right now though," says Momoshiro. After all, Momoshiro is on his best behaviour today. He's gotta convince Kaidoh to spend the night with him after all, and something tells him that's not the way to do when he's throwing insults at him.

Instead, it's better if he makes Kaidoh happy. Then slip the chocolates to him when he's in a good mood, and offer him to spend the night together.

Easier said than done; Momoshiro feels kind of weird about the whole thing, and he'd rather not get rejected and embarrassed by Kaidoh. That'd be stupid. Besides, Kaidoh's gotta want it too on some level, right? Alone time, just the two of them … not being surrounded by cats.

"Hey Kaidoh, how are those shoes I gave to you? Do you run with them?" Momoshiro asks instead, wanting to remind Kaidoh that _he_ gave him a christmas present, and Momoshiro didn't get anything, and that's blackmail enough to go to a love hotel with him.

Or at least, it should be.

"Yeah," Kaidoh says, and for a moment he's too distracted by the cat to say more. Or rather, the cat is a convenient distraction because Kaidoh's still a little embarrassed that Momoshiro gave him them in the first place. Receiving gifts is not really something he's used to and he doesn't know what he's supposed to do about it. Say something nice, he guesses.

"I like them," he continues, but before it sounds like he has some weird sentimental attachment to them, he clarifies, "because the traction and support in the soles is really good and they're a lot better than my old ones."

"Obviously they're better, they were rather expensive," Momoshiro says as he remembers how much that hurt his wallet. But he's glad to hear Kaidoh's been using them at least. So he didn't throw them after that stupid fight after all.

Another cat—a silver tabby—jumps up on the sofa and demands Momoshiro's attention by meowing and pawing at his pants. He can't help but cave and start petting the cat's head, and scratching its chin. This one's a lot cuter than the other one, and Momoshiro giggles a little as he play with it, temporarily forgetting he needs to butter up Kaidoh and invite him over. The chocolates are still stored away in his bag.

Speaking of chocolates; won't Kaidoh give him some, too? Back then, in middle school, he had given Momoshiro chocolates before (not that he knew about this, not until almost six years later), because he liked him and all.

So …

Momoshiro glances over at Kaidoh, his hands stilling on the cat's fur.

Won't he get some this year as well?

Not that he wants them or something. No, he's just curious, yes, curious. He wonders if they're burnt again, like last time. He chuckles at the memory. It had been his mystery girl, when in fact it had been an awkward Kaidoh who never fessed up to it. Back then, it definitely freaked him out when he found out it was Kaidoh, but right now, when all that's been said and done between them, Momoshiro just thinks of it as a pleasant memory. One he can use to tease Kaidoh with in the future.

"But don't expect me to give you another pair once you ruin those. You run _way_ too much," says Momoshiro.


End file.
